Lauren Lee Quartet

media release: Cafe CODA proudly presents Lauren Lee, a jazz vocalist, composer, and pianist from New York, to perform with her quartet. Two shows, 7 & 9 PM, $20/show.

Take a sneak peek here:

open.spotify.com/album/7CyBaNjZmae3S1w8JmL1H3?si=kql3EhcjQB2xJCMWVvTSUw&nd=1

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew6_k5oAjIo

Lauren Lee is an adventurous vocalist, pianist, and composer based in New York City. Her foray into creative music began as a teenager in the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, which lead her on a wild goose chase of sorts to find her own sound in the adventurous music scene as a young innovator. Likened to female jazz pioneers that came before her like Carla Bley and Jen Shyu as well as non-jazz visionaries like Bjork and Meredith Monk, Lee has been described as a whimsical storyteller with a voice that possesses an ethereal, playfully modern, instrumental quality. Her work is praised for her virtuosic improvisational abilities on (often doubled) piano and voice, as well as her emotional and harmonic prowess as a composer who does not shy away from finding and explicitly using inspiration from outside the jazz canon.

Reviews for her 2019 release, "Windowsill" (ears and eyes records):

"Lauren Lee is a talented pianist and composer, and a singer with a flexibility and sense of adventure in her voice which gives her music a light, optimistic feel, although repeated listening reveals it has surprising depth and complexity. She brings elements of art song into the realm of pop-jazz as if she were Meredith Monk invading a Steely Dan recording session" - Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz

"Lee—in her voice and at the keyboard—is, in a very balanced way, presenting a unique approach, but one grounded enough to support the contrasting moods and musics, which really is what makes Windowsill so engrossing" - Anthony Dean-Harris, Downbeat

"Lauren Lee is onto something. Her style is bold and unapologetic, and displays true range and versatility"- Sebastien Helary, NextBop

Most recently Lee has been celebrating her current solo project "The Queen of Cups" (ears and eyes records).

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeDfOwh6j0LmeS-VI6Sz3YnbS3tYsatXR

"As an improvisatory musician, Lee is at her best on this record, equal parts masterful and vulnerable" - Suzanne Lorge, The New York City Jazz Record

"She has created her own lane when it comes to reinterpreting jazz standards, taking the barest elements, the bones of jazz favorites, drawing them into her own world and offering up versions never done before" - Jordannah Elizabeth, The New York City Jazz Record

"Among jazz pianists who also sing (or jazz singers who also play), she’s at the top of the list"

Lauren has also been featured on the Jazz Session with Jason Crane and on Audiofemme. If you'd like to check out those interviews, they are here: www.thejazzsession.com/2021/05/26/the-jazz-session-558-lauren-lee/

www.audiofemme.com/lauren-lee-the-queen-of-cups-lp/

More info about Lauren: www.laurenleejazz.com