MUMBAI: Hailed as “the finest jazz-cabaret singer around” by JazzTimes, Paula West’s supple, velvety, and particular dusky soulfulness has captured the hearts of audiences and critics alike, from coast to coast. Known and respected for her creative and distinct repertoire, West adds her own depth and drama to whichever song she chooses for the moment, creating whole new frameworks of meaning for American favorites. Without fail, the songs come from a place of sincerity.
West has become a Manhattan fixture, regularly earning New York Nightlife Awards for “Outstanding Female Jazz Vocalist and was recruited by Wynton Marsalis to sing the lead role in the reprise of his Pulitzer Prize-winning opus Blood On the Fields last year.This special evening of Jazz will open with a short performance from the Drake High School Jazz Band students.
Born into a Marine Corps family, Ms. West grew up in San Diego. Moving to San Francisco, she attended singing classes and jam sessions, where she was drawn to songs with interesting harmonies and literate lyrics. Since then, she has performed at venues like Yoshi’s San Francisco, and the Empire Plush Room, she has given annual shows at the Herbst Theatre, and she now holds the record for consecutive weeks at The Rrazz Room. In New York, she has performed at Feinstein’s at the Regency, The Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Blue Note, The Iridium, and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Lincoln Center. She has been a featured soloist with The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
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Ms. West has worked with such jazz greats as Bobby Hutcherson, Bill Charlap, Mulgrew Miller, Frank Wess, Victor Lewis, Peter Washington, Regina Carter, Roy Haynes, Eric Reed, and Bruce Barth.Among her national engagements, Ms. West has appeared at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Boston’s Scullers, Jazz Aspen and major art festivals like Spoleto USA. Internationally she has performed in Europe, Japan, and Israel. She has shared the bill with luminaries such as Rosemary Clooney, Jimmy Scott, Oscar Brown, Jr., Freddy Cole, Mose Allison, Mavis Staples, and Dave Frishberg and she performed at The White House in a salute to American writers.
