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Artist:

Nnenna Freelon

Nnenna Freelon

Born:
in Cambridge, Mississippi

  • Genre: Vocal Music
  • Active: '90s, 2000s
  • Instrument: Vocals

Biography

When Nnenna Freelon recorded her debut album for Columbia, a string-filled affair titled Nnenna Freelon, she was quickly labeled a Sarah Vaughan imitator. However, her second date (Heritage), which featured her backed by just a trio and occasionally a couple of horns, was a major improvement and she displayed a much more adventurous and original style, showing that first impressions are not always correct. Freelon, after graduating from Simmons College, raised three children and had a career in health services in Durham, NC, before really starting her vocal career. She performed well at an Atlanta jam session with Ellis Marsalis and two years later, on the strength of that jam, she was signed to Columbia. In 1996, she switched to the Concord label and Shaking Free was released in 1996 and Maiden Voyage followed two years later. The new millennium brought the release of Soulcall in September 2000. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Representative Albums:

Shaking Free, Heritage, Soulcall

Similar Artists:

Dakota Staton, Nancy Wilson

Influences:

Sarah Vaughan

Performed Songs By:

Bill Anschell, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington
 
 
Black Biography: Nnenna Freelon

jazz singer

Personal Information

Born on July 28, 1954, in Cambridge, MA; married Phil, an architect; children: three.
Education: Simmons College, MA; studied jazz in community-education workshop, Durham, NC; studied with jazz saxophonist Yusef Lateef, 1980s.

Career

Jazz vocalist. Formed band, late 1980s; did session work for Ellis Marsalis, early 1990s; Marsalis arranged signing with Columbia label; released debut album Nnenna Freelon, 1992; signed with Concord Jazz label, 1995; toured Europe; worked to promote jazz education in schools, late 1990s; led student performance and songwriting workshops, Washington, DC, 1999; released self-produced album Soulcall, 2000.

Life's Work

A late bloomer who first took up jazz singing in adulthood, Nnenna Freelon ranked among the most exciting vocalists in the jazz field by the early 21st century. With a technique rooted in the stylings of jazz legend Sarah Vaughan, Freelon incorporated diverse influences ranging from gospel to folk music to hip-hop into a classic improvisational framework. Freelon also emerged as a spokesperson for the inclusion of jazz education in school curricula, and has devoted much time and energy to that cause.

Nnenna Chinyere Freelon (her first name is pronounced "Nina," with a long "e" sound) was born on July 28, 1954 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the home of Harvard University and perhaps the most sophisticated academic community in the United States. Her early upbringing was filled with contrasts that, some would suggest, later manifested themselves in her music. Freelon's father, a television repairman, was a jazz fan who enjoyed the music of Duke Ellington, but there were plenty of down-home sounds in her environment as well. Her father came from North Carolina and her mother from Texarkana, Texas, and the family attended churches where gospel music was sung.

Performed in Churches

Soon Freelon was in demand to sing in church--her first solo was "Amazing Grace"--and at neighborhood gatherings. Her vocal talent, she recalled in the Los Angeles Times, was regarded as "community property, as something that doesn't belong to you," and her parents never let her accept payment for performing. As a teenager Freelon listened to the pop and funk music of her day, giving little thought to the jazz of her parents' generation. She attended Simmons College in Boston and in 1979 moved to North Carolina with her husband, Phil, an architect. The couple had three children, and Freelon remained based in Durham, North Carolina.

Working as a hospital administrator, Freelon felt frustrated with the lack of creativity in her life. "My marriage was at stake," she told the Los Angeles Times. "My life was at stake. I was charged with negative energy, being eaten alive by it, and here was Phil saying: 'You can't use the kids or the family as an excuse. You have choices. Find them.'" Freelon enrolled in a local jazz workshop and took to it immediately. "I was a thirsty flower soaking up all this new energy," she told the Times. And she discovered that some of her father's love of jazz had rubbed off on her--to her surprise, she found that she already knew the chord changes of the classic jazz pieces used in the workshop.

Thoroughly hooked, Freelon worked hard on her technique, spending much of her free time at a Durham record store with a sympathetic, jazz-loving owner. "Music claimed me," she told the Los Angeles Times. "I had to do it, plain and simple. It's what I was put here to do." Later she studied with jazz saxophonist Yusef Lateef, and in the late 1980s she put together a band of her own. Her stepping stone to the national level came when she impressed Ellis Marsalis, a veteran New Orleans jazzman and father of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, at an early 1990s session. Marsalis recommended her to the Columbia record label. She was signed to a contract, and her first album, Nnenna Freelon, was released in 1992.

