“Onstage, Newell is a casual presence, cracking jokes, playing to the audience. But she is also a strong bandleader...Newell is very good, it seems, at creating the exact context she is seeking at the very moment she desires it...Newell will take the music deep into those personal places, the cracks in our armor, where jazz is free to go. ” - Tim Ghiring, Senior Writer
— Minnesota Monthly
Longer Bio/Press Release:
Lucia Newell
jazz vocalist / composer / lyricist
Lucia Newell has sung in jazz clubs, concert halls and festivals around the world. She performed for two years at Clube 21 in Rio de Janeiro, six months at El Señorial in Mexico City, and in concert with the great Billy Eckstine, the Rio Jazz Orchestra, Oscar Castro Neves, Osmar Milito, Nilson Matta, Luiz Eça, Celia Vaz, Departure Point, and many others. Her appearance with the JazzMn Big Band persuaded many audience members to suggest an early return engagement with Paquito D’Rivera. Lucia spent years singing background vocals on recordings for Windham Hill, CBS, Warner Bros., MCA, GIA, Atlantic, A&M and Virgin Records, recording with Ben Sidran, Thelma Houston, Paula Abdul, Patty Austin, and others in London, New York, Los Angeles, Rio, and at home in Minneapolis. She can also be heard on local and national TV and radio jingles, and on a variety of children’s and teaching recordings. Lucia has received special recognition from the Minnesota Jazz Awards and released the critically acclaimed CD Enter You, Enter Lovewith guitarist Joan Griffith, now in its third issue, and is featured on Laura Caviani’s jazzy Christmas CD, Angels We Haven’t Heard, the 2006 release with Soul Café, The Poetry of Jazz, Pablo Neruda meets Rodgers & Hart and most recently on the 2010 release with Alma Brasileira, Circle of the Dance. Lucia’s 2004 release, Steeped in Strayhorn, is a collaboration with the highly charged sextet, Pete Whitman’s Departure Point, featuring the music of the great Billy Strayhorn. She is currently working on her own compositions and collaborations with Twin Cities jazz musicians.
Visit www.LuciaNewell.com
Short Press Release:
Lucia Newell has sung in jazz clubs, concert halls and festivals around the world and at home in the Twin Cities. She spent years singing background vocals on major label recordings, and can be heard on local and national TV and radio jingles, and on a variety of children’s and teaching recordings. Lucia has received special recognition from the Minnesota Jazz Awards and released the critically acclaimed CD Enter You, Enter Love with guitarist Joan Griffith, now in its third issue, and is featured on Laura Caviani’s jazzy Christmas CD, Angels We Haven’t Heard, the recording with Soul Café, The Poetry of Jazz, Pablo Neruda meets Rodgers & Hart and on the release with Alma Brasileira, Circle of the Dance. Lucia’s Steeped in Strayhorn, is a collaboration with the highly charged sextet, Pete Whitman’s Departure Point, featuring the music of the great Billy Strayhorn. She is currently at work on a new CD of her own compositions and songs written with Twin Cities musicians.
Visit: www.LuciaNewell.com
Very short PR: (60 words or less)
Lucia Newell has sung in jazz clubs, concert halls, studios and festivals around the world. She has received special recognition from the Minnesota Jazz Awards, can be heard on several CDs, including the critically acclaimed releases Enter You, Enter Love and Steeped in Strayhorn. A native of Minneapolis, Lucia is also a composer, lyricist and teacher.
Please visit: www.LuciaNewell.com
Quotes:
“Lucia Newell turns out to be one of those gifted vocalists whose conception and intelligence is transcendent. Add to that some well crafted and conceived arrangements played with snap, crackle, and the requisite pop, and you have over an hour of music that is alive with authentic Jazz affirmation. Strayhorn would be very happy and proud.”
—Alan Bargebuhr, Cadence Magazine
“Onstage, Newell is a casual presence, cracking jokes, playing to the audience. But she is also a strong bandleader...Newell is very good, it seems, at creating the exact context she is seeking at the very moment she desires it...Newell will take the music deep into those personal places, the cracks in our armor, where jazz is free to go.”
—Tim Ghiring, Senior Writer, Minnesota Monthly
"Lucia Newell's voice is a wonderful instrument with a warm and pure jazz sound that elegantly dresses up these standards and Brazilian ballads."
—Ben Sidran
“Lucia Newell's lifelong love affair with the music of Brazil is well documented... So is Newell's easy going command of Great American Songbook standards."
—Tom Surowicz, Twin Cities Reader
"As reader or singer, Lucia Newell is a magnificent interpreter who communicates through intonation, phrasing, faultless diction (in two languages) and a husky contralto... Lucia turns her heart inside out, filling the air with the emptiness and despair the lyrics demand."
—Andrea Canter, Jazz Police
Lucia Newell – Short Review Quotes
“...one of the most powerful vocalists on the Twin Cities scene.”
— Minnesota Monthly
“Lucia’s a real jazz singer...”
— Minnesota Monthly
“...one of those gifted vocalists whose conception and intelligence is transcendent.”
— Cadence Magazine
“...Newell sings in her low, burnished alto. And you believe her.”
— Minnesota Monthly
“...would shine in any international concert hall."
— Manchete, Brasil
“...striking is the warmth and evocativeness of Newell's voice, especially when she's singing in Portuguese..."
--- Minnesota Monthly
Press Photos
