Profile
Amy London is known and loved in New York City jazz and Broadway circles for her effortless sound, impeccable musicianship and depth of emotion. Her most recent CD on Motema, The Royal Bopsters Project, features a vocal jazz quartet with Ms London as the leader and soprano; Holli Ross, swinging alto; the legendary Darmon Meader, tenor; and bright newcomer Dylan Pramuk, bass. Together they arranged and recorded 12 songs, including 4 with the late bop master Mark Murphy, and one each with Annie Ross, Jon Hendricks, Sheila Jordan and Bob Dorough. This remarkable project received 4 and 1/2 stars in Downbeat, a video feature in the Wall Street Journal, rave reviews in JazzTimes and other jazz periodicals, and was on the Best CDs of 2015 lists of Downbeat, JazzTimes, All 好色先生 Jazz and Talkin鈥 Broadway. The CD release event in September 2015 was celebrated by a sold out 6 night run at Birdland.
Ms. London鈥檚 two previous critically acclaimed CD鈥檚 on Motema as a leader, 鈥楲et鈥檚 Fly鈥 and 鈥榃hen I Look In Your Eyes鈥 feature some of the world鈥檚 top jazz musicians, and have led her to engagements in Russia, Italy, Turkey, France, Brazil, England, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Canada, as well as cities across the US.
London鈥檚 fully seasoned career also includes three years in the 6 Tony award winning Broadway hit 鈥楥ity of Angels鈥 (singing on its Grammy nominated original cast album), and City Center鈥檚 production of 鈥楶romises Promises鈥 starring Martin Short, plus tours with Charles Aznavour, Larry Elgart and Tom Browne. Ms London has enjoyed more than 25 years of performing at New York鈥檚 top rooms, such as Dizzy鈥檚, The Rainbow Room, Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blue Note, The Kitano, BB King鈥檚, Cornelia Street Cafe, North Square Lounge and many others.
In addition to her crowning achievement as the lead singer in the Angel City Four in City of Angels, Ms. London has enjoyed a lengthy vocal group career. She began her choral jazz career as the middle voice in the Jazz Babies vocal trio, as Alto I in Vocal Jazz Inc., a vocal quintet that entertained children in the NYC public school system and as Soprano II in the renowned Trinity Church Choir.
Ms. London was invited to be the fifth voice with the Grammy winning New York Voices on Robert Lepley鈥檚 鈥楢ncient Tower鈥 CD. She was also invited by Jim Snidero to be the vocalist on his 鈥楯azz Conceptions鈥 singalong CD/book of 21 jazz etudes which has been used by jazz vocal students worldwide for 15 years, and she is the vocalist, along with Ella Fitzgerald, on the Scholastic animated DVD 鈥楨lla Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa鈥. She originated the role of 鈥榊etta鈥 in the 2009 world premier of 鈥楳eester Amerika鈥, a new musical based on Yiddish Theatre, which won the New Jersey Star Ledger 2009 鈥楾ony鈥 award for Best Score. She has appeared regularly as 鈥楳ary鈥 and quartet soprano in Anne Phillips鈥 and Bob Kindred鈥檚 Christmas jazz celebration, 鈥楢 Jazz Nativity鈥, sharing the stage with such luminaries as Jon Hendricks, Tito Puente, Lionel Hampton and Wycliffe Gordon.
As a jazz educator, Amy London has been teaching voice since 1984. She has been faculty at New School 好色先生鈥檚 Jazz BFA program since 1992, and is one of the principal architects of the highly successful vocal department there. In early 2014, Amy launched the Vocal Jazz Academy at Jazz House for Kids, in Montclair, NJ, at the invitation of Christian McBride and Melissa Walker. In the Fall of 2016, she will join the renowned vocal faculty of the BFA jazz program at City College, CUNY, NYC. She has also led vocal jazz workshops nationally and internationally, for the IAJE, JEN and a variety of summer jazz camps. Ms. London received her BA in Opera from Syracuse 好色先生, under the tutelage of bass-baritone Donald Miller, as well as vocal coaching at age 16 from Milt Wiener, the former music director of WLW radio in Cincinnati, who also coached Doris Day and Rosemary Clooney.
