Gillian Margot
Having an exquisite voice, a disarmingly wide range and a style that is deeply rooted in the tradition of the great jazz vocalists, Gillian Margot possesses a gift of storytelling and stunning lyrical delivery. A native of Toronto, Canada, Margot studied under a generation of jazz legends including Oscar Peterson, Freddy Cole, Carol Welsman, and Norman Simmons. Equally at home in the musical worlds of jazz, R&B, chamber, and pop, she has been invited to perform in major venues worldwide with a long list of top-tier talent, including rock icon Sting, famed soprano Kathleen Battle, jazz stars Jeremy Pelt and Chris Botti, and GRAMMY®-awarded artists Robert Glasper and Geoffrey Keezer. Additionally, her voice can be heard in commercials, feature films, and television programs including Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees (IMAX 2002), New Year (Doublesee 2010), Lethal Weapon (FOX 2016), The Young and The Restless (2016-2019), and One Good Reason (Alone.Calm 2020). Margot’s new album entitled Power Flower, builds on her unique and emotive interpretations of American Standards. A deeply soothing homage to her influences in the Jazz, Pop, and Funk of the 70s and 80s, Margot spent two and a half years building the work; selecting seasoned titans Geoffrey Keezer, Billy Kilson, Seamus Blake, Ingrid Jensen, and Munyungo Jackson. Included in the liner notes is the phrase ‘All vocals recorded without use of any pitch correction technology,’ which sums up the attention she has paid to Power Flower. The song selection reveals the same care; three rare covers from Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Sample are balanced with three originals and a wonderful arrangement of the traditional song “Black Is The Color (Of My True Love’s Hair).” Power Flower released in Japan in December 2019 (Coreport), globally in October 2020 (Ropeadope Records) and on vinyl in March 2021.
HELEN SUNG - PIANO Helen Sung is an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer, and a newly named 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. A native of Houston, Texas, and graduate of its High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), she eschewed her classical piano upbringing after a jazz epiphany during undergraduate studies at UT Austin. Helen went on to become part of the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute (now the Herbie Hancock Institute) at the New England Conservatory of Music. Her recent releases Sung With Words (Stricker Street), a collaborative project with renowned poet Dana Gioiafunded by a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant, and Anthem For A New Day (Concord Jazz) topped the jazz charts. Helen and her band have performed at major American festivals and venues including Newport, Monterey, Disney Hall, SFJAZZ, and Carnegie Hall. Internationally, her “NuGenerations" Project toured southern Africa as a U.S. State Department Jazz Ambassador, and recent engagements include debuts at the London Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Blue Note Beijing, and the Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival. She has performed with such luminaries as the late Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis (who named her as one of his "Who's Got Next: Jazz Musicians to Watch!"), MacArthur Fellow Regina Carter, and Grammy-winning artists including Terri Lyne Carrington, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and the Mingus Big Band. Helen is a Steinway Artistand has served on the jazz faculties at Berklee College of Music, the Juilliard School, and Columbia University, where she also was the inaugural jazz artist-in-residence at Columbia's prestigious Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute.
"Margot’s smoky contralto, solid pitch and warm delivery might remind some listeners of Dianne Reeves,
and her multi-tracked background voices are a creative plus.” — NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
“…a rich, clear and earthy voice, both rhythmic and free… strong in voice yet vulnerable in spirit,
conversant and still melodic… This lady needs to be heard!” — L.A. JAZZ WEEKLY
Instagram: @mizmargoh
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gillianmargot
@sung_helen (Instagram)