originally published: 10/20/2016
(NEWARK, NJ) -- On a Wednesday night in 1942, Newark teenager Sarah Vaughan went to the Apollo Theater to compete in an amateur singing contest. It was the chance to win $10 and a weeklong engagement performing on the Apollo stage. Instead, Vaughan's win launched her career and forever changed the art of jazz vocal music.
Now in its fifth year at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, also known as the SASSY Awards in a nod to Vaughan's nickname, has announced the five jazz singers who will perform for the top prize honor on Sunday, November 20 at 3:00pm in NJPAC's Victoria Theater. This international jazz vocal competition for women, the only one of its kind, honors the talent of its namesake by giving one outstanding performer a platform to embark on a career in the music business. The competition was established in 2012 by NJPAC and legendary jazz music visionary Larry Rosen.
The 2016 finalists of this international competition are London-based vocalists Lauren Bush and Deelee Dubé, Sinne Eeg of Denmark, Teira Lockhart Church of Los Angeles, and Detroit native Lauren Scales, who is currently a student at New York University. The five finalists will perform before a panel of judges as the culminating event of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival (Nov.1 - Nov. 20) at NJPAC.
Previous SASSY Awards recipients include Arianna Neikrug (2015), who performed this summer at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal; Ashleigh Smith (2014), who recently released her debut album on Concord Records; Jazzmeia Horn (2013), winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015; and Cyrille Aimée (2012), the competition's first winner, who now performs all over the world and has several critically-acclaimed recordings to her name.
The panel of judges includes award-winning vocalists Dianne Reeves and Sheila Jordan; radio personalities Sheila E. Anderson (WBGO) and Mark Ruffin (Sirius XM); and five-time Grammy award-winning bassist and NJPAC Jazz Advisor Christian McBride.
For the second consecutive year, jazz fans can vote for their favorite vocalist starting on Monday, Oct. 24 by logging onto http://bit.ly/VOTESarahVaughan, where they can listen to audio tracks submitted by the five finalists. Voting closes on Nov. 16.
The grand prize winner is offered an exclusive recording contract with Concord Records and a $5,000 cash prize. The second-place winner will receive a $1,500 cash prize and the third-place winner will be awarded $500.
Through three public rounds, via public voting (with over 7,500 votes cast) on IndabaMusic.com, the field was narrowed to these five vocalists. Contestants were judged on vocal quality, musicality, technique, performance, individuality, artistic interpretation, and the ability to "swing". Submissions were received from 23 countries, including Brazil, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Mexico and South Africa.
The TD James Moody Jazz Festival's title sponsor is TD Bank. The festival is also generously supported by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Special program support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
THE FINALISTS:
Born and raised in Canada, Lauren Bush relocated to London to pursue music on a new level. She recently released her debut album with the help of award-winning vocalist Ian Shaw as producer. Daughter of an accomplished jazz trumpeter father and music teacher mother, it is no surprise that she grew up with an aptitude for singing. Some highlights of her extensive travels around North America include opening for Maynard Ferguson, sharing the stage with Bobby McFerrin, and performing with her quartet at the Corpus Christi Jazz Festival two years running. In London, she played in Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room, among other venues.
Teira Lockhart Church was a finalist in the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. A jazz and contemporary singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, she has been honored by the Los Angeles Spotlight Awards (first place, 2007), the Reno Jazz Festival, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts' YoungArts Competition, and UCLA's Spring Sing Competition (grand prize, 2015). She has performed at some of the best known venues in L.A., like the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and LACMA, and collaborated with Ted Case on the album Purple Crayon. Church is an arts educator and social activist with Young Angels of America, which fosters a culture of philanthropy in adolescents.
An accomplished singer-songwriter, born and raised in London, Deelee Dubé often performs on London's live music circuit and is the resident singer at saxophonist Renato D'Aiello's "Acoustic Jazz Lounge" at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. She has been featured on several collaborative projects with renowned artistes and musicians, such as guitarist John Jallow, with whom she released the successful single, "Rainy Day Blues." Dubé's versatile and soulful voice has been heard by audiences throughout Europe and the U.S. Her sound has been compared to such greats as Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday.
Sinne Eeg has earned a loyal and rapidly growing fan base in her native Denmark and around the world for her distinctive vocals and original compositions. Born into a musical family, she studied at the prestigious Danish Music Conservatory and has received numerous awards, including the DR P2 Jazz Prize, four Danish Music Awards (Denmark's Grammy), the Ben Webster Prize (sole female recipient for the past 30 years), and the Prix du Jazz of the French Academie du Jazz. Eeg has made her mark in Japan, China and throughout Europe for her exquisite live performances and award-winning studio recordings. She cites Nancy Wilson, Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan as her influences
Detroit native Lauren Scales, the daughter of acclaimed jazz artists Charles and Gwen Scales, has been performing most of her life. A graduate of the University of Michigan, where she studied with Geri Allen, Ellen Rowe and many other artists, she is currently a songwriting and composition student at New York University. Scales received national recognition for her compositions in the 2016 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center. Blending her jazz background with soul, R&B, pop and classic rock influences, she enjoys taking classic tunes and re-harmonizing them in her own eclectic style.
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