Whitney
Music
FEATURED SONG
- Play
- Play Next
- Add to queue
- Play
- Play Next
- Add to queue
All Blues
5:39
1,025 plays- Play
- Play Next
- Add to queue
830 plays- Play
- Play Next
- Add to queue
633 plays- Play
- Play Next
- Add to queue
703 plays
General Info
-
Genre: Jazz / Soul
Location Queens, NY & Tampa, FL, Please select your region, Un
Profile Views: 14664
Last Login: 12/4/2010
Member Since 10/31/2006
Website whitneyjames.com
Record Label Unsigned
Type of Label Indie
-
Bio
It all starts with her gorgeous voice, amazing range, beautiful phrasing, and wonderful song choices. She has a voice that will move you. Rich, warm, sweet and sad - it is a voice built to carry the torch forward for jazz vocalists. Vocalist Whitney James takes her rightful place among today’s great jazz singers with her stunning debut album, The Nature of Love (January 19, 2010, Stir Stick Music). With her working rhythm section of pianist Joshua Wolff, bassist Matt Clohesy, and drummer Jon Wikan, and special guest trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, James blends a singer’s sensitivity to lyrics with an instrumentalist’s command of phrasing, melody, and timbre. The album’s ambitious program of material includes classics from the Great American Songbook such as Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin’s “Long Ago and Far Away” and Irving Berlin’s “How Deep Is the Ocean,” as well as challenging jazz tunes such as Benny Golson’s “Whisper Not” and Jimmy Rowles’s “The Peacocks.” James doesn’t just sing a tune—she creatively engages it. Every time she approaches a melody and a lyric, she finds a new way to phrase them, shape them, highlight a word or a few notes that shade the meaning and make the music richer. Her sense of time and pacing make her a consummate musician’s singer—she knows how to work with a band, instead of asking it to merely back her. Her supple alto voice wraps itself around a song like a sheer silk scarf. She sings with a bright clarity of tone, yet she colors her sound with earthy inflections, subtle squeezed notes, dark growls, and notes of soaring purity. Her polished musicianship helps her interpret the best of American popular music as well as challenging originals of jazz composers rarely attempted by singers. The upper edge of her voice gently caresses “Tenderly,” highlighting the song’s romantic glow, then she matches trumpeter Jensen tone for tone with an instrumentalist’s full sound. She subjects “Long Ago and Far Away” to playful transformations, making the song her own without ever obscuring the composers’ original intent. She negotiates the transitions between Latin and swing beats on “How Deep Is the Ocean” with elegance, phrasing behind the beat at times to create an exquisite tension. And she remains unfazed by the tricky melody of “The Peacocks,” making the composition’s daunting contours sound graceful and natural. Her band mates are sensitive accompanists with strong voices of their own. In a duo version of “Be Anything,” Wolff, who has also worked with singers Jay Clayton and Mark Murphy, weaves lovely countermelodies and rich harmonies around James’ sincere reading of the song. He’s alert to every twist and variation that James makes to “Long Ago and Far Away,” then swings hard in a lyrical, incisive solo of his own. Bassist Clohesy, who has recorded with Seamus Blake, Pete McCann and Geoffrey Keezer, among others, is a versatile accompanist and soloist. His time is impeccable and his note choice adds depth to the ensemble. His solo on Abbey Lincoln’s “My Love Is You” is a beautifully constructed statement, coherent and moving. Wikan has played with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Jensen, and shared rhythm duties with Clohesy in the bands of Torben Waldorff and Keezer. His attention to dynamics and space and his crisp time-keeping make him a perfect drummer for vocalists, but he can power a band as well, as he does on the hard driving “Whisper Not.” Jensen is featured with the Schneider Orchestra and has performed and recorded as a leader and with Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Marc Copland, Gary Bartz, Chris Connor, and many others. Her warm tone blends beautifully with James on “Tenderly” and “Whisper Not.” A lyrical player who is nevertheless full of surprises, she crafts an exciting solo on “Whisper Not” and a poignant ballad performance on “The Very Thought of You.” It’s rare that a performer emerges fully formed on their first album. But Whitney James has the musicianship and deep emotional power of a mature artist. -
Members
Joshua Wolff, Geoff Harper, Ingrid Jensen, Jon Wikan, Jeff Johnson, Randy Halberstadt, Jim Knapp, Julien Priester, Jay Clayton, Jeremy Powell and more... -
Influences
Sarah Vaughn Shirley Horn Carmen McRae Abbey Lincoln Rickie Lee Jones Miles Davis Bill Evans Chet Baker Bjork Joni Mitchell Stevie Wonder and the list goes on... -
Sounds Like
Whitney James of course! Check out samples from my CD, The Nature of Love at www.whitneyjames.com Buy my CD - The Nature of Love at iTunes or CD Baby
Stream
No recent updates in this category.
Why not...
Photos
Music
-
4 Songs | Sep 21, 2008
Tim Cheatle 
1 year ago
Jazz & Blues Florida - … 1 year ago
Amnesiac quartet, Tribu… 2 years ago
MAYUMI Hi Whitney
Nice to meet you and thank you so much for your friendship! All the best for you!
Best wishes MAYUMI
3 years ago
Emily McIntosh (The Voc… 3 years ago
Pondera Humilis 3 years ago
Sharon Minemoto 3 years ago
Brian Falkowski 4 years ago
Carmen 4 years ago
Noel 4 years ago
10 of 14MoreHello MySpace Friend!
Jazz & Blues Florida is bailing out of MySpace and focusing on our own websites and our Facebook network and we invite you to come join us at either or both. We don't have a Facebook business page yet, as it seems it is better to fully develop a personal page first, then migrate to business page, so come over to www.Facebook.com/JazzBluesFlorida and send in a friend request. I can't explain it, but the page comes up under my name, Charlie Boyer, but it is really us. AND, if you really want to connect to Florida's jazz & blues scene come check out our main site at www.JazzBluesFlorida.com and if you like what you see, shoot me an email and let me know you want to sign up for our email list. You can opt for daily, weekly or monthly contact and change your mind at any time. I am sure you understand the value of these connections and that nowadays providing that connection is your contribution to what keeps us going, like the money you used to spend on newspapers. This is a one-time request and we hope you understand the seriousness of it, as we will be deleting your MySpace connection after we send this to you so we can keep track of making sure everyone received notice. See you on the other side, where the good music is happening! Please excuse us if you are already over there, we had to do this as auto as possible due to the high number of friends we have to process.
Charlie
Charlie@JazzBluesFlorida.com
Thank you, nice to meet you ! Happy Holidays, www.jazzseb.com
Your site is lookin' really HOT! ...& so are YOU of course. Your Show in Seattle was amazing. Wish you were playing here more! Love the CD!!!
Hey there! I just wanted to let you know that you make GREAT music and have such a lovely voice! I'll be buying your new album once I get the money for it. You're a very talented individual and I can see your name at the top of the charts one day in big bright lights. Keep up the good work! +1 Fan! lol.
Hey Whitney- Great to hear you after so long! You sound great! Hope life is good for you.
Cheers to you!
Sharon
Great sound Whitney. How are those charts working out?
Your bday is not the 1st of Jan! Hope you had a great Christmas, and have a Happy New Year.
Hugs long lost friend!!