Developed Individual Style

That album drew comparisons with Sarah Vaughan--both in a positive sense and in the negative one that Freelon's vocal style was too closely tied to that of Vaughan. The album featured vocal standards performed with a string-orchestra accompaniment. Her second album, 1993's Heritage, showed the artist developing a more individual voice, and she continued to gain attention with her third release, Listen, which appeared in 1994. She toured widely, making a number of appearances in the important European jazz market and winning the Billie Holiday award from the Academie du Jazz in France in 1995.

The following year, Freelon moved to the smaller Concord Jazz label. The recordings she released after that move increasingly bore her personal imprint, and the trajectory of her career turned sharply upward. Her Concord Jazz debut, Shaking Free, won her a Grammy nomination, as did its successor, 1998's Maiden Voyage. The much-honored poet and novelist Maya Angelou praised Freelon's "glistening pipes," according to Ebony, and said that "the durable beauty of her voice makes the listener remember having heard such transparent talent 35 and 40 and even 50 years ago."

Maiden Voyage showed the artist becoming increasingly adventurous in her choice of material; the album took the work of female songwriters as its point of departure, including composers from outside the jazz realm such as the Canadian Native folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie and pop craftswoman Laura Nyro. "I came to realize that because I am a jazz signer and have a jazz sensibility, anything I do is going to be a piece that fits squarely within that realm," Freelon explained to the Kansas City Star.

Promoted Jazz in Schools

Realizing the effect that a jazz education program had in awakening her own latent talent, Freelon has worked to promote jazz in schools. In 1999 she made a series of monthly visits to a high school in Washington, D.C., leading songwriting workshops and finding herself bowled over by her students' enthusiasm even in the face of a school program that had few resources. The school's band program was completely inactive, yet "there was more raw talent and energy in those kids than I've seen in a long time," Freelon told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They were very, very talented human beings who were working with stone knives." Freelon became involved with the education-volunteer group Partners in Education, writing a song, "One Child at a Time," for the group.

The growing diversity of Freelon's music and the increasing degree of control she exercised over her own career both reached a new peak with her 2000 release, Soulcall, which Freelon herself produced. The album included several songs composed by Freelon (including "One Child at a Time"), several pop standards, and guest slots from several instrumental jazz stalwarts and the virtuoso gospel vocal groups Sounds of Blackness and Take 6. The album also featured two separate versions of "Amazing Grace," the song with which Freelon had begun her performing career.

Soulcall earned Freelon her fifth Grammy nomination and propelled her to several high-profile appearances in the year 2001. She performed at the inauguration of President George W. Bush in January of that year and appeared with Take 6 on the 2001 Grammy awards television program. Freelon "has matured into a genuine rival to Diana Krall and Dee Dee Bridgewater," the London Times noted that year. Nnenna Freelon was continuing along the journey of finding her voice, and taking more and more listeners along with her on that journey.

Awards

Billie Holiday Award, Academie du Jazz (France), 1995; five Grammy award nominations.

Works

Selected discography

  • Nnenna Freelon, Columbia, 1992.
  • Heritage, Columbia, 1993.
  • Listen, Columbia, 1994.
  • Shaking Free, Concord Jazz, 1996.
  • Maiden Voyage, Concord Jazz, 1998.
  • Soulcall, Concord Jazz, 2000.

Further Reading

Books

  • Larkin, Colin, ed., Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, 1998.
Periodicals
  • Boston Herald, May 22, 1998, p. S17.
  • Down Beat, March 2001, p. 40.
  • Ebony, December 1996, p. 62.
  • Essence, August 2001, p. 60.
  • Houston Chronicle, May 22, 2001, p. 1.
  • Kansas City Star, November 25, 1998, p. E8.
  • Ladies Home Journal, July 2001, p. 18.
  • Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1993, p. F11; February 5, 1995, p. Calendar-4.
  • St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 28, 2001, p. F5.
  • The Times (London, England), July 11, 2001, Features section.
  • Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), March 16, 2001, p. Lagniappe-22.
Online
  • All Music Guide, http://allmusic.com.

