Vocalist & Performing Artist Nancy Scimone Jazz, Blues, Latin-Influenced, Swing, Classical Thanks for visiting my global home...  "I would strongly recommend you to any organization in need of a highly talented and personable performer with a virtuoso voice."  (Organizer, ZooFari, the National Zoo Fundraiser, Spring, 2009) "Your performance takes me to another place -- a good happy place."  (Audience Member, private party. Autumn, 2008)   Vocalist Nancy Scimone with Jazz Guitarist John Sessums. I perform with other talented jazz musicians for larger ensembles. The "Song List" page will give you an idea of the jazz standards, Latin-influenced blues tunes and swing that I sing.  You may have a favorite song that's not on my list here -- just ask, and I'll probably know it.   Click on the blue notes to hear a MELLOW jazz tune   Click on the blue notes for a very ROMANTIC song! The Twins Jazz Club performance on April 26 '09 with jazz guitarist John Sessums was wonderful fun.  We performed three sets.   Located in the heart of the exciting new U Street entertainment district -- what history, to be able to sing these songs on the same street where Duke Ellington strolled.     We performed some special American standards, bossa tunes, swing, a few blues, and also some fabulous tunes our audiences may not have heard before -- "Peel Me A Grape" is now one of my favorites!  A young couple traveling from Germany truly experienced a taste of American culture that evening. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ My performance with John Sessums at ZooFari, the National Zoo's annual fundraising gala, a premiere Washington event on Thursday, May 14th, was a spectacular evening.  We were joined by  100 of the DC area's master chefs, throngs of FONZ members, and of course some resident exotic birds that hovered to witness the entire event.    CONTACT:  Nancy Scimone music@nancyscimone.com (571) 232-1873 The Washington, DC area Jazz Clubs, Receptions, Art Galleries, Museums, Private Parties, Home Concerts, Business Events, Pool and Garden Parties, and Your Special Event        Nancy Scimone has performed solo concerts with orchestras, ensembles and theatre companies at the Kennedy Center, (Atrium Concerts, Annual Open House, and the Washington Opera) and solo concerts in Manhattan at Saint Peter's CitiCorp Center, Church of Our Savior, and the Liederkranz Club, as well as private House Concerts in Manhattan, and the Berklee Performance Center in Boston.  Her Festival work includes the Bar Harbor Maine Music Festival and Maryland Shakespeare Festival.  She's toured with her one-woman drama and her original compositions to Chicago, Philadelphia, through New England and the Midwest and Toronto.        Other Washington, DC area venues include Twins Jazz Club, Old Town Alexandria's Athenaeum, Torpedo Factory and Lyceum, DC's Colonel Brooks Tavern (with the Federal Jazz Commission) HR57, ZooFari/National Zoo, Lisner Auditorium in an all Bernstein program, the College of William & Mary, Georgetown University and the John Paul II Cultural Center.  She's performed a live TV broadcast before a live audience of 17,000.        A Washington Area Music Assoc. (WAMA) nominee for 'Best Classical Vocalist," (the award went to Placido Domingo) her strong musical foundation in classical vocal and piano serves her ability to work with professional musicians of all backgrounds.  Her experience in programming concerts translates into thoughtful and unusually entertaining programming for her jazz performances.       Nancy's musical education also includes the Berklee College of Music summer jazz performance program, where she studied with drummers Dave Weigert and Vinx, and vocalist Diane Richardson.  She has studied songwriting with Jason Blume and Pat Pattison.   Her vocal technique is her own synthesis of body awareness from singing jazz and formal studies with Patricia Miller (Ms. Miller's father was a long-time trombonist in DC with the Duke Ellington Band,) and Pierre Vallet (Metropolitan and Paris Operas) with whom she has performed solo concerts in New York City.   Nancy can also sing in French and Italian.       Audiences are drawn to Scimone's generous and people-loving entertaining on-stage performance energy.  The Washington Post defined her as "warm and enveloping," and "with winsome elegance."                    ________________________________________________________________      "Ella Fitzgerald is a major vocal and artistic influence and I constantly study her breathing -- she flows breath throughout the entire phrase, never allowing a consonant or interval to interrupt her stream of breath, like a stream of water, yet her diction is clear.   She exudes an understated elegance which I hear in players like Stan Getz, or from a Marsalis horn, or YoYo Ma's cello.  Chick Webb said when he first heard her that 'she sings like a trumpet player.'  I adore her."        "For my daily practice, I discipline myself to sing Bach and Mozart for at least five minutes for fluidity, strength and flexibility, before allowing myself to sing my Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Mercer, Jobim, and the other great composers.  These songs -- the way my heart hears them -- ask for the finesse to fly through large melodic intervals in scatting, to sing through long phrases, or to suspend a straight tone for a few bars, all with effortless ease.  I want to honor the song, the music, the composer, and the legacy of women like Ella Fitzgerald who have given this music the place it deserves."           ________________________________________________________________ For Booking, More Sound Files, Inquiries, and Promo Materials, please call (571) 232-1873  or email music@nancyscimone.com "Trust is the bridge that brings us home."