Lauren Newton

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Lauren Newton (2015 in the Loft (Cologne) )

Lauren Amber Newton (born November 16, 1952 in Coos Bay , Oregon ) is an American singer (jazz, improvised and new music), composer and university teacher. The singer is one of the most important vocalists in jazz and, according to Peter Rüedi, “one of the most important contemporary vocal improvisers.” She has “developed an instrumental and, above all, percussive style, which in its technical perfection, the vocal dimensioning, but also through the Fantasy, with which she surprisingly combines musical materials ”, is incomparable to this day.

Live and act

Newton studied singing at the University of Oregon until 1975 and then with Sylvia Geszty at the Stuttgart University of Music until 1977, as well as composition and new music with Franz Zubal and Erhard Karkoschka . During her studies she went on tour with the Frédéric Rabold Crew , made successful festival appearances with her (e.g. the German Jazz Festival Frankfurt 1974) and was involved in their recordings. In 1979 she became the singer of the Vienna Art Orchestra , with whom she performed numerous festivals and tours on four continents until 1989 and 17, z. Some of them made important records (e.g. Tango from Obango and From No Time to Ragtime ). Together with Bobby McFerrin , Jeanne Lee , Urszula Dudziak and Jay Clayton , she formed the Vocal Summit in 1982 (CD, TV show, tour).

Lauren Newton (2015 in Loft Cologne)

As an actress and composer, the singer performed both at the Stadttheater Freiburg im Breisgau (“From the life of insects”) and at the Vienna Burgtheater (“The Birds”). As a singer and actress she was seen in the film "Sissi auf Schloß Gödöllö" ( Christian Frosch ).

In addition, she implemented Adriana Hölszky's commentary for Lauren and performed other works of the 20th century by Hans-Joachim Hespos , Bernd Konrad , Hannes Zerbe , but also Wolfgang Dauner . Between 1983 and 1999 she worked in concerts and for CD productions with Ernst Jandl on the musical implementation of his poems. Her record debut Timbre with David Friedman , Thomas Stabenow and Manfred Kniel (1982, re-released on CD as Filigree ) received the German Record Critics' Prize for 1983. In 1993 she was a soloist in Henning Schmiedt's adaptation of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder . She also worked with Fritz Hauser , Peter Kowald , Jon Rose , Joachim Kühn , Anthony Braxton , Eckard Koltermann , the Südpool Ensemble under Herbert Joos and Bernd Konrad, the pianist Aki Takase and above all with the bassist Joëlle Léandre , with the she recorded the CDs 18 Colors (1997), Out of Sound (2002, with Urs Leimgruber ) and Face It (2005), but also performed at festivals. In 2006 she presented her first solo CD sound songs .

After a guest professorship at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and teaching assignments at the University of the Arts in Berlin and the Folkwang University , she was appointed professor for jazz singing and freely improvised music at the Lucerne School of Music in 2002 .

The radio play Walk tight tight! , a fictional dialogue between Elfriede Gerstl and Ruth Johanna Benrath with sound improvisations by Lauren Newton, was chosen by the jury of the German Academy of Performing Arts as Radio Play of the Year 2019.

Lauren Newton 1985 at the NDR Jazz Concert in Hamburg

Web links

Commons : Lauren Newton (vocalist)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 2: M – Z (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16513). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16513-9 , p. 941.
  2. "Go tight!" awarded as "Radio Play of the Year". In: Salzburger Nachrichten . January 10, 2020, accessed January 11, 2020 .
  3. Ö1: Radio play "GEH DICHT DICHTIG!" Awarded by the German Academy of Performing Arts as "Radio Play of the Year 2019". January 10, 2020, accessed January 11, 2020 .