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Whether in a jazz club, on the Big Bandstand or on the Broadway stage, New York based vocalist Amy London always captures the hearts and imagination of her audience. On May 29th, Motema Music will release her swinging new CD, 'When I Look In Your Eyes', and jazz fans everywhere will get the chance to hear first hand why this singer is in such demand in the Big Apple. Featuring the late, great John Hicks, the recording also includes Lee Musiker, Roni Ben-Hur, Rufus Reid, Leroy Williams and a stellar horn section.
The NYC jazz scene is already buzzing about this long awaited project. Jazz vocal king Mark Murphy comments,"Amy London, where have you been hiding? What I loved most about this CD is that there are no imitations, no bowing to any current trends. It's really all Amy...don't leave us so long without a second CD!" Legendary recording star Annie Ross, a groundbreaking creator of vocalese, was also charmed: "It's a total delight, and her choice of songs is wonderful. I would recommend it to anybody, it's really great!" And Bill Milkowski, a frequent contributor to Jazztimes and Jazziz comments that London is "A first rate improvisor with a commanding vocal presence...the girl can sing and she knows what time it is. You dig?"
Ms. London's crisp tone and precision harmonic expertise landed her a cherry role as lead singer in the Angel City Four, the 40's style vocal jazz harmony quartet featured in the Broadway musical, 'City of Angels', which won six Tony's. The quartet was directed by Yaron Gershovsky, musical director for Manhattan Transfer, and can be heard on the Grammy nominated cast album. Ms London also sang in City Center's 'Promises, Promises,', starring Martin Short. Off-Broadway, she recently created the leading role of Yetta, in the new musical, 'Meester Amerika,' at the Players' Theater.
As leader of her own group, London has performed at Lincoln Center, Blue Note, Birdland, Sweet Rhythm and Enzo's, to name just a few. She has been featured with the Vermont Philharmonic and toured internationally with such diverse artists as Charles Aznavour, Larry Elgart and Tom Browne, and her singular jazz stylings can be heard on recordings with many jazz luminaries, including Barry Harris, Sir Roland Hanna, Frank Wess, Chris Anderson, Roni Ben-Hur, New York Voices and Nancy Harrow's 'The Marble Faun.' On the Big Bandstand, London has been featured with Loren Schoenberg, The Rainbow Room, Chris Byars, Widespread Depression Orchestra and Swing Express.
Her expertise on the vocal stylings of Ella Fitzgerald landed her the honor of being the featured vocalist on 'Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa', an animated children's film produced by Scholastic, Inc., as well as a clinic presentation at the 2007 IAJE, entitled 'Sing Along With Ella: The Key to Vocal Jazz Improvisation.' Amy recently penned original lyrics to two Elmo Hope tunes, 'Such Eyes, So Beautiful' and 'It Could Be So Nice'. They will be
included in the upcoming songbook, 'Sing More Jazz', distributed by Hal Leonard Corp., due for release in the summer of 2007, as well as on her new CD., 'When I Look In Your Eyes'.
A passionate jazz educator, Ms. London helped found the highly successful vocal department at the New School University Jazz BFA program, where she has been teaching since 1992. Her voice can be heard as the vocal soloist on fellow New School faculty Jim Snidero's Jazz Conception: Scat Vocal, published by Advance Music, a book & sing along CD of 21 jazz etudes that is also available in Japanese.
A few years back, Ms. London turned her focus away from touring in order to raise her two hysterically funny and startlingly brilliant daughters, Sofia and Anna. She is now back in full swing and ready to hit the road in support of 'When I Look In Your Eyes'".
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