Sulty and smoky jazz vocals with thrilling high notes and breathy low notes ... styles similar to Diana Krall through to Annie Ross. American Song Book Standards, blues, smooth jazz with pop flair.

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



Details:
Calgary Jazz singer Glennis Houston grew up listening to jazz and swing as her parents taught ballroom dancing, so she spent many nights listening to the laughter and music emanating from the basement dancing studio. She was always involved in music, in fact, with piano lessons in her childhood and teens, and then studying classical voice culminating with a Masters of Music from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She eventually realized, though, that after throwing her heart and soul into studying classical, her passion lay elsewhere. Thus, her move into jazz, with one of her first forays being the forming of an a cappella women's quartet concentrating on the jazz and swing genres. That group has since disbanded as she pursues work as a jazz vocalist. Glennis has studied with Calgary's Viviane Cardinal and Cheryl Fisher, and has attended the Vocal Jazz camp at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts, where she studied with Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan. There, she also had the pleasure of working with musicians Randy Halberstadt, Dave Restivo, Mike Lent, and Owen Howard.

Glennis also has a deep love of theatre so upon her move back to Calgary from Colorado in 1995, became involved with Morpheus Theatre as music director for Gilbert & Sullivan shows "The Mikado" and "Pirates of Penzance," Front Row Centre with "Fiddler on the Roof," and Storybook Theatre with their production of "Snoopy." Never one to stay behind the scenes, though, she also pursued theatre work on stage with roles in Storybook's "Charlotte's Web," Gas & Light's "See How They Run" and "Holiday Snap," as well as with Chimaera Productions "Steel Magnolias." She continues to be cast in Pegasus Performances murder mystery/dinner theatre productions throughout Alberta.

Glennis has appeared at the (former) Cheshire Cat for Jazz Festival 2000, the Lunchbox Theatre for Jazz Festival 2001, the Beat Niq Jazz & Social Club, Blackfoot Inn, Michaelangelo's Workshop Café, Kaos Jazz & Blues Club, the Blue Rock, McQueen's, Diva's Lounge at the Rimrock Hotel in Banff, Murrietta's in Canmore, and various other venues. Her debut CD, "Lies of Handsome Men," was recorded in July 2003, and was released to a capacity crowd at BeatNiq on January 30th, 2004. She is scheduled to perform with her band at the C-Jazz Festival in September 2004, after which time she moves on to Edmonton for her debut appearance at Zenari's.