Tina May is one of the most talented and highly accomplished British Jazz singers/lyricists of our time, and been releasing successful albums for over a decade. She is currently in the process of adding yet another to the list with her thirteenth album, entitled ‘Tina May Sings the Ray Bryant Song Book.’ in which she has collaborated with the ‘jazz great’ Ray Bryant.
Tina’s captivating three-octave dusky soprano voice and her ambition and drive have enabled her to perform all over the world with legendary Jazz artists and producers, including Humphrey Lyttelton, Stan Tracey, Ray Bryant, Bobby Watson, Don Sickler, Roger Guerain, the BBC Big Band and Nikki Iles.
She began singing with her first quintet in 1990, and it soon became apparent that Tina was a highly accomplished Jazz artist, lyricist, and performer. Over the years this has won her worldwide critical acclaim and many awards. In 1998, she was presented with the vocal jazz award at the BT Jazz Awards having topped the critics’ choice for several years prior to that. From 2000-2004 she was the professor of ‘Jazz Voice’ at the Royal Academy of music in London, and in 2002 was presented with the ‘Outstanding Service to Jazz Education’ award at the IAJE (International Association of Jazz Education) in Long Beach, California. More recently she was nominated for the ‘Best Jazz Vocalist’ at the 2005 BBC jazz awards.In 1995 Tina began a great musical partnership with Nikki Iles and her trio which has continued to flourish over the years and has resulted in several highly successful albums being recorded, the most recent being ‘A Wing And A Prayer’ which received excellent reviews.
"A Wing and a Prayer is a contemplative album, it's full of subtle activity. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, a duet with Stan Sulzmann, is a standout track, with May's sliding pitching and airy sound dancing around his Cool School-inflected phrasing. Nikki Iles's piano is full of rich implications, subtle turns and mellow harmonies, and it's beautifully recorded: the deep resonances seem to come up through the floor. Iles slyly boogies alongside May on Who Can I Turn To?, while, on Black Narcissus, the pair are tied so close together that they sound like one instrument. But for fans of the orthodox romantic ballad, meticulously but freshly performed, it's a state-of-the-art exercise."
John Fordham - The Guardian Sept 2006
"Tina May and Nikki Iles have a rapport that takes a partnership between singer and pianist to a stage far beyond mere voice plus accompaniment. A distinctive atmosphere surrounds everything they do together, a kind of wistfulness, even at the most lively moments….The whole thing is a treat, but the title song, by Tina May and Kenny Wheeler, is quite outstanding."
Dave Gelly - The Observer 3rd September 2006"There is a lot of very routine jazz singing out there these days, but this definitely does not fall into that category. Lesser artists such as Stacey Kent and Clare Teal may have grabbed the headlines, but Tina May remains the most expressive and technically gifted jazz singer on the UK scene. This beautifully performed outing with pianist Nikki Iles and saxophonist Stan Sulzmann features a mix of standards with a couple of more modern jazz compositions by Kenny Barron and Kenny Wheeler."
Kenny Mathieson - Scotsman 11th August 2006
Jazz aficionados know her as the consummate vocalist on a classic series of twelve albums which embrace everything from traditional standards to contemporary songs from Kern, Ellington and Gerschwin, Paul Simon, Chick Corea and Tony Newley.
Tina’s latest release, ‘Tina May sings the Ray Bryant Song book’, is undeniably one of her most impressive achievements to date and is set to win her many new admirers.
Dave Gelly The Observer 12th Dec 2006
This is the kind of album that restores your faith in Jazz as lively, entertaining, grown-up music. As a jazz singer, Tina May boasts the virtues of Anita O’Day, Annnie Ross and Blossom Dearie all rolled into one and brought up to date for today’s audiences. She wrote the lyrics for six of these thirteen songs too. Ray Bryant is gold plated jazz royalty, having played piano with absolutely everyone for the best part of half-a-century, and he writes tunes that are both clever and melodic. Put the pair together and a good New York band and the result is simply sublime.
Visit Tina's website for more information www.tinamay.com
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