Champian Fulton (born September 12, 1985) is an American jazz singer and pianist.

Career

Early years

Champian Fulton was born in

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, Oklahoma, in 1985. Her father, Stephen Fulton, was a jazz trumpeter who was often visited by musician friends such as

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

and

Major Holley Major "Mule" Holley Jr. (July 10, 1924 – October 25, 1990) was an American jazz upright bassist. Biography Holley was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He attended the prestigious Cass Technical High School in Detroit. Holley played ...

. At the age of five, she took piano lessons from her grandmother. After trying trumpet and drums, she returned to piano and singing. When her father was hired to run the Clark Terry Institute for Jazz Studies, the family moved to Iowa. She went to jazz summer camp, where she founded the Little Jazz Quintet. One of their performances was Clark Terry's seventy-fifth birthday party. One of her early influences was

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

, particularly the album ''

For Those in Love ''For Those in Love'' is a studio album by American jazz vocalist Dinah Washington with musical arrangements by Quincy Jones. It was originally released by EmArcy Records in June 1955, and was reissued by EmArcy Records in 1991. In popular cultu ...

'', which she played often as a young girl. She also admired

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

Sonny Clark Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Early life Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of Pit ...

Red Garland William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. (May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984) was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz ...

Hampton Hawes Hampton Barnett Hawes Jr. (November 13, 1928 – May 22, 1977) was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir ''Raise Up Off Me'', which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975. Early life Hampton Hawes was born on N ...

Wynton Kelly Wynton Charles Kelly (December 2, 1931 – April 12, 1971) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

, and

Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...

. Fulton graduated from high school in 2003, then attended

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was fo ...

, where she studied with trumpeter

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

. After graduating, she moved to New York City to pursue a career as a pianist and vocalist.

Live performances

Fulton has performed in New York City venues, including Birdland,

Smalls Jazz Club Smalls Jazz Club is a jazz club at 183 West 10th Street, Greenwich Village, New York City. Established in 1994, it earned a reputation in the 1990s as a "hotbed for New York's jazz talent" with a "well-deserved reputation as one of the best places ...

, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, the

Carlyle Hotel The Carlyle Hotel, known formally as The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is a combination luxury apartment hotel located at 35 East 76th Street on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 76th Street, on the Upper East Side of New York City. O ...

Cleopatra's Needle Cleopatra's Needles are a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York City. The obelisks were originally made in Heliopolis (modern Cairo) during the New Kingdom period, inscribed by the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose I ...

, and Shanghai Jazz, New Jersey. At some of those venues she played with

Jimmy Cobb Wilbur James "Jimmy" Cobb (January 20, 1929May 24, 2020) was an American jazz drummer. He was part of Miles Davis's First Great Sextet. At the time of his death, he had been the band's last surviving member for nearly thirty years. He was a ...

Scott Hamilton (musician) Scott Hamilton (born September 12, 1954) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist associated with swing and straight-ahead jazz. His eldest son, Shō Īmura, is the vocalist of the Japanese rock band Okamoto's. Career He was born in Providence, ...

Frank Wess Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic ...

Lou Donaldson Lou Donaldson (born November 1, 1926) is an American retired jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop ...

, and

Louis Hayes Louis Hayes (born May 31, 1937) is an American jazz drummer and band leader. He was with McCoy Tyner's trio for more than three years. Since 1989 he has led his own band, and together with Vincent Herring formed the Cannonball Legacy Band. He i ...

. She has performed at jazz festivals and events across the U.S., including

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center in New York City. The organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center in October 2004. Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director and the leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orches ...

Detroit Jazz Festival The Detroit Jazz Festival is a free jazz festival held every year during Labor Day Weekend at Hart Plaza and Campus Martius Park in Detroit, Michigan. History The festival began in 1980. Until 2000, it was known as the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Fe ...

Litchfield Jazz Festival The Litchfield Jazz Festival began in 1996 at the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield Hills in Connecticut. The parent organization that runs the festival is Litchfield Performing Arts, Inc, a not-for-profit founded in 1981. After tw ...

Rochester International Jazz Festival Established in 2002, the CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival Presented by M&T Bank takes place in June of each year, in Rochester, New York. It is owned and produced by RIJF, LLC, whose principals are John Nugent, Co-Producer and Artistic D ...

