Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nancie Banks was born Nancie Manzuk on July 29, 1951 in Morgantown, West Virginia and as a child sang in a church choir with her father. She learned piano from her mother beginning at age four. For a while she lived in Pittsburgh, then relocated to New York City in the Eighties where she studied with Edward Boatner, Barry Harris, and Alberto Socarras.
Performing with both small ensembles and big bands, during the late 1980s she joined Charlie Byrd’s band, met and married bandmate and trombonist Clarence Banks. Among the musicians she worked with were Lionel Hampton, Dexter Gordon, Walter Davis Jr., Bob Cunningham, Duke Jordan, Diane Schuur, George Benson, Woody Shaw, Jon Hendricks, Walter Booker, Bross Townsend, Charlie Persip, Walter Bishop, Jr., and Sadik Hakim.
In 1989 she founded her own big band and recorded four albums between 1992 and 2001. She also worked on film soundtracks, including Mo’ Better Blues and Housesitter, and in Broadway musicals such as Swingin’ On a Star. During the 1990s, she taught jazz at the City University of New York.
Vocalist, bandleader and educator Nancie Banks passed away in New York City in November 2002. Her body was discovered in her home and the precise day she died is unknown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kate Paradise was born in Fort Worth, Texas on June 23, 1981 but spent a majority of her childhood in southern New Hampshire, about an hour outside of Boston. Her interest in music began at an early age, singing with her mom in church and taking piano lessons from her pastor. Excelling in small but supportive music programs, taking on leadership roles in the choirs and singing in the high school big band, she auditioned and participated in numerous New Hampshire Music Education Association All-State and Jazz All-State choirs.
The summer of 1998 saw Kate attending the Berklee College of Music Summer Performance Program in Boston, Massachusetts and receiving her first formal voice training. Encouraged to further pursue her interest in jazz, a year later she enrolled at the University of Miami School of Music and spent six years earning her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Studio Music and Jazz Vocal Performance.
Paradise has received Downbeat Magazine’s student award for Outstanding Solo Jazz Vocal Performance and Jazz Vocal I, University of Miami’s top jazz choir. She has taught singing as a graduate assistant and began an active performing career as a jazz singer, appearing with Kurt Elling, Kevin Mahogany, Eliane Elias, Carmen Lundy, Claudia Acuna and Will Lee.
In 2005 she moved to Vermont accepting the position of jazz vocal educator at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Johnson State College and Saint Michael’s College. Continuing her performance career she quickly became a local favorite and in 2006 Kate released her debut CD, You Stepped Out of a Dream, on Sonic Mirage label. She is accompanied by pianist Joseph Davidian, bassist John Rivers, Geza Carr on drums, guitarist Nicholas Cassarino and John McKenna playing tenor saxophone.
In 2007, the track Mean To Me from You Stepped Out of a Dream was selected for Putumayo’s international release Women of Jazz. Currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee, vocalist and educator Kate Paradise continues to perform, pursue her DMA, hold down a full time instructor of commercial voice position and is the director of the Downbeat award winning jazz vocal group, Jazzmin, at Belmont University.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marilyn Moore was born on June 16, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. She began her singing career during the 1950s and recorded only one solo album as a leader on the Bethlehem label titled Moody Marilyn Moore in 1957.
Her vocal style was similar to Billie Holiday’s, and according to jazz critic Will Friedwald, the two were friends. When Marilyn was an aspiring teenager vocalist in California she wrote her for advice. They wrote some thirty letters to one another during the 1940s. Holiday encouraged her and advised her to look up producer John Hammond when she arrived in New York City.
Vocalist Marilyn Moore, the first wife of saxophonist Al Cohn, who played on her album and the mother of guitarist Joe Cohn, passed away on March 19, 1992 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
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Denise Donatelli was born May 26, 1950 in Allentown, Pennsylvania and began playing piano at the age of three and studied classical piano for 15 years, winning first place awards in the National Federation of Music Clubs’ piano competitions three consecutive years. After college she set her musical career aside for marriage and family and did not begin singing professionally until her sons were in their teens.
While living in Atlanta, Georgia she was encouraged to return to music after attending a jam session that attracted the region’s top players, including guitarist Russell Malone. she sang several songs with Russell, and began getting calls for performances. When veteran blues singer Francine Reed joined Lyle Lovett’s band, Donatelli joined the three-nights-a-week engagement at the Ritz-Carlton.
A career at Turner Broadcasting Network gave her contact with Los Angeles-based associates and an introduction to arranger Neal Hefti. One thing led to another and Denise was soon recording studio spots for episodes of The Simpsons and television promos for Frasier, Card Sharks and Turner Classic Movies as well as national and international commercials for CNN, Hyundai, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and others, as well as performing You Only Live Twice as a parody theme song on The Simpsons, Season 25, Episode 4 YOLO.
Donatelli has also been heard performing and recording with Bill Cunliffe, Bill Mays, Roger Kellaway, Tamir Hendelmen, Larry Koonse, Julian Lage, Peter Sprague, Bob Sheppard, Joe LaBarbara, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Christian Jacob’s Big Band Theory, Alf Clausen and his Jazz Orchestra, and the Stan Kenton Alumni Band.
She has been nominated four times for Grammy awards for her 2010 release When Lights Are Low for Best Jazz Vocal Album and another for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist, her 2012 release Soul Shadows for Best Jazz Vocal Album and in 2015 with Find A Heart for Best Jazz Vocal Album.Denise has been honored by the Los Angeles Jazz Society with Jazz Vocalist of the Year Award, and Downbeat Magazine named her in the top ten of the 61st Annual DownBeat Critics Poll in the Rising Star Female Jazz Vocalist category.
Vocalist Denise Donatelli continues to tour extensively gracing the stages of jazz festivals, jazz clubs, performing art centers, and with university jazz bands where she conducts master clinics.
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Clare Teal was born May 14, 1973 in Kildwick, Yorkshire and developed an interest in jazz from an early age, through her father’s collection of 78 rpm records. She became obsessed with big band singers like Ella Fitzgerald and big bands like Joe Loss. Taking music lessons first on the electronic organ, then more formally on clarinet, before studying music at Wolverhampton University. While there she found herself without a clarinet for an unexpected examination.
Deciding to sing, after graduation, she started a career in advertising, singing in her spare time with amateur and semi-professional bands. She recorded her first album Nice Work in 1995 but her big break came when she was asked to stand in for Stacey Kent at a weekend festival in Llandrindod Wells. This led to a three-album contract with the jazz label Candid Records and her popularity soared, with appearances on radio and television bringing her to the attention of a wider public. In 2004 Clare released her debut album Don’t Talk for Sony Jazz in what was the biggest recording deal by any British jazz singer. It topped the jazz charts and entered the UK Top 20 UK Albums Chart.
While the majority of her recordings are cover versions of standards, her albums feature original songs and contemporary cover versions, Teal has toured throughout the UK and the world, with her pianist, trio, mini big band, or Hollywood Orchestra. She has worked with the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and the John Wilson Orchestra as well as other top big bands.
Her concerts have been broadcasted across the BBC radio and television network, opened for Liza Minnelli, collaborated with Van Morrison, won British Jazz Vocalist of the Year for three years and BBc Jazz vocalist of the Year among others. Vocalist and songwriter Clare Teal has recorded fifteen albums and continues to perform and record.
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