Gorgeous and swinging jazz vocals. ââ¦one of Washingtonâ best â kept secretsâ¦Her voice has such a supple, hornlike quality, that glides from sultry chest tones to gossamer highs.â - The Washington Post

12 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Vocals, JAZZ: Bebop

Show all album songs: Wild Is Love Songs


Details:
Increasingly, we live in an âun-nuancedâ age, where gimmicky and formulaic music is manufactured for âtarget audiencesâ. However, every now and then, someone comes along and reminds us what music can be. Jamie Broumas is such an artist. Her new CD is not only a very personal and eloquent statement; it is also a bold effort to contribute interesting, layered, meaningful and complex art into the contemporary jazz scene.

The more one listens to Jamieâs subtle and sophisticated music-making, the more one discovers the additional layers of her artistic and creative sensibilities. Her style is subtle but strong. It bears hints of her influences, but is very much her own. She uses color, space, inflection and nuanced phrasing to bring life to the lyrics and depth to the music. Her voice, a rich instrument, is a flexible tool that purveys deep musical meaning. And she swings!


Jamie always knew she was a singer, but in her late teens, when a musician friend introduced her to the famous recording, âElla in Berlinâ, a door opened. Already on her way to Vassar College where she took a degree in classical music, she became drawn to jazz and spent a semester pursuing this interest at The Berklee College of Music. After college, she returned to Washington and her talent was quickly recognized by many great players and singers, notably Shirley Horn, Buck Hill, and two of the players on this CD: Charlie Young and Steve Williams. In the mid 1980âs, Jamie took a job with the popular and dynamic vocal quartet, Rare Silk with whom she spent a busy period touring. Afterwards, she returned to Washington, where she had a steady gig at Washingtonâs legendary jazz club, âThe One Step Downâ and the encouragement and friendship of the D.C. jazz community.

In the early 1990s, Tony Bennettâs bassist Paul Langosch introduced Jamie to pianist Steve Rudolph. Steve at one time toured extensively with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and eventually landed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he is now very active in the east coast jazz scene. For more than a dozen years, Jamie became a regular performer in Harrisburg and she and Steve bonded musically. When Jamie felt it was time to make this CD, she enlisted Steve Rudolph; her two old friends from D.C.: drummer Steve Williams, who worked with Monty Alexander for a time and with Shirley Horn for 25 years; Charlie Young, the lead alto player in the Ellington band; and bassist Michael Bowie, a veteran player and collaborator with many important jazz artists including Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Abby Lincoln, Joe Williams, and the Manhattan Transfer.

The songs and musicians Jamie has chosen for this recording represent an extraordinary confluence of material and talent. The musicians are certainly some of the best on the current scene and the session is a great example of the distinct and swinging Washington sound. Jamieâs song choices on this recording deal with love in its many and various forms from wild to wistful. Each song provides a vignette of an ineffable feeling. All have great melodies and lyrics that tell a rich story and give a very nuanced portrait of Jamie Broumas!
-Bill Goodwin, April 2007

âJamie Broumas could sing the proverbial phone book and make it sound like something Cole Porter wrote.â --Mike Joyce, The Criticâs Place

ââ¦Broumas has the vocal ability and harmonic finesse to join the ranks of horn players, and charm ours.â âThe Washington Post

ââ¦a gifted musician⦠always challenges the boundaries of the jazz singer label.â âCadence Magazine

ââ¦one of Washingtonâ best â kept secretsâ¦Her voice has such a supple, hornlike quality, that glides from sultry chest tones to gossamer highs.â - The Washington Post

ââ¦as graceful and alluring as her scat passages and harmonizing can be, Broumas clearly knows the value of a good lyric, and is careful to make sure her technique serves themâ¦â âThe Washington Post

ââ¦One of the cityâs true jazz singers.â -Washingtonian Magazine

Jamie Broumas â Biography

A native of Washington, D.C., Jamie Broumas has been captivating audiences throughout the United States for more than 20 years. A graduate of Vassar College and an alumna of the Berklee College of Music, she has received recognition from musicians and critics alike. A former member of the Grammy-nominated jazz vocal group, Rare Silk, she was also a founding member of the Washington, D.C.-based group, Mad Romance. As a soloist, she has worked with many noted jazz musicians, including Cyrus Chestnut, Larry Willis, Herb Ellis, Steve Rudolph, Billy Hart, Steve Williams, Tom Williams, and Charlie Young. In 1997, Ms. Broumas was a cast member and featured performer for WNET (Channel 13 New York) televisionâs Going Places: New Orleans, hosted by Al Roker. She has also appeared at numerous festivals, including The East Coast Jazz Festival, and the Central Pennsylvania Jazz Festival.