Photo credit: Megan Kruitbosch
I am a jazz singer, songwriter and music teacher. As an artist, I aim to provide my audience with a sense of connectedness, to share some truth in the human experience, and to acknowledge that the full range of human emotion is welcome and holds value.
I have gigged extensively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with my band, an indie-folk-jazz piano trio, performing in a wide variety of venues including the bar at Yoshi's Lounge, one of San Francisco's premier jazz venues, and PLACE for Sustainable Living, an educational collective in Oakland. I also enjoy performing at house concerts because it tends to invite more interaction with audience members, which makes the performance more fun and personal for everyone present.
JAZZ VOCALS:
As a jazz vocalist, I bring a youthful openness to my interpretations of standards. As a graduate student in Jazz Studies at UNT, I have the opportunity to learn from some incredible singers and instrumentalists including Rosana Eckert, Jennifer Barnes and Jose Aponte. As a performer, I embody a grounded yet playful stage persona. When I interpret others' songs, my focus is on sharing an honest, relatable musical experience with the audience.
SINGER-SONGWRITER:
I composed the title track of my EP, "Earthbound," while living in an ashram near Dolores Park in San Francisco, CA. It deals with finding balance in the dawn of the digital age and 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 111 and XM 162 in 2009. The song, "Earthbound" was also featured on KALW's VoiceBox program.
My 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." Most of the songs are autobiographical to some extent, exploring themes of integrity, vulnerability, and the river rapids of relationship dynamics. 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. Musically speaking, you'll find strains of jazz, rock, classical and folk music. The ballads sometimes lean towards a shadowy orchestral texture and quality. An audience member once remarked, "It's like starlight through trees." The music is stylistically variable, delicately ominous here, and a brassy cabaret there. The recording and production of the album was crowd-funded by nearly 200 generous people through a kickstarter campaign.
In addition to my work as a jazz vocalist and a singer/songwriter, I have also sung backgrounds for various indie artists, including Derek Sup, Anita Stryker and Andy Mason. Over the years, I have also lent my voice to a few commercial and t.v. spots with companies such as Disney, Pepsi and Barbie.
I received a B.A. in Music from the University of California Santa Cruz, where I studied classical voice. Currently, I am working towards a master's degree in Jazz Studies, Vocal Performance at the University of North Texas in Denton.
I occasionally facilitate a Non-Violent Communication practice group. The life-enriching, innately non-commercial pursuit of uplifting oneself and others is at the core of all I aspire to do through the practice of both meditation and music. I practice vipassana meditation, NVC, and have been a devotee of The Artist's Way for over ten years.
CHECK OUT MY ALBUM!
TESTIMONIALS
"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, singer/songwriter and open mic host at 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
I have gigged extensively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with my band, an indie-folk-jazz piano trio, performing in a wide variety of venues including the bar at Yoshi's Lounge, one of San Francisco's premier jazz venues, and PLACE for Sustainable Living, an educational collective in Oakland. I also enjoy performing at house concerts because it tends to invite more interaction with audience members, which makes the performance more fun and personal for everyone present.
JAZZ VOCALS:
As a jazz vocalist, I bring a youthful openness to my interpretations of standards. As a graduate student in Jazz Studies at UNT, I have the opportunity to learn from some incredible singers and instrumentalists including Rosana Eckert, Jennifer Barnes and Jose Aponte. As a performer, I embody a grounded yet playful stage persona. When I interpret others' songs, my focus is on sharing an honest, relatable musical experience with the audience.
SINGER-SONGWRITER:
I composed the title track of my EP, "Earthbound," while living in an ashram near Dolores Park in San Francisco, CA. It deals with finding balance in the dawn of the digital age and 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 111 and XM 162 in 2009. The song, "Earthbound" was also featured on KALW's VoiceBox program.
My 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." Most of the songs are autobiographical to some extent, exploring themes of integrity, vulnerability, and the river rapids of relationship dynamics. 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. Musically speaking, you'll find strains of jazz, rock, classical and folk music. The ballads sometimes lean towards a shadowy orchestral texture and quality. An audience member once remarked, "It's like starlight through trees." The music is stylistically variable, delicately ominous here, and a brassy cabaret there. The recording and production of the album was crowd-funded by nearly 200 generous people through a kickstarter campaign.
In addition to my work as a jazz vocalist and a singer/songwriter, I have also sung backgrounds for various indie artists, including Derek Sup, Anita Stryker and Andy Mason. Over the years, I have also lent my voice to a few commercial and t.v. spots with companies such as Disney, Pepsi and Barbie.
I received a B.A. in Music from the University of California Santa Cruz, where I studied classical voice. Currently, I am working towards a master's degree in Jazz Studies, Vocal Performance at the University of North Texas in Denton.
I occasionally facilitate a Non-Violent Communication practice group. The life-enriching, innately non-commercial pursuit of uplifting oneself and others is at the core of all I aspire to do through the practice of both meditation and music. I practice vipassana meditation, NVC, and have been a devotee of The Artist's Way for over ten years.
CHECK OUT MY ALBUM!
TESTIMONIALS
"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, singer/songwriter and open mic host at 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