Jackie Ryan

"Extraordinary -- a world-class talent!" Don Heckman, jazz critic for the Los Angeles Times, calls her. And it's no wonder. She has a magnetic stage presence. Wherever she performs - domestically, or in Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada -- it's the same story. She's been such a hit at London's famed Ronnie Scott's Club (where she has been a regular for the last eight years) that the owner, Pete King, asked Jackie to appear on Ronnie Scott's own prestigious Jazz House label and the London Evening Standard called her "one of the finest singers to perform at Ronnie's since Shirley Horn.

Among the many jazz greats Jackie has sung, recorded, or toured with are: Clark Terry (at the Monterey Jazz Festival), Toots Thielemans, Barry Harris, Cyrus Chestnut, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Red Holloway, Eric Alexander, Jeremy Pelt, Ernie Watts, Roy McCurdy, George Gaffney, Amina Figarova, Mike Wofford, Larry Vuckovich, Jon Mayer, and Jon Hendricks - just a few of the legends with whom she has shared the stage, and who sing her praises as well.

She has written and recorded not only vocalese lyrics to such be-bop improvisations as Joe Henderson's "The Kicker," but also lyrics to such poignant ballads as Barry Harris's "Deep Love." This creativity as an artist and performer, combined with her being a genuinely warm person, has put her much in demand for concerts both here and abroad -- with sold-out shows not only at London's Ronnie Scott's and at Christofori's in Amsterdam, but also at New York's Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club, at Los Angeles' Jazz Bakery, and at San Francisco's Yoshi's and Plush Room.

Jackie has been blessed with a three and a half octave range. Her mother, who was Mexican, crooned Spanish folk songs to her when she was a child (Jackie often includes a Spanish song on her CDs as a tribute to her mom who passed on when Jackie was in her teens); and her father, who is Irish, is a classically-trained baritone who sang in several languages. So it is not by accident that her appeal "bridges the gap between both geography and generations," as BILLBOARD so aptly put it. She was born to it.