Melissa Kassel

MyGen Profile GeneratorMelissa Kassel is renown for her bold and expressive vocal style that has been praised by both music critics and jazz enthusiasts throughout the world. She is an evocative performer whose sensitivity to the nuances of words and phrasing, unique use of microtones, and raw passion, enable her to transcend to the “cutting edge” of jazz vocalization.
Reviews:
“As a contributing editor to DOWNBEAT and JAZZIZ among other publications, I’ve heard countless debut albums from women singers that are safe, pleasant, and, well, forgettable. Melissa Kassel, glad to say, dares to be different and real imagination and passion to her close study of tone, intonation, and phrasing on “Live at the Acton Jazz Café.”
--FRANK-JOHN-HADLEY.
“The past ten years have been a golden age for Jazz, depending on your definition of the genre, jazz-related instrumentalists. Many have a working knowledge of several genres and have been synthesizing them in many ways to create a flowering of new styles. However, there hasn’t been anything like this sort of evolution in the jazz vocalist area. Betty Carter’s breakthrough work finally gained her some attention during the last dozen years…Boston Based Melissa Kassel’s live CD, though, gives us reason to hope. A powerful, emotional artist…she alters themes until they become paraphrases of the original melodies, employing microtones in the process. She brings all of her, by jazz standards, wide range into play. She swoops, she bends notes, she lays behind the beat, then catches up with it. Dynamically, and texturally her work contains a good deal of contrast, sometimes she shouts, she growls, sometimes she almost whispers the lyrics...she’s among the best jazz vocalists to emerge in years.”
--HARVEY PEKAR 90.9 WBUR BOSTON’S NPR NEWS STATION.
“For a debut recording, this is one of the smoothest live recordings to come about in recent years – it has a special feel about it, and the performances are all excellent in all aspects…Melissa Kassel and her Quintet are new to the jazz vocals CD world, and what a welcome touch of freshness they are. There is a sensitive sensuality to Melissa Kassel’s voice that makes any song she sings a fine listening experience.”
--LEE PROSSER JAZZ REVIEW