Nancy King (born June 15, 1940) is a jazz singer from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Known for her masterful scatting and elastic range, King has performed in worldwide tours and recordings, as well as collaborations with such artists as

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 rep ...

Vince Guaraldi Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...

Ralph Towner Ralph Towner (born March 1, 1940) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion, trumpet and French horn. Biography Towner was born i ...

, Dave Friesen and others. King started gigging in 1959 with fellow

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

music students. After moving to San Francisco in 1960, her accomplished

Scat singing In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...

landed her many gigs with various bebop artists. In 2004 King recorded her live album '' Live at Jazz Standard'' with pianist

Fred Hersch Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, educator and HIV/AIDS activist. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than 70 of his ...

Discography

* ''Impending Bloom'' with

Glen Moore Glen Moore (born October 28, 1941) is an American jazz bassist, who occasionally performs on piano, flute and violin. Moore was born in Portland, Oregon, United States. His performing career began at age 14 with the Young Oregonians in Portlan ...

(Justice, 1991) * ''Potato Radio'' with Glen Moore (Justice, 1992) * ''Cliff Dance'' with Glen Moore (Justice, 1993) * ''Straight into Your Heart'' with Steve Christofferson and the

Metropole Orchestra The Metropole Orkest (Metropole Orchestra) is a jazz and pop orchestra based in the Netherlands, and is the largest full-time ensemble of its kind in the world. A hybrid orchestra, it is a combination of jazz, big band and symphony orchestra. Com ...

(Mons, 1996) * ''King on the Road'' (Cardas, 1999) * ''Moonray'' (Philology, 1999) * ''Dream Lands Vol. 1'' with Steve Christofferson (Stellar!, 2000) * ''Dream Lands Vol. 2'' with Steve Christofferson (Stellar!, 2002) * '' Live at the Jazz Standard'' with

(Maxjazz, 2006) * ''Perennial'' (Ornry Diva, 2011)

Guest appearances

With

Karrin Allyson Karrin Allyson (pronounced ''KAR-in''; born Karrin Allyson Schoonover on July 27, 1963) is an American jazz vocalist. She has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and has received positive reviews from several prominent sources, including the ' ...

* ''Footprints'' (Concord Jazz, 2006) With Ray Brown * ''Christmas Songs with the Ray Brown Trio'' (Telarc, 1999) * ''Some of My Best Friends Are Singers'' (Telarc, 1998) With

Roy Nathanson Roy Jay Nathanson (born May 17, 1951) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader, actor and teacher. He became the leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have ...

* ''Fire at Keaton's Bar and Grill'' (Six Degrees, 2000) With

* ''45th Parallel'' (Portrait, 1989)

References

American women jazz singers American jazz singers Singers from Portland, Oregon 1940 births Jazz musicians from Oregon Living people 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers {{US-jazz-singer-stub