Revered as both a torchbearer and a storyteller, jazz vocalist Vanessa Rubin possesses a voice hailed with crystalline clarity, hearth-like warm, emotional depth and keen burnished wisdom she can deliver with playful lioness sass. The Cleveland native brings a wealth of diverse influences to her vocal performances. From swing to bossa nova to blues, ballads and contemporary covers performed with small and large ensembles, Rubin’s interpretive ability to move through the Great American Songbook to modern jazz composers/arrangers like Tadd Dameron and Horace Silver to contemporary composers as Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers and Sting is masterful. “The Great American Songbook continues to expand with songs by outstanding composers who can paint pictures of the life of our times with their unique melodies and lyric that also stand the test of time”, Rubin asserts.
Rubin’s passion for rich musical stories is evidenced throughout her nine recordings as a leader plus numerous guest appearances. A recipient of numerous awards and citations, she is most proud of a 2011 Kevin Klein Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical called Yesterdays: An Evening with Billie Holiday in which she performed a one-woman show about the life and music of the iconic jazz singer. The Dream Is You, her most recent self-produced recording and the first all-vocal tribute to another native Clevelander known as “the romanticist of the bebop period”, Tadd Dameron, enthusiastically garnered a 2020 nomination at the 51st NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Jazz Album. Rubin continues to be a favorite at jazz clubs and festivals here in the US and abroad. Her work as a performing artist, writer, producer, clinician/educator at educational institutions, as well as her most recent 2021 endeavor, curator and producer of Sundown Jazz @ V’s Place, an outdoor summer performance jazz series in Cleveland, Ohio is ongoing.
The Trio
Brandon McCune, Pianist
Brandon McCune is an experienced professional, educator and multi-instrumentalist with specific concentration in jazz, classical and gospel genres. Brandon has worked as bandleader, music director or as a sideman for numerous jazz luminaries as Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter and Wynton Marsalis in addition to helping to establish several outreach community music programs in New Jersey.
Kenny Davis, Bassist
Kenny Davis is a first call American jazz bassist for world class artists like Herbie Hancock, Frank Wess, Dianne Reeves, Freddie Hubbard, and Art Farmer to name a few, and has covered the bass chair for numerous popular Broadway shows. Davis who studied with bass legend Ron Carter, can be heard on over 400 jazz recordings and was bassist for Kevin Eubanks Tonight Show band from 1999-2002. Davis enjoys a reputation as a consummate professional, band leader and favored sideman while possessing a prowess on the bass that can range from classic stalwart support to rhythmically complex and soulful grooves on both electric and contrabass.
Winard Harper, Drummer
“Spreading the joy that jazz brings” is the quest to which this celebrated jazz drummer and bandleader has dedicated himself. To experience the captivating and dynamic style of Winard Harper, is to hear the blending influences of his predecessors with his own creative signature sound. Bands in which he played led by jazz icons like Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Betty Carter, Pharoah Sanders and Dr. Billy Taylor are just a few from which he draws inspiration. As curator of Meet The Artist Series on Sunday’s in Jersey City, NJ, Winard brings this great American art form we know as jazz back to the community.
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