The sweet, clear voice of Paula Lammers brings the lyrics to life in this album of brilliantly arranged standards. A must-have CD featuring fabulous musicians and a warm, inviting voice.

11 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Vocals, JAZZ: Smooth Jazz



Details:
When one listens to Paula Lammers sing, they cannot help but be drawn in by the beauty and clarity of her polished tone. It is sweet, warm, and inviting. Discovering Paula's voice is like unearthing a hidden gem.

This gem has been somewhat hidden for many years. Paula has always been a singer, but it wasn't until a few years ago that she found her muse. Her love for music and for singing began early in life. Her clarity of tone and accuracy of pitch are evident in early recordings made on the family tape recorder. She started writing songs when she was 9. Her family relocated several times during high school. Each time, music was the place she turned to establish her identity within the community. After majoring in music at Gustavus Adolphus College, she went to the University of Minnesota and got a Master's degree in Vocal Performance. Ironically, it was at that point that she veered away from performing as a career and went into teaching. For years she taught and did very little performing. It was in 2001, through a serendipitous series of events, that she landed a gig singing on the Minnesota Zephyr, a dinner excursion train, and through her experiences there realized that singing for others had to be an essential and central part of her life from that point on.
In four short years, Paula has shown her versatility as a singer, working professionally in both the jazz and the classical communities. In the jazz scene, she has appeared at privately sponsored events as well as at the Times, Terlizzo's, Nina's, and Old Man River Cafe. As the vocalist for River City Jazz Orchestra, she appears at O'Gara's and Parrish's Supper Club. She has also appeared in concerts with RCJO at Lake Harriet, the Como Pavilion, Centennial Lakes Ampitheater, and Staring Lake Park, to name a few. Paula has appeared as a guest artist with Century Jazz Ensemble, the Roseville Big Band, and Universal Jazz. Paula continues to sing on the Minnesota Zephyr, appearing in nearly 100 shows in 2004 alone. On the classical scene, Paula has been involved as a chorus member over the past three seasons for Minnesota Opera's productions of Norma, The Flying Dutchman, Magic Flute, Madame Butterfly, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Maria Padilla, Carmen, and Nixon in China. She has sung as a contracted singer with the Minnesota Chorale, the symphonic chorus of the Minnesota Orchestra. She is scheduled to appear as a soloist on a Thursday Musical Artist Series Concert in January of 2006, as she did in 2003.
In July 2005, Paula, unveiled her first professional recording project, A Blanket of Blue, with a band that includes the top-notch talents of Billy Peterson, Peter Schimke, Clay Moore, Kenny Horst, and Gary Berg. The project is co-produced by Darren Rust and Billy Peterson. This debut recording shows off the sheer artistry with which Paula paints the words of her songs. She covers selections from the standard repertoire of the jazz song book with arrangements by Billy Peterson: "I Thought About You", "Isn't it Romantic?", "Honeysuckle Rose", "Under a Blanket of Blue", "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", "Gentle Rain", and "Meditation". Paula covers Michel Legrand's "The Moon and I" with her own Latin treatment of the seldom-performed song. She sings "More" with its original Italian lyrics. Moreover, for good measure, she has included an original of her own: "Goodbye...again". Perhaps this return to songwriting foreshadows what is to come for Paula, who has certainly set out to become a force within the jazz genre.