I grew up in the desert of Eastern Washington state; a few miles from a nuclear power plant, where the tallest buildings are a few stories high, and the tumbleweeds are often bigger than your car. A good place for rearing children, listening to country music, watching hydroplane races, and drinking Bud Lite without fear of judgment. I spent most of my time tap dancing, singing in choir, and having good, wholesome fun.
At 18, I left home to go to Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA; a private, Lutheran, liberal arts school. I was neither Lutheran, nor the private school type, but they had a good vocal program, and I wanted to be an opera singer, so there I went. Three and a half pretty great years later, I broke up with opera, and made a commitment to jazz, while promising opera that we would always love each other—we just wouldn’t be IN love with each other. That led to a change of major, and the subsequent addition of a Creative Writing minor. Newly equipped with a BMA, I left the west coast, and went to grad school at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where jazz and I moved in together, and got engaged (in that order—we lived in sin for a while).
During the two years in which my friends and I became Jazz Masters, I studied with Dominique Eade and John McNeil, learned a lot from my remarkable peers, and got to sing with Django Bates and Dave Holland for their respective residencies. After finishing the last bit of institutional education I ever plan on purchasing (which I will be “purchasing†until 2036), I moved to New York in September of 2006, where I live in Harlem with my younger brother and sister. When I’m not dodging stoopside catcalls and unidentified scurrying objects on the street, I’m a babysitter, a personal assistant, and a member of the professional choir at St. James’ Church. That means I have a kid job, a grown-up job, and a music job, which is pretty great as far as I'm concerned.
In the midst of moving across the country, and leading an erratic, but interesting life, I am glad to say that I love it here. The common denominator between my "rustic" hometown and this bustling metropolis has always been music, in whatever incarnation. Over time, jazz, folk, choir, art song, and opera have all somehow coalesced and made manifest my own flexible style. I like it. I hope you do, too.
"Wendy Gilles is one of the most consistently spot-on singers I've heard. Her voice is lush and welcoming, and her interpretation and improvising convey a musicality and confidence that puts the music first, no matter what she is singing." - Dominique Eade
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