DESCRIPTION:
Oregon native Halie Loren is an internationally recognized artist, whose rich and sensitively delivered vocals have garnered her numerous awards and fans from around the world. Loren transcends genres and opens up new ways of thinking about familiar and original songs, whether they are jazz standards, pop, classic rock, or folk. Singing in several languages, Loren knows no limit to where she can and will go vocally. She knows her way around a song, whether it be a composition of her own or one of her surprising and always dead-on covers. In a relatively brief span of time, Loren appears to have achieved enough success to define an entire career. Since her stage debut at the age of ten, Loren has continued to wow and woo audiences with her warm, intimate live performances; she is an elegant, electrifying performer, full of charisma and cool.

Still, for all she has already accomplished, it is what lies ahead that should truly thrill any fan of Loren's music. The past two years have found her characteristically elevating her craft, getting better with each live performance, each newly written song or recorded work. She released a live album, Stages, in 2010, and it reached #4 on the Amazon Japan jazz charts. Halie's fifth album, After Dark (2010), earned her an Independent Music Award in the fan-voted "VoxPop" Jazz Song category for her original song "Thirsty." Loren's newest release, Heart First, was released in Japan in December 2011, garnering Jazz Critique Magazine's 2011 coveted "Golden Prize," the highest honor in their Vocal Jazz Album category. Heart First has spent time in the top 10 on Amazon.com's Vocal Jazz album chart, and also as the #1 album on iTunes Canada's jazz album chart. Loren is coming to us from Tokyo where she just sold out six shows at the Cotton Club and her new release Simply Love has been number one on the Japanese Billboard Chart.

"Halie stands out in the way she commits to the song. ...She connects emotionally to each line in the same way Sinatra often did. You hear the feelings behind the words and you almost see her facial expressions as she breathes in and out between the verses. In other words, she's the anti-Krall, the polar opposite of aloof. There's something amazingly alive about that, and it's slightly intoxicating." --Marc Phillips, The Vinyl Anachronist

Halie Loren (vocals), Matt Treder (piano), Mark Schneider (bass) and Brian West (drums)

Join us on October 16, 7:30p PDT for the free on-line show.