The Jazz Singers ensemble was named College Jazz Vocal Group co-winner in the 2002 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards. Ensemble members Megan Hamm and Charlie Christenson won Outstanding Performance recognition for "Best Vocal Jazz Soloist" in the 2005 Downbeat awards. The group has recently appeared in concert with vocal jazz greats Bobby McFerrin, Eliane Elias, and Kurt Elling, and has participated in jazz clinic sessions with Diana Krall, Maria Schneider, Michelle Weir, and Todd Buffa. The Jazz Singers maintain an active concert schedule on campus and in regional performances, including recent invitations to perform at the 2003 Wisconsin State Choral Educators Convention and the May 2004 Lawrence Conservatory showcase titled Earthworks II: A World Music Celebration.
The Jazz Singers perform a stylistic variety of exciting and challenging vocal jazz repertoire ranging from standards/traditional literature to contemporary jazz and Latin works, and student arrangements are frequently featured. The ensemble performs a cappella, with rhythm section, and with the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble. Solo improvisation is a primary focus in all of the group’s activities.
Admittance to the Jazz Singers is by audition only at the beginning of the fall term.
For more information, go the Jazz and Improvisational Music page