Listening to: Pauline Jean

Biography



Jazz vocalist Pauline Jean is a native New Yorker of Haitian descent. In 2007 Pauline graduated cum laude from the Berklee College of Music and received her BM degree in Vocal Performance. After graduating from Berklee, Pauline returned to New York and immediately became actively involved in the music community. With a new and fresh approach to a classic art form, Pauline’s repertoire includes original compositions, unique arrangements of the standards and traditional Afro-Haitian music fused with jazz. Her musical renditions are performed both in English and in her parents’ native tongue kreyòl. Pauline’s velvet husky contralto instantly draws comparisons to legendary vocalists such as Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone and Phyllis Hyman.

Pauline’s extraordinary performances have led her to share the stage with a variety of music luminaries such as Nina Simone’s percussionist Leopoldo Fleming, Randy Weston, Dave Valentin, Ted Curson, Frank Foster, Terri Lyne Carrington, Luis Perdomo, Miriam Sullivan and Emeline Michel.

Pauline has been featured in many venues such as: Scullers Jazz Club, St. Peter’s Church, Metropolitan Room, Kitano, Chelsea Art Museum, Zinc Bar, Cachaca, SOB’s, Sage Theater, Enzo’s Jazz Room, Berklee Performance Center, as well as the 2nd Annual Women in Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival-New York, Haitian Jazz Festival and St. Kitts-Nevis SAS Jazz Reggae Vibes Festival. She continues to perform locally and internationally.

Pauline’s self-produced debut CD A Musical Offering will be released in June 2009. The recording is earthy yet stirring and best described as swingin’, bluesy, soulful and world. Musicians on this project include: Sharp Radway (piano), Corcoran Holt (bass), Alvin Atkinson, Jr. (drums), McClenty Hunter (drums), Markus Schwartz (perc.), Marcelo Woloski (perc.), Jean Caze (trumpet) and Thaddeus Hogarth (harmonica).

For more info. about Pauline, visit her website at www.paulinejean.com.

Home: New York, NY

Press Quotes


“…Pauline Jean, one of the most talented vocalists in the field.” JVC Jazz Festival 2007, New York

“Shimmery, sensuous Pauline Jean pays tribute to the jazz/soul icon, Nina Simone. --it was clear from the outset that she would lovingly present both Simone's music and her oft-declared-in-song emotional response to being a woman and being black. “ Cabaret Scenes Magazine


“She commanded the audience’s attention…with a voice and stage presence made for jazz, Pauline indeed is a force to look out for.” HaitianBeatz.com