Jazzmeia Horn
In 2015 Jazzmeia Horn (Dallas, Texas, 19/04/1991) won the Thelonious Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition and in 2013 the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. She has a name that speaks for itself capturing her very essence. Her reputation as a rising star didn’t take long in reaching New York. Wishing to pursue a solo career, Jazzmelia moved to the Big Apple and got her degree at the The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music and soon began performing with prominent musicians: Winard Harper, Junior Mance, Billy Harper, Lincoln Center Alumni Vincent Gardner, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mike LeDonne, Peter Bernstein, Johnny O”Neal, Vincent Herring, Kirk Lightsey, Frank Wess & Ellis Marsalis.
Besides & beyond biographical notes & CV developments, what seems certain today is that in a short space of time and despite her youth, Jazzmelia Horn has known how to catalyze and attract the attention of the public and, of course, the critics. The extension of her vocal register and her technical mastery instantly brought to mind to many the memory of Ella Fitzgerald, above all for the use of ‘scat’. However, her initial sources were others.
In the beginning was the chant, the church gospels, the spirituals… There, in those religious hymns of exaltation and deliverance, germinated the origin of everything and the origin of her own name. Because Jazzmeia is her real name, one that her grandmother gave her before she was born: “My late grandmother, who was married to the church reverend and played piano and organ in the church, gave me my name, Jazzmeia. She wanted to be a professional musician, but with her husband as the church minister, she was the church’s First Lady, and so was not allowed to play secular music like jazz or blues professionally. That was the reason she had picked out my first name before I was born. So in a way, I’m continuing her legacy.”
In addition to the above-mentioned awards she has received others such as the ones given by the magazine Downbeat (Student Music Award Recipient 2008 & 2009); Best Vocal Jazz Soloist Winner 2010; inn 2013 the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at The Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), in 2012 the Rising Star Award at the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition, was finalist at the MidAtlantic Jazz Vocal Competition in 2014 and in 2015 the prize at the XVI Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium”s Young Lioness.
She currently teaches jazz classes at the NJPAC Wells Fargo (Jazz for Teens Program) and at Jazz In The Schools Program in Newark (New Jersey).
She performs at a number of clubs on the national & international scene leading her lively group ‘The Artistry of Jazz Horn’ that usually includes piano, drums, double bass, saxophone, poet, dancer and of course, she herself as a vocalist. She confesses that she is a humble person for whom music is above God.
- Line Up:
- Jazzmeia Horn: vocal
- Victor Gould: piano
-
Jason Clotter: bass
-
Michael Reed: drums
Gallery
