Jazz Vocalist Carolyn Fitzhugh to Release New Album “Living in Peace” on March 15th, 2019 | WATCH NEW VIDEO!

Singer Carolyn Fitzhugh Demonstrates Flourishing Vocal & Compositional Chops on “Living in Peace,” Set for March 15 Release by IYOUWE Records

RICHMOND, CALIF. (PRWEB) FEB. 18, 2019 – Carolyn Fitzhugh’s soul-infused jazz vocals attain new heights with her March 15 release of “Living in Peace,” for Lenny White’s IYOUWE Records. Fitzhugh’s second album also finds the Chicago native in esteemed company. Produced by Grammy nominee Mark Ruffin and given lush arrangements by state-of-the-art pianist and composer Amina Figarova, the recording features Figarova’s working band—a murderer’s row of major jazz musicians that includes tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, guitarist Rez Abbasi, and drummer Rudy Royston—and, on one track, the legendary Freddy Cole.

Elder and fellow Chicagoan Cole appears in a sly duet with Fitzhugh on Ivan Lins’s “I’m Not Alone,” one of eight “new standards” on “Living in Peace.” Brazilian singer and percussionist Nanny Assis joins her on another tune, his cowritten “Intimate Acquaintances” from the 2016 musical “Rio Uphill.” Among the other jazzed-up modern staples are a lively take on the Average White Band’s “Queen of My Soul”; Gil Scott-Heron’s startlingly tender “Combinations”; and “Strollin’,” Prince’s swinging George Benson pastiche.

“I can’t tell you what a thrill that was for me,” says Fitzhugh. “When Mark asked me would I like to sing with Freddy Cole, I couldn’t believe it.”

Alongside these scintillating interpretations, however, are four of Fitzhugh’s own original compositions. “Mark said he was impressed with my writing and wanted to showcase it,” she says. The selections include the fragile, wounded title track; the funky “Wish I Knew”; the upbeat charmer “Once Upon a Lover”; and “In the Autumn,” a sweet bossa nova that also features a bravura bass solo by Yasushi Nakamura.

Fitzhugh’s elevated technical accomplishment on “Living in Peace” is not incidental. While she received acclaim for her 2016 debut album, “Simply Amazing,” Ruffin felt that her voice needed further development before she recorded a follow-up. Fitzhugh accepted his constructive criticism gamely, even agreeing to work with vocal coaches to hone her instrument. (Among other things, the coaches helped Fitzhugh discover that she was not an alto, as she had long believed, but a mezzo-soprano.)

Her self-improvement efforts are evident on the new album, which shines not only with moments of grand virtuosity but with attention to the smallest of details: the precision, in short, that marks the truest and most dedicated of artists.

Born in Chicago on May 16, 1961, Carolyn Fitzhugh began taking classical piano lessons at the age of five. She became enchanted with all kinds of music through the songs she heard on the radio—songs like Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” which she started playing when she ventured into playing popular sheet music at about nine.

Fitzhugh sang in her high school chorus and played piano in a jazz combo, dreaming of becoming a professional musician. At her family’s insistence she studied accounting at Chicago’s Roosevelt University, but supplemented that education with evening vocal and piano courses at Bloom School of Jazz. Even after she embarked on a 30-year career as an accountant and analyst for the federal government, she continued nursing her dream, sitting in with musicians at various clubs and restaurants and singing for two years straight as part of the legendary Von Freeman’s weekly jam session.

In 2011, with her children growing up, Fitzhugh made the decision to begin a six-year retirement plan from her accounting job and devote herself full-time to singing and songwriting. She retired in the summer of 2017. In 2014, she began recording her first album, “Simply Amazing,” in a sextet setting featuring guitarist Larry Brown Jr. and pianist Stu Mindeman. Upon its release in 2016, Fitzhugh was lauded as “an artist of the first order,” with “that something extra that inspires you to keep an ear cocked in her direction.”

That cocked ear finds its reward on “Living in Peace.”

Carolyn Fitzhugh will be performing at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago on Tuesday 8/13 and will be announcing other Chicago-area dates in the coming months.

MORE News on T.U.M.S.!

