The University of Toledo Department of Music will welcome jazz vocalist Kim Nazarian of New York Voices as the guest performer for the 2019 Jon Hendricks Memorial Jazz Scholarship Concert.
The concert will be held Tuesday, April 2, at 7 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall.
Nazarian
Along with the many recordings Nazarian has made with New York Voices, she is proud to be one of the featured voices on Bobby McFerrin’s “VOCAbuLarieS” CD. Another recent professional highlight is her collaboration with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the Manchester Craftman’s Guild on a concert tour dedicated to the late, great Ella Fitzgerald.
Nazarian also is part of a special program called “Vocalese,” created by visionary producer Larry Rosen, which has integrated New York Voices with the Manhattan Transfer and Jon Hendricks.
The Ithaca College graduate specializes in teaching vocal technique and the art of ensemble singing. For the past three years, she has represented the USA as a judge for the International A Cappella Competition in Graz, Austria. She will be a guest teacher in Germany this summer.
Nazarian has conducted the New York and Arizona All-State Jazz Choirs, and many area and district jazz choirs in the United States. Her highly acclaimed workshops have been presented at the Jazz Education Network and many state Music Educators Association conferences.
In addition to her extensive studio credits as a movie score and jingle singer, some of Nazarian’s other recordings include “Red Dragonfly in NY” produced by Jiro Yoshida; “Long Ago and Far Away,” an original children’s radio show; and guest appearances on “An Afternoon in Rio” with guitarist Joe Negri (the handyman on “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood”); “Two Worlds” with Boston-based band El Eco; and Mark Shilansky’s “Join the Club” release.
In 2015, Nazarian released her first solo disc titled “Some Morning.” Guests on the recording include Paquito D’Rivera, Gary Burton, John Pizzarelli and Sean Jones.
Hendricks, a jazz legend, was one of the originators of vocalese, a jazz singing technique in which a vocalist improvises lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with his or her voice and that of other vocalists. Hendricks was a beloved member of the University Music Department faculty in the Jazz Studies Program for many years before he passed away in November 2017.
Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Jon Hendricks Memorial Scholarship Fund at The University of Toledo.
Tickets — $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors — are available in advance from the Center for Performing Arts Box Office at 419.530.2787 or online at the School of Visual and Performing Arts’ website. Tickets also will be available at the door.
