Stephanie Nilles, and sometimes with Matt Wigton on upright bass, Rawson Vint on tape recorder, Rob Mosher on clarinet and sax, Petr Cancura on mandolin and sax, Micah Killion on trumpet, Ryan Cavanaugh on banjo, Christian Sedelmeyer, Christian Howes, and Billy Contreras on fiddle, Andrew Roitstein on bass, and Christopher White (of Gay for Feral) on guitar and voice, depending on where I am.
Influences
Luciano Berio, Charles Mingus, Pete Seeger, Billie Holiday, Betty Carter, Mississippi John Hurt, Utah Phillips, Thelonious Monk, Shirley Scott, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Miles Davis Quintet, Ella Fitzgerald, Guiomar Novaes, Radu Lupu, Mitsuko Uchida, Nina Simone, Judy Grahn, Toni Morrison, Max Roach, Fats Waller, Blind Willie Johnson, Richie Havens, The Bad Plus, Saul Williams, Ken Kesey, James Joyce, Family Guy, the Brothers Quay, Greg Brown, Bessie Smith, Bobby Floyd.
Sounds Like
Rhymes with Bruce "Willis."
For booking and to join the mailing list, email: stephanienilles@gmail.com
Born in Chicago to a chemical engineer and an architect, Stephanie Nilles is an active musician of varying genres by sheer accident. At 17, she was a finalist at the Young Concert Artists' International Competition. At 22, she had graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a BM in classical piano performance. These days, she's performing her own politically-influenced jazz/folk tunes, described by listeners as "Ella Fitzgerald on speed beating the shit out of Regina Spektor," "Tom Waits on helium," and "New Orleans second line, gypsy swing, and The Atlantic Monthly crushed, mixed, and compacted into a viral so you can snort it," out on the road in a hatchback with a Roland. She has performed at joints like Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, The Bitter End, The Cutting Room, WFMT's "Live from Studio One," and the Dame Myra Hess Series at the Chicago Cultural Center, and she has collaborated with artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Joel Newton, and Christian Howes, in styles ranging from free improv to burlesque accompaniment. Stephanie's songs, sometimes her own and sometimes jazz standards modified in vocalese style, address issues ranging from drug busts in her Harlem neighborhood and feminism to the recent presidential election season and the challenges and joys of life on the road. Stephanie has released two full-length albums, "reDemo" (2008) and "The Off-White Album and Waltzes in the Key of Gypsy McGee" (2009) and is an Attention Spaniel Recording Artist.
"Armed with a shot glass of whiskey, Stephanie Nilles sings Ella. But she doesn’t just sing it- she whispers and howls out the words in a Rickie Lee Jones-every sentence is a super cool beatnik epiphany- sort of way ... Stephanie, who looks slightly like Jane after a few years with Tarzan, which is to say she has a striking stage presence, was putting every other pianist in the club to shame. She is a poet without being pretentious about it; she is bluesy, jazzy, soulful (in her way), and lets her music pour out in such an organic way. Her songs can be analyzed word for word, or they can be taken impressionistically, fixating instead on the overall mood. Whenever she plays, the room falls dead silent. Whether everyone will be able to absorb all of the complexity and nuances of her music is unimportant. What is important is that everyone will try." (exterminating angel press).
Buy the music here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stephanienilles, http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/StephanieNilles2, and on iTunes!
Your "Off-White" cd sounds great, wish I hadn't been workin when you played, but you were the last act Coco's has had perform, and you were great as always
i want to come see you soooo bad tonight or tomarow but your sooo far you should say fuck that bar in port huron and just come to waterford ill get a shit ton of people to come see/jam with ya lol
WOW!I can't believe you wrote me back! THank you so much Stephanie! YOu are the best! I am looking forward to seeing you in December, and also where can I download or buy all your music?
hi stephanie, I really love your style, it gives me inspiration and happiness. I am a piano major too, but I kinda already feel how limited the classical music is, or at least how the teachers here give the standards and such ,such. It really makes me sad and unconfident about my playing and ability. I love music, it is supposed to be fun. I feel it when I saw your music videos and playing, so much fun and energy. I admire you for that...I start to love Jazz so bad, I just started, but my teachers seem to make it so complicated, like he always teach me about the really complicated chords symbols. Do you have any advise and suggestion for me to get rid of all these unneccerssary worrys and pain?
Thanks for the wonderful music, I am looking forward to going to one of your concert!
Awesome show last night. Looking forward to next time you come rolling through! Let me know if you need crash space as well. Loook forward to hearing you again soon!
Bonjour Stephanie Thanks for the ffriendly add I like your musical universe and your sound and voice Best wishes from France (Follow me on twitter.com/pascal95 ) Pascal
