Pamela York is a jazz pianist/vocalist/composer who hails from Nanaimo, British Columbia. A new voice on the music scene, Pamela is quickly becoming a favorite with jazz audiences. Scott Yanow (All Music Guide to Jazz) says, "Expanding the jazz tradition by adding her own personal voice and coming up with fresh ways to swing, Pamela York clearly has an important future ahead of her, one well worth watching."
Pamela began her formal training at the age of eight. She studied classical music throughout her childhood and eventually obtained an Associate Degree in Piano Performance from the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In 1990 she was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts which enabled her to study jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She earned a Bachelor's Degree from Berklee in 1991. In 1995 she completed her Master's Degree in Jazz from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where she held a graduate teaching assistantship. She has studied privately with jazz greats Hugh Fraser, Diana Krall, Jerry Coker, Donald Brown and Ray Santisi. During the summer of 2000 she attended the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz, Aspen on a full scholarship. Pamela was a finalist in the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2006 and 2007. In April 2007 she won the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, Florida.
Pamela has performed with many renown jazz artists including John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Russell Malone, Carl Allen, Conte Candoli, Buddy Defranco, Eddie Daniels, Rufus Reid, Joe LaBarbera, Warren Vache, Wycliffe Gordon, Ernie Watts, Louis Hayes, Pete Christlieb, Andre Hayward, Christopher Hollyday, Virginia Mayhew. Holly Hofmann, Herlin Riley, Rickey Woodard, Carmen Bradford, Kellye Gray, Roseanna Vitro, Lynn Seaton, Kristin Korb, Bob Magnusson, Jim DeJulio, Guy Barker, Gregory Hutchinson, Ben Riley, Jerry Coker, Donald Brown, Cathy Segal-Garcia, Jay Leonhart, Danny Gottlieb, Bob Mintzer, Rich Matteson, Rob McConnell, Marvin Stamm, Steve Houghton, the San Diego Symphony Pops, Monica Mancini, Michael Feinstein, Robert Guillaume, and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra.
For the future, Pamela looks forward to reaching new audiences through her performances and recordings. She hopes to tour the United States, her native Canada, and beyond, continuing to make a personal connection with people through her music. She currently resides just outside of Houston in Kingwood, Texas with her husband Adam, Pastor of Providence Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and their five-year-old daughter, Anna Katherine.
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