Erin Dickins

#ManhattanTransfer co-founder @ErinDickins talks finding your voice on #FEMusician #Podcast https://t.co/OgQsYpSlAC pic.twitter.com/XzroQZnehS

— Bree Noble (@BreeNoble) June 27, 2016

Erin Dickins – Ronnie Scott’s London

Erin Dickins has enjoyed career singers dream about. After five years singing ensemble music with The Manhattan Transfer, she emerged as one of the top studio singers in New York. Dickins toured and recorded with many notable artists including Leonard Cohen, Bette Midler, James Taylor, The Talking Heads, James Brown, Jaco Pastorius and Ashford & Simpson, to name but a few.

As passionate about cooking as she is about music, in November 2014 Erin Dickins released a new cookbook with an accompanying CD, Sizzle & Swing – Jazzin’ Up Food by ComteQ Publishing.

With her latest CD release, Java Jive, Dickins returns to her roots with a remake of the original Ink Spots’ hit, which she first recorded on the Manhattan Transfer album Jukin’. As title track, Java Jive anchors the new release and features backing vocals by longtime friends Tim Hauser, Marty Nelson and Gene Pistilli – the three male vocalists from the original The Manhattan Transfer. (Sadly, just before this release, Tim Hauser passed away. Java Jive was his last recording.)

“Combining my love for jazz with my passion for cuisine has greatly expanded my creative world. The cookbook includes some of my favorite recipes, inspired by the individual tracks on the CD. And I share lots of fun stories about my experiences in music.”

Details:
Venue: Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club
Address: 47 Frith Street, Soho, London, W1D 4HT
Date: Sunday 2nd August 2015

read more: http://www.jazzineurope.com

Tain't Whatcha Do by Erin Dickins

Trummy Young's classic swing tune gets a bright new treatment by Manhattan Transfer founder, Erin Dickins! Super horn arrangement by Rob Mounsey. Produced by Jesse Frederick. Video directed by Cecile Davis, videography by Phil Geyelin.

"Erin, you swing your "S" off and your intonation is impeccable"

"I have known Erin since 1969, and I've always thought she was a great singer . . . because she sings from her heart, and those kind of singers are my favorites."

Tim Hauser - co-founder of Manhattan Transfer

"This new CD is MAGNIFICENT!!! I recently bought it on itunes...but after listening to it many times now, I'm just in awe..... your voice is clear, authentic...so smooth - it feels sexy and intimate. The CD is timeless. The song selections, your duet...your scatting, "je cherche un homme".....all fabulous. The whole thing is ear candy; it's so well done. It just puts me in a good mood. "

Alizabeth Jackson - Singer/Songwriter

After a decade plus hiatus from the music business, jazz vocalist Erin Dickins is back with a new album and a new attitude. A founding member of the original jazz vocal group Manhattan Transfer, Dickins’ latest CD Nice Girls is a collection of beautifully recorded, exquisitely performed and brilliantly chosen gems - from cool sultry ballads to swinging arrangements. The release is the perfect soundtrack to Dickins’ comeback.

Though she began recording Nice Girls in 2009, one could say that the opus has been in the making for the better part of the last two decades.

Having recorded with a virtual who’s who of musical geniuses— from James Brown and James Taylor to Leonard Cohen and Talking Heads—Dickins quit the music business cold turkey. “I had not found my authentic voice as an artist, and it was time. I moved to Honolulu, as far away from New York as I could get,” she says. “It was there that I finally learned that what matters is the gift of music I have been given, and my willingness to share that gift.”

The highly accomplished singer/performer was lured back into making music after producing a show for Habitat for Humanity, a favored charitable organization. Working with 200 amateur performers on the show sparked Dickins’ creative juices for the first time in a long time.

Soon thereafter, Dickins was invited to perform again and the ball began rolling from there. “It was meant to be. Everyone and everything I needed—musicians, writers, producers, songs and support team—all arrived, as if on cue. I couldn’t have stopped this if I wanted to.”

As the child of artistic parents—Dickins’ mother was a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall and her father an amateur jazz pianist—she was bound to return to her first love. Anchored by the single and video “Nice Girls Don’t Stay for Breakfast”—a remake of 1950’s starlet Julie London’s song—Dickins’ first solo album on Champagne Records was carefully crafted over a two-year process by a stellar group of renowned musicians including producer Jesse Frederick, pianist/ arranger Rob Mounsey (Natalie Cole, Elton John, Tony Bennett) and bassist David Finck (Harry Connick Jr., Rod Stewart).

Having returned to her passion, Dickins now views herself as a “messenger of joy.”

”I consider it my honor and my responsibility to spread the joy that I experience every time I open my mouth to sing. Music is an instrument of transformation, and I am wholly transformed when I sing. We all listen to music and attend concerts for that very purpose. I think that as musicians we have a really unique gift,” says Dickins.

 “When I perform I give 200 percent. If I can be an instrument for joy, just for one instance, then I have done what is asked of me. That’s how you heal the planet, right? One song, one person, one joyful encounter at a time - it’s nice work if you can get it.”

Seeing Dickins perform with her live band is an experience you do not want to miss. Riding off of the success of her recent show at Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD, Dickins will be performing several spot dates throughout the U.S in 2011.

Thankfully for fans of good music, Dickins’ return to jazz will not be short lived. She is currently in the early stages of writing and pre-production for the follow-up to Nice Girls with Frederick. And the pair is even tinkering with the idea of a live album.