Marianne Solivan

POIGNANT EXPRESSIONS

Quickly becoming one of the most buzzed about jazz singers
on the New York scene, Marianne Solivan does not remember an “ah-ha” moment
that brought her to the music she has devoted herself to: “I don’t recall
having a big moment that made me like jazz. 
I just dug it.”

It is that same simplicity of statement with its intrinsic
honesty that characterizes Solivan’s style. The infallible swing of Ella, the
daring of Betty Carter, the matter-of factness of Carmen McCrae…They can all be
found in the voice of Marianne Solivan, whom trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has called
“the modern-day paradigm to which all singers should aspire.”

It is no coincidence that the 2009 Jazzmobile Vocal
Competition finalist has graced recital halls, jam sessions and club stages
with such noted musicians as Roy Hargrove, Steve Lacy, Jeremy Pelt, Ray Gallon
(Ron Carter, Lionel Hampton, T.S. Monk), Ugonna Ukegwo (Tom Harrell, Jacky
Terrason) and Jane Monheit’s sidemen Neal Minor and Michael Kanan.

Born in Queens, New York, Solivan’s family lived in
Venezuela and New Jersey before settling in Massachusetts, where she attended
high school. Already an alto sax student, it was in secondary school that she
began singing seriously, studying classical voice and appearing in musical
theater productions. Upon graduating, she entered The Boston Conservatory with
a concentration in musical theater. After her first year in college, Solivan
took time off from school and drifted away from singing, not returning for
three years. The urge to resume studying voice and go back to school coincided
with her discovery of the voice that would become her greatest influence:  Ella Fitzgerald.

She recalls, “I purchased the four oddest recordings for a
jazz newcomer:  one of those Ella
Fitzgerald songbook compilations, a Dominique Eade recording, Nina Simone Sings
The Blues and At the Village Vanguard: Betty Carter.  Fitzgerald, especially, made a great
impression on her: “There’s such tremendous hopefulness in all her music. No
matter how sad the ballad, no matter how bad the break-up song, there’s always
a silver lining. “

Solivan was singing pop when she entered Berklee College of
Music, but quickly decided she wanted to learn this music called jazz. Earning
a dual degree in Music Performance and Education, she taught music for a year
before entering New England Conservatory and earning a Master’s degree in Jazz
Studies.

Armed with two prestigious degrees and formidable talent,
Solivan moved back to the city of her birth in 2007, placing in the Jazzmobile
Vocal Competition, appearing as the only featured vocalist on clarinetist
Darryl Harper’s The C3 project recording, Stories in Real Time, and touring
France as the lead vocalist in an innovative staging of Shakespeare’s Julius
Caesar.

Solivan is as likely to pop up at jazz institution Smalls
Jazz Club with a full band as she is an intimate restaurant with only a piano
accompanist. Regardless, jazz lovers and musicians alike are captivated by her
sound and her style. Not all are able to articulate what attracts them as well
as Pelt. Ultimately, they just dig it.

To visit Marrianne Solivan's website CLICK HERE