Ingrid James - Australian Jazz Singer/Contemporary Voice Teacher/Lyricist

****NEW SINGLE**** "The Immigrant" was released by ABCJazz on Friday 16th August 2024 and is available on digital platforms. 

****FULL ALBUM RELEASE**** "Search for Peace" ABCJazz release on Friday 30th August 2024 on all digital platforms and physically. Recorded with Pete Churchill (piano), Samuel Vincent (bass) and Lachlan Hawkins (drums) in Australia.

CD LAUNCH @ 606 CLUB, LONDON on THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2024 - https://www.606club.co.uk/events/view/ingrid-james-pete-churchill-quartet-album-launch/

CD LAUNCH @ BRISBANE JAZZ CLUB on SATURDAY 18 JANUARY 2024

CD LAUNCH @ CARCLEW ARTS CENTRE, ADELAIDE on SUNDAY 19 JANUARY 2024

MORE DETAILS TO COME

INGRID JAMES is a Queensland-based, Australian jazz singer and voice educator. She has recently completed her Masters of Music Studies (Vocal Pedagogy) at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and has a private studio practice for 20 years. Alongside her private teaching practice, she has been mentor, tutor and guest lecturer at various music institutions and schools as well as a facilitator of workshops in Brisbane with visiting national and international artists. 

As a singer, recording artist and lyricist, Ingrid has had the privilege of being invited to work with talented musicians from around the world including Bill Watrous and Eric Marienthal on two recording projects based in Los Angeles with San Gabriel 7 called "Lost My Heart" and "Blue Confluence". 

Her local interests include producing and hosting a Jazz Singers' Jam Night since 2001, principally at the Brisbane Jazz Club). She is also Festival Director for the Brisbane Vocal Jazz Festival (from 2016 to the present) and Producer of International Jazz Day 2019 @ Brisbane Jazz Club/MBS Light (sponsored by Brisbane City Council), Producer/Host - Voices of Tomorrow (2020 to present) for high school jazz instrumentalists and vocalists.

Professor Pete Churchill, Royal Academy of Music, London observed when reviewing a recent international CD joint project with Alexis Tcholakian called "Trajectoire", that "most musicians begin their musical journey within their own community - this is where they receive the support and encouragement they need to develop and hone their skills. As time progresses they play further afield and interact with an increasingly wider circle of musicians and this can often take them away from home - a necessary migration in order to gain a broader perspective on the music they make. A few of these artists, a very few, spread out beyond their homeland and begin to take part in the global experience of making music...Ingrid James is one of these. A restless, spirit, Ingrid ventures far beyond Australian shores to Europe to record with an impressive array of international musicians - and yet, most importantly, she never forgets where she's from. She manages to balance this strong global instinct with a massive commitment to making music in her own community...a rare thing indeed...".

Newmarket Music has released 5 of Ingrid's CD's, Essence (all standards with Matt Baker and Adrian Cunningham), Circumflex (duo CD with John Reeves, piano), Portrait (joint project with Ingrid James and  Louise Denson - originals and re-arrangements of a few standards), Pangaea (collaboration with Paul Armstrong and Todd Harrison - all 70's songs set to South American rhythms with jazz musicians), and Trajectoire, a joint project between Ingrid (lyricists) and French pianist/composer Alexis Tcholakian (recorded in Paris and Australia) as well as joint-project, "Colours of your Love", by 9 piece ensemble Wild Silk Strings Project (a mix of originals and re-arrangements of songs by Erik Satie, KD Lang, Carole King, Supertramp), released nationally by MGM's The Planet Company in early September 2018.

WHAT CRITICS HAVE SAID ABOUT INGRID AND HER RECORDINGS:

"If this were the 50's Jazz era, Ingrid James would be performing alongside other greats such as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. She is by far one of the best jazz vocalists I have ever worked with. It's time for America to know and welcome this remarkable award winning Australian jazz vocalist." BILL WATROUS, 7 time winner Trombonist of the Year, Downbeat. USA

"Direct, and with just the right mix of experience, urbanity and poetry, [Ingrid James'] lyrics work so well it is hard to believe often that they didn't come first, before the melodies....Another nice balance across Trajectoire is that James has found the right point between the hip and the sweet...There is a unity that holds it all together, a major factor being James' warm and honeyed voice - like Dianne Reeves, a voice born for jazz." John Hardaker, Words about Music (CD- Trajectoire)

"Not one to shy away from a challenge, Ingrid james takes her writing and singing to another level, but it's her near perfect phrasing on Jimmy rowles The Peacocks that's worth the price of this album alone..." Peter Wockner, Jazz and Beyond (CD - Trajectoire)

"One of the top jazz singers from Australia, Ingrid James has a beautiful voice, a wide range, and the ability to sing difficult intervals with ease, hitting every note perfectly in-tune. She is also an original improvisor, always swings, and is skilled at embracing lyrics that she believes in..."  
Scott Yanow, author of The Jazz Singers, The Great Jazz Guitarists, Jazz on Film and Jazz on Record 1917-76  (CD - "Trajectoire")

"This album is a truly international undertaking - a global collaboration! Alexis and Ingrid guide us through a rich and compelling collection of vignettes...We are steered through an extraordinary range of emotions - songs of love, loss and longing, with brief detours into the hip American jazz-life..."

Pete Churchill, Professor of Jazz Composition (Royal Academy of Music, London) - CD - "Trajectoire"

"Australian vocalist and lyricist Ingrid James has collaborated with French pianist Alexis Tcholakian's trio for her fifth album "Trajectoire". The collaboration works well, creating a sophisticated collection of songs with depth and beauty..."

Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz, February 2016 - CD - "Trajectoire"

"Trajectoire is easily one of my favorite new records. Ingrid James is the kind of musician that immediately draws you in. Her vocal tone is total ear candy; warm, round and focussed and her music is deep and informed by a great many influences..."

Nick Mancini, US Vibraphonist/Composer - CD -  "Trajectoire"

"Her disciplined delivery is mouthwatering, hitting each word with pristine clarity while accenting each though with a silk, sultry resonance..." 

Mark Channon, USA Jazz Radio Presenter - WWUH Radio, W. Hartford, CT, USA (CD "Blue Confluence" )

"This project showcases the versatility of Ingrid's sultry, smooth sound as well as her wonderful intonation and musicality. At times she's out front with her unique vocal style and melodic interpretation. Then, just as easily, she's able to blend right into the horn section as if she were one of the instruments....The improvisations from Ingrid and the band are exciting and bring the music to an even higher level...." 

Eric Marienthal (USA saxophonist) - (CD "Blue Confluence")

"On this recording she whisks through with the ease and precision of a fleet-footed ballet dancer. Ingrid is a fluid balladeer who appeals to the emotions as she captivates our ears while masterfully painting word pictures....impeccable intonation, pinpoint articulation and the ability to navigate unusual intervals and angles with finesse, without ever losing the beauty of her God-given voice."
Mark Channon (USA Radio Presenter, WWUH Radio, W. Hartford, CT, USA) - (CD "Lost My Heart" )

"[Ingrid James has] passionate vocals which cut like musical light-sabres with each note - yet inject warmth and depth of meaning and pathos that only deep compassion can bring."
Noosa Jazz Festival, Australia - live performance

"Ingrid James, whose note-perfect delivery and depth of lyrical expression, has elevated her into the elite of Australia's musical talents."

Steve Robertson, Portland Observer 2012 - CD "Lost My Heart"