Rebecca Sullivan is a Chicago-based jazz vocalist who performs extensively in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. She has appeared at the Jazz Showcase, the Drake Hotel, Katerina's, and the Crimson Lounge at the Hotel Sax, among many other venues.
Rebecca is currently recording her first album.
Rebecca grew up in a musical household, learning to sing harmonies at a young age from her mother, who toured and recorded with her family's gospel a capella group. Rebecca went on to sing in choral groups and musicals, she studied and won competitions in classical piano, and she eventually taught herself guitar and began singing folk songs in coffeehouses in her hometown of York, PA, and in Portland, OR, in college. Later, while studying abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia, she had the opportunity to attend a number of jazz performances and was inspired by the vocalists she heard. She began studying jazz and was soon performing in her college's music showcases.
Rebecca later moved to Chicago and continued her jazz studies with vocalist Spider Saloff at the Bloom School of Jazz and with a host of other musicians, including Sheila Jordan, Art Davis, Joan Hickey, and Peter Saxe. She has very quickly established herself as an active performer at Chicago venues and private events. Her repertoire includes original songs and jazz-infused arrangements of material ranging from folk to pop in addition to standards from the Great American Songbook.
January 16 6:30 to 9 p.m. with Rob Clearfield _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
January 17 sets at 8 and 10 p.m. RS Quintet _ The Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL
January 20 8 to 11 p.m. RS duo _ Cab's Bistro Glen Ellyn, IL
February 11 8 to 11 p.m. solo voice/piano _ Cuvee Cellars , Elmhurst, IL
February 20 6:30 to 9 p.m. RS duo _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
March 19 6:30 to 9 p.m. with Mike Allemana _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
May 14 6:30 to 9 p.m. RS duo _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
July 9 6:30 to 9 p.m. RS duo _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
September 10 6:30 to 9 p.m. RS duo _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
November 12 6:30 to 9 p.m. RS duo _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
November 1 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. with Lee Rothenberg _ Salt Creek Wine Bar Brookfield, IL
November 3 8 to 11 p.m. with Mike Allemana _ Chant Chicago, IL
November 5 8 to 11 p.m. with Bobby Broom _ Cuvee Cellars Elmhurst, IL
November 11 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. with the Eddie Stevens 3 _ Renaldi's Chicago, IL
November 12 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. solo voice/piano _ All Wined Up Clarendon Hills, IL
November 14 sets at 8 and 10 p.m. RS Quintet _ The Jazz Showcase Chicago, IL
November 15 9 to 11:30 p.m. with Mike Allemana + Bethany Hamilton/Rob Clearfield duo _ Jerry's Ears and Eyes series Chicago, IL
December 12 6:30 to 9 p.m. with Mike Allemana _ The Cellar Bistro Wheaton, IL
For booking, you can reach Rebecca at 717.659.0559.
Rebecca offers lessons in voice and piano in her home studio in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. She teaches jazz vocals and vocal technique as well as beginning and intermediate piano. Lessons are customized to fit the individual needs of the student. Topics covered in voice and piano lessons include technique, sightsinging/sightreading, theory, ear training, and more. Jazz vocal classes cover phrasing, basics of improvisation, jazz piano for singers, performance technique, chart writing, etc.
Contact Rebecca through the website or at 717.659.0559 for more information regarding pricing and availability.
From a Huffington Post review of a recent appearance at Chicago's Jazz Showcase
(read the full review here )
[. . .] The same week, I headed to the south Loop for a very different kind of recital at a very different venue: the Rebecca Sullivan Quintet on the lush, capacious stage at Joe & Wayne Segal's Jazz Showcase. [. . .]
This time it was definitely worth the trip: headlining the Showcase is a kind of jazz benediction, a notch in any musician's cane, and it's Sullivan's next step in her continued ascent. She certainly looked ready for world domination, sporting the simple black cocktail dress that constitutes the battle armor of female jazz singers everywhere. Backed by Josh Moshier on piano, Jeremy Cunningham on drums, Mike Allemana on guitar, and--a heroic last-minute replacement for an ailing John Tate--Matt Ferguson on bass, Sullivan launched into "I Only Have Eyes For You" with so much insouciant swing I almost had to grip the table to keep my center of gravity in place.
Sullivan had promised "standards, nonstandards, and originals" for this gig, and she delivered. The nonstandards included a knockout jazz reading of the folk ballad "She Moved Through the Fair" (with Allemana's guitar as sole accompaniment) and a cover of the alt-rock tune "Human Racing" by St. Vincent. The originals boasted Moshier's "Saturnine," Allemana's "This Way, This Time" (with lyrics by Sullivan which, she confessed, she'd only finished about an hour before the show), and Sullivan's own "I Am Not," with its floor-dropping time-signature shifts in the bridge.
But even the standards weren't so very standard; they included Thelonious Monk's "Ask Me Now," Irving Berlin's "Russian Lullabye," and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Chega de Saudade" (with her cool, lilting soprano, Sullivan was born to sing bossa; and she sings it in Portuguese, thanks). There was also, notably, "Sweet Surprise" by Blossom Dearie--a performer who, I'm embarrassed to say, I hadn't till now realized is one of Sullivan's natural precursors. Like Dearie, Sullivan pairs an appealing, sparkling-fresh instrument with keen intelligence and sophisticated musicianship; sagacious soubrettes, I call them. You could probably do better. Actually, so could I. But I'm too busy listening... and smiling.
-Robert Rodi
An article in the Chicago Reader about Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O CD release party at the Jazz Showcase: click here
A piece in the Oak Park/River Forest Tribune about a duo concert in Oak Park: click here
© Rebecca Sullivan 2010. All rights reserved.