— James M. Manheim

 
Wikipedia: Nnenna Freelon
Nnenna Freelon
Freelon performed at the White House with flugelhorn player Clark Terry in 2006.
Freelon performed at the White House with flugelhorn player Clark Terry in 2006.
Background information
Birth name Chinyere Nnenna Pierce[1]
Born July 28 1954 (1954--) (age 53)
Origin Flag of the United States Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Genre(s) Vocal jazz, Cool jazz, Traditional pop
Years active 1992 — Present
Label(s) Concord Records, etc.
Website nnenna.com

Nnenna Freelon, (b. July 28, 1954), is an American jazz singer, composer, producer, and arranger. She has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for her vocal work,[2] and has performed and toured with such top artists as Ray Charles, Ellis Marsalis, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Aretha Franklin, Dianne Reeves, Ramsey Lewis, George Benson, Clark Terry, Herbie Hancock, among many others.

One critic described her as "a spell-binding professional, who rivets attention with her glorious, cultivated voice and canny stagecraft".[3] She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Ellington Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Apollo Theater, Montreux Jazz Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and more.

Biography

Nnenna Freelon was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Charles and Frances Pierce, and as a young woman she sang extensively in her community and the Union Baptist Church and at St. Paul AM. She has a brother Melvin and a sister named Debbie. Nnenna graduated from Simmons College in Boston, with a degree in health care administration. For a while worked for the Durham County Hospital Corporation, Durham, North Carolina. The Kennedy Center interview with Nnenna:

"I started singing in the church, like so many others. . . ." She suggests that her influences included several "not famous people," as well as such familiar names as Nina Simone and Billy Eckstine, artists whose records her parents played at home. "Its important to expose your children to a wide musical environment," she says, grateful that her parents did just that. Nnenna followed her grandmother's sage advice regarding those singing aspirations. "I did something that my grandmother told me: 'bloom where you're planted’, "don't get on a bus and go to New York or L.A., sing where you are."[4]

Family

In 1979, married architect Philip G. Freelon, native of Philadelphia, raised three children, Deen, Maya and Pierce, before deciding to go pro as a jazz singer.[5] Philip G. Freelon is founder and president of the Freelon Group architectual firm, at Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina, the second largest in the state of North Carolina.[6] As of 2005, the Freelon Group has 55 employees in two offices and works on a variety of projects, from airport terminals and hospitals to corporate headquarters and campus buildings.[7]

Their son Pierce Freelon, is currently a fellow in the Pan-African Studies Masters program at Syracuse University, founded a website called Blackademics where he's had the honor to interview many notable figures such as Angela Davis, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, and Jesse Jackson.[8] Deen Freelon, grad student in political communication at the University of Washington, Seattle, is the site webmaster. Daughter Maya Freelon, is an award-winning visual artist.[9]

Recording career

Tales of Wonder (2002)
Enlarge
Tales of Wonder (2002)

In 1990, Nnenna Freelon went to the Southern Arts Federation’s jazz meeting and met Ellis Marsalis. "That was a big turning point. At that time, I had been singing for seven years. Ellis is an educator and he wanted to nurture and help. What I didn’t know at the time was that George Butler of Columbia Records was looking for a female singer. Ellis asked me for a package of materials. I had my little local press kit and my little tape with original music. Two years later, I was signed to Columbia Records.” She was in her late 30s when she made her debut CD, Nnenna Freelon, for Columbia Records in 1992. The label dropped her in 1994, and Concord Records signed her in 1996.[10]

In Maiden Voyage (1998), she leaves behind standard and comfortable conventions and releases an inner spirit that allows her to creatively soar to a higher dimension. Watch out! When a woman reaches this point there's no telling what will come next.[11] Freelon seventh album is Tales of Wonder (2002), covers hit songs written and/or recorded by Stevie Wonder. She considers him one of the greatest artists of our time and describes how his music easily became her music, as it touched her life throughout the years. "A lot of Stevie Wonder's music is on the level of many other unique artists like Duke Ellington, like Thelonius Monk. When you hear Stevie, you know that's who it is. I put him in a genius class, he's fabulous."[12] On her Grammy-nominated release, Blueprint of a Lady: Sketches of Billie Holiday (2005), which comes highly recommended, Freelon pays tribute to the quintessential jazz vocalist Billie Holiday in the best possible way—without imitation and putting her own interpretations on material written by or associated with Lady Day. Her band, adjusted to fit the mood of each song, skillfully complements her at every turn. With Freelon is a group of veteran jazz artists who give her album a welcome presence. Tenor saxophonist Dave Ellis, trumpeter Christian Scott, and flutist Mary Fettig add stellar musical partnerships to the program. Freelon's long-term quartet of Brandon McCune, Wayne Bachelor, Kinah Boto, and Beverly Botsford provide cohesive accompaniment that serves as an intuitive accompaniment for her vocal offerings.

