Jackie Ryan

Jackie's last CD, "DOOZY", was the 1 CD nationwide on JazzWeek's Industry-standard chart – for 7 weeks (a record exceeded by only one other vocal CD in the chart's entire history). Featuring guest artists Cyrus Chestnut, Eric Alexander, Jeremy Pelt, Romero Lubambo and others, "DOOZY" was the 3rd most played Jazz CD on radio for the entire year, finished 3 on JazzWeek's Top 100 CDs of 2009, received ****4 STAR Reviews from both DownBeat and AllMusicGuide, and sat atop many critics' "TOP 10 of The Year" lists. In fact, Jackie was one of only 5 vocalists voted by critics to make JazzTimes Magazine's "TOP 50 CDs of The Year."

She has a magnetic stage presence. Wherever she performs - here, Europe or Asia - it's the same story. She's been such a hit at London's famed Ronnie Scott's Club (where she has been a regular for 8 years) that the owner recorded Jackie for the club's prestigious Jazz House label. "She is," as the London Evening Standard put it,"one of the finest singers to ever perform at Ronnie's..."



Among the many jazz greats Jackie has sung, recorded, or toured with are: Clark Terry (at the Monterey Jazz Festival), Toots Thielemans, Barry Harris, Cyrus Chestnut, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Red Holloway, Eric Alexander, Jeremy Pelt, Ernie Watts, Benny Green (at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival), Tamir Hendelman, Jeff Hamilton, Amina Figarova, Mike Wofford, Jon Mayer, Larry Vuckovich, and Jon Hendricks. With jam-packed concerts throughout Japan with Cyrus Chestnut and jam-packed shows at New York's Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club and Birdland, London's Ronnie Scott's Club, Amsterdam's Christofori's, Boston's Scullers, Seattle's Jazz Alley, and San Francisco's Yoshi's, Jackie's rich, appealing voice has been much in demand for concerts both here and abroad.

Ms. Ryan has been featured on NPR, Voice of America, PRIMETIME A&E, and CNN enEspañol TV (viewed by 22 million) devoted an entire 15-minute segment to her. But is not by accident that her cross-cultural appeal "bridges the gap between both geography and generations," as BILLBOARD so aptly put it. She was born to it. Her Mexican mother (who sang operettas at the Teatro Delgada in Guadalajara) crooned Spanish folk songs to her as a child. And her Irish/French father is a classically-trained baritone who still sings (as does Jackie) in several languages.

Ms. Ryan's natural affinity for the language of jazz extends deeply into its intricate structures. She possesses a keen ear for jazz phrasing and its internal rhymes, composing lyrics in such diverse genres as note for note vocalese to the scorching bop sax solos of Benny Carter's "Doozy" and Joe Henderson's "The Kicker," poignant imagery to Barry Harris's seductive ballad "Deep Love," as well as the hauntingly poetic lines found on this CD's "Seasons of The Heart" and the jubilant jazz phrasing to "Once In Everyone's Life."