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, and the

Chicago Humanities Festival The Chicago Humanities Festival is a non-profit organization which hosts an annual series of lectures, concerts, and films in Chicago. There are two seasons each year, including a spring festival from April through May, and a longer fall festival ...

. Internationally, she has performed at jazz clubs, jazz festivals, and other venues, including

Ascona Jazz Festival Ascona Jazz Festival, or Jazz Ascona, is an annual jazz festival held in Ascona, Switzerland. The 10-day festival takes place from late June to early July on the Swiss shores of Lake Maggiore and is devoted to historical styles of jazz, particula ...

(Switzerland), Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival (Scotland), Sunset-Sunside Jazz Club (France), Bansko International Jazz Festival (Bulgaria), Gouvy Jazz & Blues Festival (Belgium), Jamboree Jazz (Spain),

Tanjazz Tanjazz is an international jazz festival held annually in Tangier, Morocco since the year 2000. The event typically has drawn a capacity crowd.Hopewell, John (4 December 2005).Tangier taps arty roots, ''Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and ent ...

(Morocco), Hot Jazz (Israel), Cellar Jazz (Vancouver, Canada),

Yardbird Suite "Yardbird Suite" is a bebop standard composed by jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker in 1946. The title combines Parker's nickname "Yardbird" (often shortened to "Bird") and a colloquial use of the classical music term " suite" (in a manner similar to ...

(Edmonton, Canada), JazzTone (Germany), and the Ystad Jazz Festival (Sweden). She has worked with the

, the Litchfield Jazz Camp, and

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

. In late 2015, she joined the faculty of the Jazz Arts Academy (in association with the Count Basie Theatre Education Department) to offer workshops in jazz vocals and jazz piano during the summer.

Awards and honors

* Rookie of the Year, ''The Village Voice'', 2007 * Top Ten Jazz Album, ''Champian Sings and Swings'', ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

'', 2013 * Rising Star – Female Vocalist, Critics' Poll, ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' magazine, 2014 * Female Vocalist of the Year, Hot House Jazz Fan Decision Awards, 2017 *Female Vocalist of the Year, NYC Readers Awards sponsored by Hot House Jazz Magazine & JazzMobile, 2019 *Pianist of the Year, NYC Readers Awards sponsored by Hot House Jazz Magazine & JazzMobile, 2019 * Performs in the Emmy Nominated show, "Take Me Back to Manhattan" (produced by Jazz at the Ballroom and filmed at the Carlyle Hotel), NY Emmy Awards 2022

Discography

As leader

* ''Champian'' (Such Sweet Thunder, 2007) * ''Sometimes I'm Happy'' (

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

, 2008) * ''The Breeze and I'' (Gut String, 2011) * ''Champian Sings and Swings'' (Sharp Nine, 2012) * ''Change Partners: Live at the Yardbird Suite'' (Cellar Live, 2014) * ''After Dark'' (Gut String, 2016) * ''Speechless'' (

Posi-Tone Posi-Tone Records is an American jazz record label founded by Marc Free, a producer and musician who runs the company with engineer Nick O'Toole. The label's first five albums were issued in 1995. The roster includes trombonist Steve Davis, saxop ...

, 2017) * ''Christmas with Champian'' (Champian, 2017) * ''The Things We Did Last Summer'' with Scott Hamilton (Blau, 2017) * ''The Stylings of Champian'' (Champian, 2018) * ''Dream a Little...'' (Cellar Live, 2019)Champian Fulton/Cory Weeds, ''Dream A Little...''
Review by Alex Henderson, '' NYCJR'', February 2020, Issue 214, page 25 - retrieved 10 February 2020. * ''Birdsong'' (2020) * ''I'll See You in My Dreams'' (Venus Record, 2021) * ''Live from Lockdown'' (Champian Records, 2021) * ''Blue and Sentimental''(Venus Record, 2022)

As guest

* ''An Upper West Side Story'', Tobias Gebb & Trio West with Champian Fulton (Yummyhouse, 2008)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, Champian 1985 births Living people American women jazz singers American jazz singers American jazz pianists Musicians from Norman, Oklahoma Posi-Tone Records artists Singers from Oklahoma State University of New York at Purchase alumni Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American women singers Jazz musicians from Oklahoma 21st-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American singers