JUDY NIEMACK BIO/ 2019 Throughout her career, Judy Niemack has accomplished a great deal as a singer, educator, lyricist, composer, and inspiration to younger jazz vocalists. Yet with all that she has done thus far, one gets the impression that the best is yet to come. “I love standards and have performed them all of my life but this is a new era and it is time to create new music,” she says. “I’m open to all forms of vocal improv and I’m very interested in mastering the art of music and pushing the art form forward to new places.” Born and raised in Pasadena, California, Judy gained experience singing in her church choir. She first heard jazz through her mother’s Nancy Wilson records, and discovered that she could easily sing harmonies when she and her sister sang background vocals behind her brother, who played guitar and sang lead. As a child and as a teenager, she sang in a wide variety of settings including musical theatre, rock bands, with folk music groups, and in a jazz vocal quartet. Judy studied classical singing but the turning point in her young career was when she met the great tenor-saxophonist Warne Marsh, who followed in the footsteps of his teacher pianist Lennie Tristano by becoming an important jazz educator. “I became Warne’s first vocal student. He treated me like a horn player. He assigned me solos by Charlie Parker, Roy Eldridge and others to learn. I learned about improvising from him. He called it instant composition.” Judy attended Pasadena City College where she had lessons with alto saxophonist Gary Foster, and studied classical singing at the New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute Of Music. When she returned to the Los Angeles area, she continued studying with Marsh and, after moving to New York in 1977, her first important gig was performing at the Village Vanguard for a week with Marsh. She made her recording debut, leading the first of her ten CDs, By Heart for the Sea Breeze label, which documented her association with the saxophonist. “During that period, I was strictly an improviser, with no thought given to entertaining or paying attention to the audience. But eventually I started focusing on the lyrics, and how to communicate with them, and then I grew as a singer.” Starting in the late 1970s, Judy became a talented composer, and a lyricist who wrote words to such pieces as Clifford Brown’s “Daahoud,” Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso,” Bill Evans’ “Interplay,” Richie Powell’s “Time” and Duke Jordan’s “Jordu,” and songs by the likes of Lee Konitz, Pat Metheny, Dexter Gordon, Gigi Gryce, Elmo Hope, Kenny Dorham, Curtis Fuller, Bob Brookmeyer, Idrees Sulieman, Richie Beirach, Don Grolnick, Steve Slagle, Mike Stern, Johnny Griffin and many others. One of the driving forces behind her writing is the desire to have lyrics that are more modern and relevant than many that are part of the famous but overly familiar songs of the 1930s and ‘40s. Due to her beautiful voice, fearless improvising, impressive musicianship and versatility, Judy Niemack has since worked with many of the who’s who of jazz including pianists Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, Jim McNeely, Steve Kuhn, Kirk Lightsey and Kirk Nurock, saxophonists Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano and James Moody, the great harmonica player Toots Thielemans, flugelhornist Clark Terry, bassists Ray Drummond and Eddie Gomez, drummers Billy Higgins, Joey Baron, Billy Hart and Adam Nussbaum, George Benson, the New York Voices and the WDR Big Band. Judy Niemack starting teaching jazz singing and improvising in the late 1970s. She has since become one of the most influential educators in jazz, and a pioneer of vocal jazz education in Europe. She taught vocal jazz at the New School For Jazz, William Patterson University, Long Island University, and New York City College and has been part of the staff at the Janice Borla Vocal Jazz Camp since 1990. After moving to Europe, she joined the jazz faculty at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium in 1993, and two years later became the first Professor of Vocal Jazz in Germany. She also teaches at the Musikene Centro Superior de Música del Pais Vasco in San Sebastian, Spain, has held teaching positions at conservatories in Den Haag, Holland and Brussels, Belgium, and leads workshops throughout the world “Our generation is probably the first to pass on information to younger singers willingly and very openly. What I love about teaching is being surrounded by music all day long, every day. I love being with singers and helping out younger vocalists, leading people onto the path towards where they want to go.” Judy’s vocal improvisation method book and CD “Hear It And Sing It! – Exploring Modal Jazz” was published by Second Floor Music in 2004. Her “Vocal Jazz Standards” book and CD was published by Hal Leonard in 2008, and two more books followed. As a performer, Judy has thus far recorded 14 albums