Photo credit: Megan Kruitbosch
Lea Grant is a jazz singer, songwriter and music educator.
JAZZ BIO:
Grant’s performances unfold with a grounded, youthful energy. Whether interpreting her original songs or Great American Songbook classics, she brings an intimate authenticity to the music. She offers charming and engaging musical entertainment for both public venues and private events as a duo, trio, quartet and quintet. Grant draws her audience in with an innate reverence for the music, a lovely, claret voice and a touch of humor. Jazz aficionados may hear the influence of Shirley Horn, Carmen McRae and Betty Carter.
A transplant from the west coast, Lea Grant has gigged extensively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with her indie-folk-jazz piano trio. She has had the honor of performing in a wide variety of venues from the bar at Yoshi's Lounge, which is one of San Francisco's premier jazz venues, to the PLACE for Sustainable Living, an educational eco-collective in Oakland.
In 2018, Grant earned her Master’s of Music in Jazz Studies from the internationally renowned music program at University of North Texas. While completing her degree she was blessed to be able to learn from some incredible singers and instrumentalists including Rosana Eckert, Jennifer Barnes and John Murphy. Outside of UNT, she also studied with some incredible musicians including Theo Bleckmann, Sara Gazarek, Laurie Antonioli, Art Lande and Jay Clayton.
SINGER-SONGWRITER BIO:
Grant’s most recent album, "Cities of Snow," examines loss and rebirth, which is represented in the chorus of the title track, "We build and we outgrow the homes we love and know. I think it's time to let go these cities of snow." All of her songs are at least partially autobiographical, exploring themes of integrity, vulnerability, and navigating the rapids of personal relationships. “I love how honest, conversational and incredibly poetic Joni Mitchell's lyrics are. I endeavor to be as profound, expressing big ideas through minute details.”
The music is stylistically diverse, and relatively complex, drawing on influences from classic rock and 60’s folk to jazz to classical. Growing up steeped in the lush film music written by her film composer father, Grant’s ballads lean into a shadowy orchestral texture and quality. An audience member once remarked, "It's like starlight through trees.”
The title track of her debut EP, "Earthbound," was composed while living in a yoga ashram near Dolores Park in San Francisco, CA. It deals with finding balance through a connection with nature and gradually putting down roots in a new place. The track "Gravity Always Wins" was used in a YouTube promo for the SoundBox app and was also chosen as a finalist in the Cocktails w/Patrick Breaks the Band contest on Sirius XM in 2009. The song, "Earthbound" was featured on the VoiceBox program on San Francisco’s public radio station, KALW.
In addition to her work as a jazz vocalist and a singer/songwriter, she has also sung backgrounds for various indie artists, including Derek Sup, Anita Stryker and Andy Mason. Over the years, she has also lent her voice to a few commercial and t.v. spots with companies such as Disney, Pepsi and Barbie.
PRESS:
"She is a clever, brilliant songwriter who takes elements of pop and steers them far away from their safe, mild waters, and melds them with layers of jazz, blues, and other more progressive elements, to create something altogether her own. And the intricate beauty of her voice is something to behold." - Brendan Getzell, The Hotel Utah
"Lea’s original compositions are part jazz, part folk-rock, with hints of Regina Spektor and Tori Amos. Her crystal clear voice, however, is completely her own, the product of natural talent honed by years of operatic training.” - Ann Lam, Untapped Cities Blog
JAZZ BIO:
Grant’s performances unfold with a grounded, youthful energy. Whether interpreting her original songs or Great American Songbook classics, she brings an intimate authenticity to the music. She offers charming and engaging musical entertainment for both public venues and private events as a duo, trio, quartet and quintet. Grant draws her audience in with an innate reverence for the music, a lovely, claret voice and a touch of humor. Jazz aficionados may hear the influence of Shirley Horn, Carmen McRae and Betty Carter.
A transplant from the west coast, Lea Grant has gigged extensively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with her indie-folk-jazz piano trio. She has had the honor of performing in a wide variety of venues from the bar at Yoshi's Lounge, which is one of San Francisco's premier jazz venues, to the PLACE for Sustainable Living, an educational eco-collective in Oakland.
In 2018, Grant earned her Master’s of Music in Jazz Studies from the internationally renowned music program at University of North Texas. While completing her degree she was blessed to be able to learn from some incredible singers and instrumentalists including Rosana Eckert, Jennifer Barnes and John Murphy. Outside of UNT, she also studied with some incredible musicians including Theo Bleckmann, Sara Gazarek, Laurie Antonioli, Art Lande and Jay Clayton.
SINGER-SONGWRITER BIO:
Grant’s most recent album, "Cities of Snow," examines loss and rebirth, which is represented in the chorus of the title track, "We build and we outgrow the homes we love and know. I think it's time to let go these cities of snow." All of her songs are at least partially autobiographical, exploring themes of integrity, vulnerability, and navigating the rapids of personal relationships. “I love how honest, conversational and incredibly poetic Joni Mitchell's lyrics are. I endeavor to be as profound, expressing big ideas through minute details.”
The music is stylistically diverse, and relatively complex, drawing on influences from classic rock and 60’s folk to jazz to classical. Growing up steeped in the lush film music written by her film composer father, Grant’s ballads lean into a shadowy orchestral texture and quality. An audience member once remarked, "It's like starlight through trees.”
The title track of her debut EP, "Earthbound," was composed while living in a yoga ashram near Dolores Park in San Francisco, CA. It deals with finding balance through a connection with nature and gradually putting down roots in a new place. The track "Gravity Always Wins" was used in a YouTube promo for the SoundBox app and was also chosen as a finalist in the Cocktails w/Patrick Breaks the Band contest on Sirius XM in 2009. The song, "Earthbound" was featured on the VoiceBox program on San Francisco’s public radio station, KALW.
In addition to her work as a jazz vocalist and a singer/songwriter, she has also sung backgrounds for various indie artists, including Derek Sup, Anita Stryker and Andy Mason. Over the years, she has also lent her voice to a few commercial and t.v. spots with companies such as Disney, Pepsi and Barbie.
PRESS:
"She is a clever, brilliant songwriter who takes elements of pop and steers them far away from their safe, mild waters, and melds them with layers of jazz, blues, and other more progressive elements, to create something altogether her own. And the intricate beauty of her voice is something to behold." - Brendan Getzell, The Hotel Utah
"Lea’s original compositions are part jazz, part folk-rock, with hints of Regina Spektor and Tori Amos. Her crystal clear voice, however, is completely her own, the product of natural talent honed by years of operatic training.” - Ann Lam, Untapped Cities Blog
