Barbara Jay (born 14 August 1937) is a British

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

singer. Barbara Jay grew up in a musical family, her father playing trumpet with many of the leading bands of the time. She took naturally to singing and by the 1960s she was working with top British Jazz musicians including

Ronnie Scott Ronnie may refer to: * Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadiu ...

and

Don Lusher Don Lusher OBE (6 November 1923 – 5 July 2006) was an English jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he played trombone with a number of jazz orchestras ...

. As a solo Jazz singer Jay has shared the billing at

Ronnie Scott's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sco ...

club with

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

, Pharoah Sanders, George Chisholm and

Dave Holland David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years. His extensive discography r ...

. More recently she has worked with

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

in Cabaret on the Saga Ruby Cruise ship and P&O Oriana. In 1970 she was chosen to sing with Benny Goodman and his orchestra on an extensive European tour and appeared in many major cities, including Paris, Milan, Copenhagen and Zurich. She also performed at the Carnegie Tavern in New York where she was accompanied by

Ellis Larkins Ellis Larkins (May 15, 1923 – September 30, 2002) was an American jazz pianist born in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his two recordings with Ella Fitzgerald: the albums '' Ella Sings Gershwin'' (1950) and ''Songs in a Mellow Mood'' (1954). He ...

. In 1993 she devised the very successful "Ella Fitzgerald Songbook Show" which has been performed at major venues and Festivals throughout Britain and also with her own quartet at the Pizza on the Park Knightstbridge, London. She appeared frequently with her saxophonist husband

Tommy Whittle Tommy Whittle (13 October 1926 – 13 October 2013) was a British jazz saxophonist. Biography Tommy Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland. He started playing clarinet at the age of 12 before taking up tenor saxophone at 13, guided by A ...

(he died in October 2013) and has performed extensively on British television and radio. She has also appeared at many European festivals including Nice and Cork. In December 2012, she appeared as a contributor to the BBC Four TV documentary “

Len Goodman Leonard Gordon Goodman (born 25 April 1944) is an English professional ballroom dancer, dance judge, and coach. He has appeared as head judge on the television dance programmes ''Strictly Come Dancing'', a programme where various celebrities c ...

’s Dancing Feet: the British Ballroom Story” describing her experiences singing for dance bands in the 1950s.

Discography

* ''The Nearness of You'' (Tee-Jay, 1982) * ''Memories of You'' (Tee-Jay, 1988) * ''Just Friends'' (Spotlite, 1997) * ''The Ella Fitzgerald Songbook Revisited'' (Spotlite, 2000) * ''Reminiscing with Barbara Jay'' (Spotlite, 2003)

References

External links

Barbara Jay
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Searchable BBC archive including jazz programs
at

BBC Genome project The BBC Genome Project is an online searchable database of programme listings initially based upon the contents of the ''Radio Times'' from the first issue in 1923 to 2009. Television listings from post-2009 can be accessed via the BBC Programme ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Barbara 1937 births Living people British women jazz singers Place of birth missing (living people)