as a leader including her debut By Heart, Blue Bop (Freelance) with Cedar Walton, Long As You’re Living (Freelance), Heart’s Desire (Stash) which is a set of duets with pianist Kenny Barron, Straight Up (Freelance), duets with pianist Mal Waldron called Mingus, Monk and Mal (Freelance), Night And The Music (Freelance), About Time (Sony Jazz) with Lee Konitz and Jeanfrancois Prins, What’s Going On (Temps), Blue Nights (Blujazz) with Gary Bartz and Jim McNeely, and In the Sundance (BluJazz) featuring Rufus Reid. She recently recorded “New York Stories” with the Danish Radio Big Band of arrangements written for her by Jim McNeely celebrating the great jazz musicians and stories of NYC which was released in 2019. Her latest CD, Judy Niemack looks forward to the future with optimism and enthusiasm. “I have a fourth book coming out now - “Sing In Tune!” which includes chromatic exercises for the Pop and Jazz vocalist, a training method that has never existed up until now. I think that sharing information helps raise the bar in vocal jazz education. In general, I hope to continue doing what I’m doing: performing, teaching, writing lyrics, working on new collaborations, and always creating new and interesting music.” Judy's “Hear It and Sing It!” vocal improvisation clinics have been presented at these schools, among others: The Royal Conservatory of Den Hague, Holland, Fall, 2003 Insighoven Vocal Jazz Workshop, Germany, 2003 Munich Hochschule für Musik, Germany, 2003 Barcelona, ESMUC, 2003 Kuernbach Music Academy, 2004-2015 Janice Borla Vocal Jazz Camp, Illinois, USA, yearly 1989-2009 Minden Vocal Jazz Workshop, Germany, Fall, 2004 European Jazz Academy Heek, Germany, 2004, 2006, 2006, 2010 Second Floor Music Studio, New York City, yearly 2005-2012 Zarautz Jazz Festival, Zarautz, Spain, Summer 2005 Marciac, France, 2005 Königs Wusterhausen, Germany, 2005 Peter Herbolzheimer’s Bundes Jazz Orchestra, Germany, 1995-2010 International Association of Jazz Educators, NYC, 2006 Loerrach “Stimmen” Festival, 2006 Rhythmic Conservatory, Denmark, 2006 Jamey Aebersold Jazzwise Camp, London, 2006, 2007, 2008 Berklee School of Music, Boston, 2008 New England Conservatory, Boston, 2008 UCLA, Los Angeles, USA 2008 Kalgenfurt, Austria, 2009 Jazzinty Festival, Slovenia, yearly 2007-2012 Groningen, Nederlands, 2009 Helsingor, Denmark, 2009 Vaduz Liechtenstein, 2009, 2010, 2012 Poysdorf Jazz and Wine, Austria 2010, 2011 Cornish Institute, Seattle, washington, USA 2011 Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012 Montevideo, Uruguay, 2012 Jazz Educators Network, Atlanta, Georgia, 2013 Paris Conservatory CRR, 2013 Ireland, Sligo Jazz Festival 2014 NYC Second Floor Music Studio, yearly 2000-2015 Begues Jazz, Spain, 2016, 2017 Alhaurin , Spain Jazz Camp, March 2016 Jazz Camp Vaduz, Switzerland 2018 Loire Valley Summer Jazz, France, 2019 Discography: "BY HEART" (feat. Warne MARSH, Eddie GOMEZ ). SEABREEZE Rec. 1978 "BLUE BOP" (feat. Cedar WALTON, Curtis FULLER, Ray DRUMMOND, Joey BARON ). FREELANCE Rec. 1988 "LONG AS YOU'RE LIVING" (feat. Joe LOVANO, Fred HERSCH, Billy HART ). FREELANCE Rec. 1990 "HEART'S DESIRE" duet with Kenny BARRON. STASH Rec. 1991 "STRAIGHT UP" (feat. Toots THIELEMANS, Kenny WERNER, Adam NUSSBAUM, Mark FELDMAN, Jeanfrançois PRINS ). FREELANCE Rec. 1993 "MINGUS, MONK AND MAL" duet with Mal WALDRON. FREELANCE Rec1994 “... NIGHT AND THE MUSIC...” (feat. Jeanfrançois PRINS, Kenny WERNER, Ray DRUMMOND, Billy HART, Eric FRIEDLANDER ). FREELANCE Rec 1996 “ABOUT TIME” (feat. Eddie GOMEZ, Jeanfrançois PRINS, Lee KONITZ, David FRIEDMAN, CAFE ). SONY JAZZ, 2003. “WHAT’S GOING ON?” (featuring Peter HERBOLZHEIMER & Big Band Jazz Terrassa), TEMPS RECORD, 2005 “BLUE NIGHTS” (feat. Gary BARTZ, Victor LEWIS, Jim MCNEELY, Don SICKLER, Dennis IRWIN), Blujazz Records, 2007 “IN THE SUNDANCE” (feat. Bruno CASTELUCCI, Bruce BARTH, Rufus REID, Jeanfrançois PRINS) June, 2009 “LISTENING TO YOU” (duo with Dan TEPFER, piano), Sunnyside Records, 2016 “NEW YORK STORIES” (feat. Jim MCNEELY and the Danish Radio Big Band), Sunnyside Records, 2018, “SING YOUR SONG” (feat. Wolfgang KOEHLER, piano), Contemplate Records, 2019 Books; “HEAR IT AND SING IT! EXPLORING MODAL JAZZ”, (Second Floor Music, Dist. Hal Leonard, 2003) “PRO-VOCAL JAZZ STANDARDS, FEATURING JUDY NIEMACK” ”(Hal Leonard, 2006) “HEAR IT AND SING IT! EXPLORING THE BLUES”, (Second Floor Music, Dist. Hal Leonard, 2012) “SING IN TUNE” ((Second Floor Music, Dist. Hal Leonard, 2020) As a guest (selected discography): "BEAUTY AND THE PRINCE" with Jeanfrançois PRINS (featuring Fred HERSCH, Hein van de GEYN, Bruno CASTELLUCCI ). AMC 1993 "RHAPSODY" vol 1 and 2 with Lee KONITZ. PADDLE WHEEL 1993 "THE OTHER SIDE OF WALTER BOEYKENS" Distr. by SONY 1994 The Critics on JUDY NIEMACK "A JAZZ SINGER WITH A PERFECTLY GLORIOUS VOICE! " Bob Harrington, New York Post "She combines the best of both worlds; a cabaret singer's respect for the melody as written and a jazz singer's eagerness to have a go at it.