Before the Show > JANET PLANET & TOM THEABO
If you’re attending Jazzmeia’s 8:00 concert, stop by Venue 404 beforehand to catch Wisconsin’s beloved, WAMI-winning duo. | 5:00-7:00pm | 404 Main Street, Oshkosh — Just 2 blocks from The Howard
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Jazzmeia Horn
Jazz Coterie concert series presents 3X Grammy-nominated singer Jazzmeia Horn. Winner of Sarah Vaughan and Thelonious Monk Jazz Competitions, and perennial pick in the DownBeat Critics and Readers Poll. Featuring Julius Tucker on piano, Christian Dillingham on bass, and Greg Artry on drums.
“If nomenclature is destiny, Jazzmeia Horn was indeed born to swing.”
Blessed with a fitting name for her chosen path — it was Horn’s jazz-loving, piano-playing grandmother who chose “Jazzmeia” — the singer was born in Dallas in 1991, grew up in a tightly knit, church-going family filled with musical talent and started singing as a toddler.
She attended Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts, known for launching such musical greats as Roy Hargrove, Norah Jones, and Erykah Badu. Her education included steering herself to the mentors who would guide her passion for jazz, like Bobby McFerrin, Abbey Lincoln, and Betty Carter.
“Horn is among the most exciting young vocalists in jazz, with a proud traditionalism that keeps her tightly linked to the sound of classic figures like Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter, but a vivacity of spirit and conviction that places her firmly in the present.”
In 2009, Horn moved to New York City to enroll in The New School’s jazz and contemporary music program. An intense four years of training and performing followed. In short order, her talent began to be noticed. That same year she had her first live radio show on WBGO, and performed at The Apollo, Ginny's Supper Club, and the Metropolitan Room.
In 2013, Jazzmeia won the premier contest for jazz singers named for an initial inspiration — the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition. In 2015, she won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, the most coveted award any jazz musician can hope to attain. Part of her prize was landing a recording contract with Concord Records.
“If there’s a breakout star, it is the charismatic 28-year-old vocalist Jazzmeia Horn, whose given name seems to have preordained her for an improvisational life.”
“Her singing is exuberant, her original songs reveal a sturdy intellect, and her message is nothing less than everything the title implies.”
Two years later, Jazzmeia Horn released her 2017 debut album, A Social Call. It was ranked the #1 album of the year by JazzWeek. It earned Jazzmeia her first Grammy nomination which led to a performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Award Ceremony.
Jazzmeia’s follow-up album, Love & Liberation, earned her second Grammy nomination in 2020 for best jazz vocal album. And, Ms. Horn's most recent album, Messages, just released this past October to great critical acclaim.
As a composer, Jazzmeia writes songs of personal relevance and social message. Musically, Horn’s compositions both breathe and bend jazz tradition, with touches of R&B and hip-hop, revealing a marked inventiveness and a love for a good melodic line.
“The next big carrier of straight-ahead jazz’s vocal tradition.”
Over the years, Jazzmeia has perfected a fearless approach to improvisation and performance in general. Horn is among the vanguard in jazz, using her knowledge of the canon to inform decisions firmly rooted in traditional parts of the genre, while still adding in contemporary ideas, themes and music.
Jazzmeia Horn has toured extensively around the world, including the United States, Asia, South Africa, Russia, England, and throughout Europe.
“One of jazz’s brightest young stars, playing to big crowds in Europe and Asia and earning rave reviews from critics and peers alike.”