Critically acclaimed jazz vocalist Libby York, who divides her time between Chicago, New York and Key West, brings her trio to the Mainstay in Rock Hall on Saturday June 12 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $15. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Libby York is a jazz vocalist whose work has received glowing reviews from some of the most influential jazz writers and publications in the nation. In writing about York, Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times said she has, “… a voice like amber–dense, rich and imbued with an enchanting hint of smokiness–York proves that simple beauty is often the most stunning.” And Nate Chinen of the New York Times said, “Ms. York is a jazz singer of cool composure and artful subtlety….” Variety raved about her “intimate, richly textured singing voice and warm casual radiance,” while John McDonough of Downbeat Magazine said, “Stylish and cosmopolitan with a broad streak of lush life urbanity, Libby York has a sound that recalls, without any condescension or gratuitous nostalgia, the slightly world weary, been around the block ennui of post war Anita O’Day, Chris Connor and Sarah Vaughn.” and then goes on to praise “York’s slightly husky elegance.”
Joining Libby York at the Mainstay will be guitarist Paul Wingo and bassist Jeff Reed. As The Libby York Trio, they recently completed a live recording at Blues Alley in Washington DC which will be available later this year. Paul Wingo has shared the stage with Phil Woods, Charlie Byrd and Pepper Adams as well as performed with Steve Allen, Dinah Shore and Tony Martin while Jeff Reed has performed in over 20 countries worldwide with Eddie Henderson, Paquito D’Rivera and Billy Hart.
Libby York was born and raised in Chicago where her grandfather was a prominent florist. She came east to college at American University in Washington, DC, and graduated with a degree in Political Science. She was one of three creators of the Back Porch Cafe in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the seaside resort popular with Washingtonians. The Cafe is still a fixture on the Eastern Shore after thirty years.
York then moved to New York City and during her dozen years there studied with the renowned jazz singer Abby Lincoln, who she says, “taught me about the truth and soul of a song.” She was also the featured vocalist with Swing Street, an eight-piece band that performed in concerts all over New York. She even had a brief stint as a production assistant at “Saturday Night Live.” During this time, she met pianist Renee Rosnes and started working with her in various nightclubs, including The Orchid, an Eastside club, where she also booked performers.
In 1994 she moved back to Chicago and began singing in clubs there. Five years later, her 1999 CD debut release, Blue Gardenia, received highly favorable reviews and international radio airplay. JazzTimes magazine said, “A seasoned and languorous voice, York breathes feeling into all these numbers.” Jazziz called her, “One of the important women in jazz.” UK Jazz in London said, “Laid back, cool… a knockout first recording.”
Her 2004 release, Sunday in New York, received rave reviews including 4 Stars in DownBeat magazine. In JazzTimes, Christopher Loudon described Sunday in New York as “a delectable all-standards program” and praised York’s “tremendous Anita O’Day appeal” as well as her “bravura dexterity.” Jazz Review’s John Gilbert called York “a master vocalist with a deep well of talent at her disposal,” and in All About Jazz, Dr. Judith Schlesinger asserted: “York is relaxed, subtle, and infinitely tender, especially on the ballads… you can hear the smile in her voice.” Sunday in New York’s liner notes were written by the renowned Chicago-based jazz critic and radio personality, Neil Tesser, who wrote: “York finds the complicated emotional center of a lyric and sets it out with disarming simplicity.”
Her most recent recording is Here With You. In it, York demonstrates that she can be a singer, producer and label owner all at once. “Sometimes,” York asserts, “being both the producer and the vocalist is very challenging, to say the least, but I like having control over what is happening. This is the first project that I have completely done myself without someone else’s label involved. Producing Here With You was a learning experience, and I feel really great about the way this record came together.” So did veteran critic Alex Henderson (Billboard, Spin, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Cash Box, to name a few) who said her new album is “a richly rewarding addition to the American Songbook catalog”.
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker contributor and author (Paris To The Moon, Through The Children’s Gate), was so taken by York’s voice and style, that he offered to write the liner notes for Here With You”. In them Gopnik said “…the miracle of jazz singing as good as this, is that a voice’s encounter with words manages not only to produce the emotion the songwriters put in but add another new emotion of the singer’s own.”
For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
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