Fay Claassen
Fay Claassen (born December 2, 1969 in Nijmegen , Netherlands ) is a Dutch jazz singer and teacher.
Live and act
Fay Claassen first completed dance and ballet training at the Ballet Academy in Arnhem (NL) before studying jazz singing with Rachel Gould at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in 1990 . During her studies, which she graduated with honors in 1996, she began her professional career as a jazz singer in bands with Carolyn Breuer , Tony Overwater and the Amsterdam Jazz Quintet. Musicians like Ivan Paduart , Bert Joris , Diederik Wissels , Paul Heller , Robert Jan Vermeulen and Michael Abene wrote compositions for them. Claassen has worked with Barry Harris , Toots Thielemans , Jim McNeely , Rita Reys , John Engels , Mike Stern , Vince Mendoza , Kenny Werner , Jan Verwey , Paquito D'Rivera , Tom Harrell , Bob Malach , Georgie Fame , James Carter , the Metropole Orchestra , the Skymasters, the Jazzorchestra of the Concertgebouw , the hr-Bigband and the WDR Big Band Köln .
So far she has released nine CDs under her own name and is featured on 17 other albums as a guest soloist. She received excellent reviews for her project Two Portraits of Chet Baker . In 2006 she toured Japan. In 2007 she did a project with Paquito D'Rivera, the WDR Big Band and the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln under the direction of Michael Abene ( Improvise One ). In 2008 she released her fifth CD on Challenge Records under her own name, Red, Hot and Blue - The Music of Cole Porter and 2010 Sing! with the WDR Big Band and the WDR Radio Orchestra , arranged by Michael Abene.
From 2001 to 2007 Claassen was Maria João's successor and headed the jazz vocal department at the Porto Conservatory . She gives workshops and regular masterclasses at the Conservatories of Amsterdam, Maastricht, Antwerp and is the main lecturer for jazz singing at the Conservatory in Rotterdam ; she gave masterclasses and concerts at the conferences of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) in Los Angeles and New York.
Fay Claassen is married to the saxophonist Paul Heller .
Honourings and prices
For her album Two Portraits of Chet Baker she received the first Chet Baker Award , which she accepted in Amsterdam in 2006. She also achieved 1st place in the All About Jazz Critics Poll in New York. In 2013 Claassen received the gold record for this album in the Netherlands . In 2009, The Shakespeare Album by Ilya Reijngoud , on which she worked, received an Edison Award . Her album with the trio Peter Beets Live at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw received the quarterly award of the German Record Critics in 2016 . For her album Luck Child she received the Edison Award in 2018 in the category "National Jazz Singer".
Discography
CDs under your own name
- With a Song in My Heart (2000)
- Rhythms and Rhymes (2001)
- Specially Arranged for Fay (2002)
- Two Portraits of Chet Baker (2005)
- Red, Hot and Blue - The Music of Cole Porter (2008)
- Sing! (2010, with WDR Big Band / WDR Radio Orchestra under the direction of Michael Abene)
- Live at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (2015)
- Luck Child (Challenge, 2017); received the Edison Jazz Award in the category "National Jazz Singer" in 2018
- Dutch Songbook (Challenge, 2018, with WDR Big Band, Cor Bakker , Peter Tiehuis and Theo de Jong under the direction of Torsten Maaß )
as a guest soloist
- Carolyn Breuer • Fee Claassen Quintet Simply Be (Challenge Records 1995, with Sebastian Altekamp , Stephan van Wylick, Joost Patocka , and Hermann Breuer , Ferdinand Povel )
- Tony Overwater Faces of China , (1999)
- Ivan Paduart A Night at the Music Village , (2003)
- Diederik Wissels Song of You , (2003)
- David Linx One Heart, Three Voices , (2005)
- Ilja Reijngoud The Shakespeare Album , (2009); received the Edison Jazz Award in the vocal category in 2009
- Bob Brookmeyer Standards , (2011)
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Claassen, Fay |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch jazz singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2nd December 1969 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nijmegen |