Melissa Morgan Quartet

ABOUT MELISSA MORGAN

"You have to check out this voice. It is interesting. It is sassy. It is sexy," says producer John Clayton. Brought up in the jazz clubs of New York City, Melissa Morgan has a voice that is unexpected. From the exterior you would assume a sultry lounge singer, which does make an appearance once and awhile, but from inside she contains a powerful instrument. "Prepare to fall in love," says the Bay Area Reporter, and fall in love you do.

On stage she bares everything and makes you laugh while doing it. While belting a blues or tenderly massaging a ballad, she has come a long way from her appearance at the 2004 Thelonious Monk Competition.

In 2009, Melissa released her debut album on Telarc Records, 'Until I Met You' to enthusiastic reviews and was embraced by the jazz community as "the one we've been waiting for" (Dr. Herb Wong, jazz critic and historian). Downbeat Magazine included her on their 2009 Rising Star List and JazzTimes has named her "audacious and decidedly salty."

With her new album close to completion, she has gathered together her dearest friends to tell her story of the last five years, growing in the business and as a musician. While you will always hear definitive influences from Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington and Billie Holliday, "Melissa isn't copying anybody" (London Evening Standard) and most certainly has a definitive sound all her own.

PRAISE FOR MELISSA:

'Give your Norah Jones collection a break and pop in this 27-year-old's debut CD of classic and obscure jazz tunes. Her sultry voice shines on Nancy Wilson's 'Save Your Love for Me' and 'I Wonder,' in which she asks a past love, 'Will your heart come running back to me?''

- RealSimple.com

'You'll hear elements of Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington and Dakota Staton in her sound, but Melissa Morgan isn't copying anybody...with the help of her top-grade studio group, Ms. Morgan's voice is a shaft of sunlight.'

- 5 Stars from the London Evening Standard

'Morgan is a consistent joy, and unlike some singers, she commands the band, not the other way around. Given the spicy edge in her sexy voice, her dry allure and the way she pops the words like a whip on a gospel choir, Morgan's time has come.'

- DownBeat Magazine

'Every once in a while, a jazz singer appears with a voice so filled with soul and deeper meaning that you wonder how you could have possibly survived so long without her. That singer is Melissa Morgan.|Morgan's voice speaks with knowing sophistication; her mastery of innuendo is supreme. Backed by an excellent rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass drums) and horns, she has an uncanny ability to bring a contemporary outlook to the classic jazz sound of the 1950s. As Morgan grooves through 11 selections that range from ballads to blues, prepare to fall in love.'

- Bay Area Reporter

'This is a wakeup call. Insistently fresh, this CD will pull you into its vortex. Melissa Morgan is a contagious true jazz singer and she simply grows on you with intoxication. I predict she is the one we've been waiting for.'

- Dr. Herb Wong, legendary Bay Area jazz icon