Amy London is a jazz singer and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

who has appeared on Broadway and in the vocal group ''The Royal Bopsters''. London grew up in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. She moved to

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in 1980 and began teaching jazz vocals in 1984. ''When I Look in Your Eyes'' ( Motéma Music, 2007) was her first album as leader, recorded at Bennett Studios in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of Engle ...

. The album includes bassist

Rufus Reid Rufus Reid (born February 10, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. Biography Reid was raised in Sacramento, California, where he played the trumpet through junior high and high school. Upon graduation ...

, drummer

Leroy Williams Leroy Williams (February 3, 1937 – June 1, 2022) was an American drummer, mostly known for his work in jazz. Williams first began playing drums as a teenager in the 1950s. From 1959 to the middle of the 1960s he played with singer Judy Roberts ...

, along with pianists Lee Musiker and the late

John Hicks Sir John Richard Hicks (8 April 1904 – 20 May 1989) was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics ...

. "Let's Fly", London's second Motema release, 2010, features the title song written by Annie Ross and Amy London, performed with pianist Tardo Hammer, bassist Santi Debriano and drummer Steve Williams. "Bridges", Amy London's retrospective, was released in 2017, and features Fred Hersch, Bob Mintzer, Lonnie Smith, and Darmon Meader. London can also be heard singing alto with the New York Voices on Robert Lepley's "Visions Within," narrated by Meryl Streep. London sang in the musical '' City of Angels'' from 1989 to 1992. She helped start the vocal jazz BFA program at

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

in 1992, at Jazz House Kids in 2013, and is an adjunct professor at New School, Hofstra University, City College and Jazz House Kids. She has led vocal clinics at jazz camps around the world.La Gorce, Tammy
"For Longtime Jazz Singer, Latest Success Is Sweet"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', April 6, 2008. Accessed April 12, 2020.'Teaneck has traditionally been a residential area for jazz musicians,' Ms. London said. 'And there have been so many here - Sam Jones, Rufus Reid, Lisle Atkinson, Nat Adderley.'" In 2015 London produced ''The Royal Bopsters Project'' (Motéma), an album that gathered a group of musicians to pay homage to

vocalese Vocalese is a style of jazz singing in which words are added to an instrumental soloist's improvisation. Definition Vocalese uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos, as opposed to scat singing, which uses nonsen ...

singers. It received four and a half stars from ''

DownBeat ''DownBeat'' (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 that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' magazine. The group included Amy London, Holli Ross, Dylan Pramuk, and Darmon Meader (replaced by Pete McGuinness). Appearing as guests on the album were jazz singers Mark Murphy,

Annie Ross Annie Ross (born Annabelle Allan Short; 25 July 193021 July 2020) was a British-American singer and actress, best known as a member of the influential jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. She helped pioneer the vocalese style of jazz sin ...

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

Sheila Jordan Sheila Jordan (born Sheila Jeanette Dawson; November 18, 1928) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. She has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to recording her own albums. Jordan pionee ...

, and

Bob Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, and composer. He became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''Schoolhouse Rock!'', as well as for his wor ...

. In 2019, The Royal Bopsters performed with Sheila Jordan at Ronnie Scott's in London, The Half Note in Athens, and at the 2019 Newport Jazz Festival. In 2020, The Royal Bopsters' second recording, ''Party of Four'', was released, again on the Motema label. The special guests on this recording are Sheila Jordan and Bob Dorough, as well as Christian McBride. It has garnered rave reviews and enjoyed worldwide airplay, including daily spins on WBGO 88.3 FM from its release on November 8, 2020, until the present. ''Party of Four'' received 4 stars from ''DownBeat'', and The Royal Bopsters were voted Best Vocal Jazz Group in the 2020 ''JazzTimes'' Critics' Poll.

Discography

* ''City of Angels'' (Columbia, 1989) * ''Two for the Road'' (Fivecat, 1994) * ''Visions Within'' with NY Voices (Lepley, 1998) * ''When I Look in Your Eyes'' (Motéma, 2007) * ''Let's Fly'' (Motéma, 2011) * ''The Royal Bopsters Project'' (Motéma, 2015) * ''Bridges'' (Fivecat, 2014) * ''Party of Four'' (Motema, 2020)

References

External links

The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:London, Amy 1957 births Living people American women jazz singers American jazz singers American jazz educators Musicians from Cincinnati Musicians from Teaneck, New Jersey The New School faculty Jazz musicians from New Jersey Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Ohio American women music educators Motéma Music artists American women academics 21st-century American women