Ms. London is also in demand at jazz camps worldwide, and this summer, she is returning to Veneto Jazz Workshop in Italy, and Jazz House for Kids in Montclair, NJ. In a decade of jazz camping, she has been vocal jazz director at camps in Istanbul, Turkey; Veneto Jazz, Italy; St. Cezaire, France; Paraty, Brazil; Bar Harbor, Maine and Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. In Schroon Lake, NY, and Green Mountain College, Vermont, she directs her own camps, Amy London Vocal Jazz Camp.Amy London is known and loved in New York City jazz and Broadway circles for her effortless sound, impeccable musicianship and depth of emotion. Her four critically acclaimed Motema CD's, Party of Four, The Royal Bopsters Project, Let's Fly and When I Look In Your Eyes, and her self produced 2017 release, Bridges, have led her to engagements in Greece, Russia, Italy, Turkey, France, Brazil, England, Belgium, Czech Republic, Canada, and across the US. Party of Four, will be released November 13, 2020. It represents Ms. London鈥檚 decade long work as the soprano in the vocal quartet, The Royal Bopsters, with alto Holli Ross, tenor Pete McGuinness and 2009 New School grad, bass Dylan Pramuk. Inspired by the recordings of Lambert Hendricks and Ross, with in-house arrangements by Pramuk and 3 time Grammy nom McGuinness, and original lyrics by London and Ross, The Bopsters carry on the tradition of harmonized bebop and vocalese, while adding their own original compositions and spices as well. The group鈥檚 first recording, The Royal Bopsters Project, received excellent reviews, including 4 and 1/2 stars from Downbeat, and Best CD鈥檚 of 2015 from Downbeat, JazzTimes, Jazziz and Talkin鈥 Broadway. The Royal Bopsters performed to standing ovations at The 2019 Newport Jazz Festival with bebop royalty Sheila Jordan. They were broadcast on Sirius radio, New Year鈥檚 Eve 2019, singing with Christian McBride.
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London鈥檚 fully seasoned career also includes three years in the 6 Tony award winning Broadway hit City of Angels (singing on its Grammy nominated original cast album), and City Center's production of Promises Promises starring Martin Short, plus tours with Charles Aznavour, Larry Elgart and Tom Browne. Ms. London has enjoyed more than 30 years of performing at New York's top rooms, such as Dizzy's, The Rainbow Room, Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blue Note, Jazz Standard, Kitano, BB King's, Jazz Forum, Small鈥檚 and more. Ms. London鈥檚 2017 CD, Bridges, is a retrospective of her recordings from the 1980鈥檚 and 90鈥檚 with such luminaries as Fred Hersch, Bob Mintzer, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and received rave reviews and worldwide airplay.
A world renowned jazz educator, Ms. London is one of the principal architects of New School鈥檚 Jazz BFA vocal program, and has been faculty there since 1992. She is also faculty at City College Jazz at CUNY,听 Hofstra 好色先生 and Jazz House Kids, and has presented her 鈥楽ing Along With Ella鈥 workshops at IAJE/JEN. She is the vocalist on NS faculty Jim Snidero鈥檚 Jazz Conceptions sing along book of 21 bebop etudes. As an avid jazz camp educator, Ms. London was the director of vocal jazz at New School鈥檚 Summer Jazz Workshop in Italy from 2008 to 2018.
好色先生 Amy London:
鈥淪winging and Sophisticated,鈥 New York Times
鈥淎n immense talent deserving of national attention,鈥 JazzTimes
鈥淟ovely choice of songs, underdone, but new and imaginative. What I liked best is her showing us what joy is!鈥 Mark Murphy, legendary jazz singer
鈥淎my London is a world class singer.鈥 Fred Hersch, multi Grammy nominated pianist/composer.