Discography

Year Title Genre Label Billboard[13]
1992 Nnenna Freelon Jazz Columbia #11
1993 Heritage Jazz Columbia #10
1994 Listen Jazz Columbia #20
1996 Shaking Free Jazz Concord
1998 Maiden Voyage Jazz Concord #10
2000 Soulcall Jazz Concord #13
2002 Tales of Wonder Jazz Concord #7
2003 Church - Songs of Soul and Inspiration
Various Artists - Ooh Child - Nnenna Freelon		 Gospel Utv Records #157
2003 Live at The Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. Jazz Concord
2005 Blueprint of a Lady Jazz Concord #13
  • 2007: Freelon & The Count Basie Orchestra - (Pending Release 2007)

Grammy history

  • Career Nominations: 5
Nnenna Freelon Grammy Awards History
Year Category Genre Title Label Result
2005 Best Jazz Vocal Album Jazz Blueprint of a Lady -
Sketches of Billie Holiday		 Concord Nominated
2001 Jazz Vocal Album Jazz Soulcall Concord Nominated
2001 Best Instrumental Arrangement
Accompanying a Vocal		 Jazz Button Up Your Overcoat Concord Nominated
1998 Jazz Vocal Performance Jazz Maiden Voyage Concord Nominated
1996 Best Jazz Vocal Performance Jazz Shaking Free Concord Nominated

Her Babysong Workshops

Nnenna Freelon is deeply involved in arts education as the national spokesperson for the National Association of Partners in Education, an organization with over 400,000 school/community partnership programs across the United States, dedicated to the improvement of the quality of American education by supporting arts education programs.[14] Freelon has also maintained ties to her hospital-work roots as her jazz career has flourished. Her Babysong workshops, which she launched at Duke University Medical Center in 1990, teach young mothers and healthcare providers the importance of the human voice for healing and nurturing. She particularly stresses the importance of parents singing to small children to enhance brain development.[15] [16]

Recognitions

Nnenna Freelon has been awarded the Eubie Blake Award from the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute, and the Billie Holiday Award from the Academie du Jazz. Freelon performed a film soundtrack, remaking Frank Sinatra's classic Fly Me To The Moon for The Visit movie, starring Billy Dee Williams. She also had a cameo as a nightclub singer, in the 2001 blockbuster Mel Gibson romantic comedy What Women Want, performing her trademark song If I Had You. In addition, she has been nominated twice for the "Lady of Soul" Soul Train Award.[17] On February 21, 2001, Nnenna Freelon earned a rousing standing ovation for her stunning live performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards telecast in Los Angeles, performing Straighten Up And Fly Right.[18]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Interview with Nnenna's husband, architect Philip G. Freelon, (Retrieved August 18, 2007)
  2. ^ Nnenna Freelon and the Count Basie Orchestra, (Retrieved August 18, 2007)
  3. ^ Gourse, Leslie. The Golden Age of Jazz in Paris and Other Stories About Jazz, Xlibris Corporation (2002), page 153 - ISBN 0738825921
  4. ^ Billy Taylor's Jazz at The Kennedy Center, (Retrieved August 18, 2007)
  5. ^ NPR (National Public Radio) Interview (Retrieved August 18, 2007)
  6. ^ The Freelon Group
  7. ^ History of Architect Philip G. Freelon, (Retrieved August 18, 2007)
  8. ^ Blackademics website
  9. ^ Maya Freelon Visual Artist
  10. ^ The Profound, Introspective and Supremely Talented, Nnenna Freelon, (Retrieved August 18, 2007)
  11. ^ All About Jazz (Retrieved August 19, 2007)
  12. ^ Nnenna Freelon: Walking In Wonderland, (Retrieved June 7, 2002
  13. ^ Billboard Chart History for Nnenna Freelon
  14. ^ National Association of Partners in Education
  15. ^ Baby Song Video
  16. ^ Boston Globe - June 9, 2006, Freelon not afraid to voice individuality, (Retrieved August 18, 2007)
  17. ^ IMDb: Resume Nnenna Freelon Bio
  18. ^ Take 6 & Nnenna Freelon - Straighten Up And Fly Right

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

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Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Black Biography. Contemporary Black Biography. Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nnenna Freelon".  Read more

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