Nora McCarthy has thus far had a very productive and significant musical career. A poet and a songwriter in addition to being a singer, she is an important force in the advanced New York jazz vocal scene since 1996 when she recorded her first CD, red&blue, comprised mostly of original compositions (7 out of 9).
Currently, Nora produces, leads and co-leads several groups: The Nora McCarthy Qu'ART'et; The ConceptualMotion Orchestra (20-piece all original music); A Small Dream In Red – avant-garde voice and saxophone duo; Manna For Thought - a free form improvisational trio with Dom Minasi and Ras Moshe; Back To The One – conceptualized improvisation group - saxophone, piano, drums and pedals with original compositions and poetry, Jorge Sylvester, Pablo Vergara and Jay Rosen; and, The ACE (Afro-Caribbean-Experimental) Collective with alto saxophonist, Jorge Sylvester.
Spirit Driven Nora's upcoming new CD as a member of Jorge Sylvester’s ACE Collective will be released in January, 2012.
Her 2009 release, Circle Completing has received wonderful acclaim and is an exquisite duet CD with pianist John DiMartino that features some treasured standards and several of her original compositions which includes her masterpiece “Faith In Time – Jimmy’s Song” a tribute to the great jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott.
Additionally, Nora is featured on two new recordings coming out in 2011, Toward The Hill Of Joy with trombonist, composer George Brandon's Septet and a live recording with legendary avant-garde multi-instrumentalist and founder of Birth Records, Gunter Hampel and his European Trio recorded on October 5, 2009 in NYC.
Among many other notables Nora has performed with Kuumba Frank Lacy’s Vibe Tribe, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris’ A Chorus Of Poets, the Next Legacy Jazz Orchestra, James Weidman, Donald Smith, Richard Clements, Lucian Ban, Jeffrey Carney, Dominic Duval, Santi Debriano, Essiet Okon Essiet, Hilliard Green, Juini Booth, Gene Jackson, and rhythm and blues legend Wilson Pickett as a member of his band the Midnight Movers. Nora has appeared in concerts, festivals and club dates in NYC and elsewhere in the world with her various groups and presented a weekly show “New York Jazz Expressions” for UK Jazz Radio in 2009-2010.
Through her vast experience in the jazz and creative music field, Nora has developed a unique approach to teaching voice and improvisation and is founder of The Zen Of Singing...The Spiritual Path To Finding Your Voice™ and currently teaches privately, conducts workshops world-wide and offers on-line instruction. (www.thezenofsinging.com)
DISCOGRAPHY:
Spirit Driven, 2011 (Alessa Records)
Toward The Hill Of Joy, 2009/George Brandon/Future Release Date 2011
Circle Completing, 2009
A Small Dream In Red, 2005 (Sundown Jazz)
red&blue, 1998
Other Info:
- McCarthy has penned lyrics to a dozen jazz standards and countless others.
- McCarthy's has written over 20 compositions some are tributes to: Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Grover Washington, and Jimmy Scott.
- In April, 2008, Nora performed at Flushing Town Hall’s first Jazz & Poetry Marathon.
- In 2007 Nora performed a series of workshops and concerts in Panama and in Podgorica, Montenegro appearing on the television show Good Morning Montenegro.
- In June, 2005, The ConceptualMotion Orchestra (CMO) opened the highly acclaimed avant-garde Vision Festival X in NYC.
- Nora was the featured vocalist in trombonist Kuumba Frank Lacy's Vibe Tribe at the Jazz Gallery in New York and The Next Legacy Jazz Orchestra performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and the Albany Jazz Festival.
- In March, 2000, Nora toured with Wilson Pickett as a member of his band the Midnight Movers.
- Nora has curated and produced several creative series in NY that included musicians, poets, actors and artists from various disciplines presented in a multi-media format.
- Nora is a member of Poet's & Writers and The World Poet Society.
PROFESSIONAL ENDORSEMENTS
Ramsey Ameen, former violinist with Cecil Taylor’s Unit and 3 Phasis, mathematician and scholar. A Gathering of the Tribes Magazine, 2005.
"...Nora's vocal identity, aside from a basic jazz orientation, defies classification, and makes spare use of reflexive stylistic mannerisms. In the placement of her voice, Nora can evoke the power of a Malian Diva's fearless candor, or perhaps a Corsican Voceratrice's call to invisible worlds in the language of dreams, or the earthiness of an early blues singer's unvarnished autobiographical witness. She has been attentive to the fluid articulation, phrasing and timbre of the jazz trumpet, the instrument that most clearly has influenced her vocal development. Her shaping of pitch often foregoes the fluid note-bending of the jazz singer in favor of the full press of a sculptor's touch against viscous clay."
Dom DuVal, musician / composer / bassist.“ April 9, 2009
"Nora is a wonderfully focused musician, singer composer . Her original compositions are splendid examples of modern and traditional jazz song . I highly recommend her as a fellow artist .”
Paul Weston, Singer/Songwriter - United Kingdom
"Love your voice which has such texture and class and your timing/feel for songs is magnificent. Peace love and happiness."
João da Penha - January 25, 2009, Jazz & Bossa Nova Radio Show Host in Brazil
"Nora McCarthy, the diva, one of the top singers who shaped the jazz vocal, a superb artist, all the best for you in 2011! love, peace and music, music, music."