R&B Singer Tony Walk to Release New Single "Tell Me You Want It" on April 5th, 2024
Mariah Carey Receives SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award
Gospel Singer Hezekiah Walker Set to Break Ground on East Brooklyn Affordable Housing Development
Music Legend Maurice White’s Final Recordings "Manifestation" Coming May 3rd, 2024 | WATCH NEW TRAIL...
Kevin Flournoy and Amanda Cole to Release New Track “To The Water” on April 5th, 2024 | LISTEN! New ...
Jazz/Funk Bassist Christian de Mesones to Release New Album “You Only Live Twice” on April 12th, 202...
The Bobby Broom Organi-Sation to Release New Live Project "Jamalot" on May 24th, 2024 | WATCH NEW VI...
Percussionist Eric Frazier to Release New Project "That Place, Featuring Return of The Panther Woman...
Gospel Singer Keri Fraser to Release New Single "You Are Holy" on March 29th, 2024
Nigel Hall & DJ Harrison to Release Tribute Album "The Burning Bush: A Journey Through the Music of ...
Sierra Green & The Giants Releases New Single "Break in the Road" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Jazz Guitarist Adam Hawley Releases New Album "Unstoppable" | LISTEN! Announces New Tour Dates for 2...
Davido and Lila Iké Release New Single “Flex My Soul” | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Blue Note Records Announces New Run of Titles for Classic Vinyl Reissue Series
GRAMMY-Winning Musician Don Was Announces New Group Don Was and The Pan-Detroit Ensemble | WATCH NEW...
R&B Singer Devon Howard Releases New Album "Morning Son" | LISTEN!
Director P. Frank Williams Launches Multimedia Venture "For The Culture, By The Culture"
Sheila E. Releases New Single "Bemba Colorá" feat Gloria Estefan & Mimy Succar | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Funk/Soul-Jazz Group The New Mastersounds to Release New Album "Old School" on March 29th, 2024 | LI...
Singer Lawrence Rosenborough Releases New EP "Human Relations" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Soul-Blues Singer Sugaray Rayford to Release New Album "Human Decency" on June 14th, 2024 | LISTEN!
The Powerhouse Fellowship Soul Choir feat. Shawn Cotterell Release New Single "God Is Good" | WATCH ...
Bay Area Saxophonist Raffi Garabedian Releases New Project "The Crazy Dog" | LISTEN!
Latin Jazz Ensemble Dave Schumacher & Cubeye to Release New Album "Smoke In The Sky" on April 12th, ...
Photographer Matthew Jordan Smith to Release New Book "Aretha Cool: The Intimate Portraits" on March...
Jazz Guitarist Ronny Smith to Release New Album "Struttin" on April 19th, 2024
Saxophonist Michael Cates Releases New Single "Get On It" | LISTEN!
Jazz Guitarist Norman Brown to Release New Album "It Hits Different" on March 29th, 2024 | LISTEN!
Singer/Songwriter Gene-o aka “Classic Twist” Releases New Single “Holding Back The Years” feat. Saxo...
Jazz Guitarist Chris Standring to Release New Project "As We Think" on April 5th, 2024
Violinist Alexa Torres & Her Quartet to Release New Album "In Situ" on June 14th, 2024
Vocalist Queen Esther to Release New Album "Things Are Looking Up" on April 9th, 2024 | LISTEN!
Saxophonist Mo Louis Releases New Track "To The Maxx" feat. Jeff Lorber | LISTEN!
Sevana Releases New Single "Keep Going (Chosen)" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Norah Jones Releases New Album "Visions" | WATCH NEW VIDEO! Announces New Tour for 2024
R&B Singer Ledisi Releases New Single “Perfect Stranger” feat. Kenny Lattimore | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
Saxophonist Melissa Aldana Releases New Track "A Story" | WATCH NEW VIDEO! New Album Drops April 5th...
The Stylistics To Re-Release Album "Love Is Back In Style" On March 8th, 2024 | WATCH & LISTEN!
Singer ROME Releases Cover of Lee Fields Soul Song "Forever" | WATCH NEW VIDEO!
R&B Singer Roderick Harper Releases New Track "Eternal Love" | LISTEN!