Judy Niemack (born March 11, 1954) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocalist.

Early life

Judy Niemack was born in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

to a musical family. She began singing in a church choir from the age of seven.Judy Niemack biography at All About Jazz Niemack decided on a professional career in singing at age 17 and studied

Bel canto , )—with several similar constructions (, , , pronounced in English as )—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing, and whose definitions have often been misunderstood. ''Bel canto'' was not only seen as a vocal technique ...

singing with Primo Lino Puccinelli in Pasadena for 3 years. She studied classical voice and jazz improvisation with Gary Foster at

Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a Public college, public community college in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. History Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. It originally o ...

, and later attended the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

and the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. The school was founded in 1920 by a group of supporters led by Martha Bell Sanders and Mary Hutchens Smith, with Ernest Bloch serving as its first dire ...

. After pursuing classical studies until 1975, she returned to California to study jazz improvisation with

Marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

(who she had met early on). Niemack eventually moved to New York City in 1977, her first major engagement was a week at the Village Vanguard, singing in

Warne Marsh Warne Marion Marsh (October 26, 1927 – December 18, 1987) was an American tenor saxophonist. Born in Los Angeles, his playing first came to prominence in the 1950s as a protégé of pianist Lennie Tristano and earned attention in the 1970s as ...

's band.

Professional career

Her debut album, ''By Heart'' was recorded in New York City and released in 1977; since then she has recorded 12 albums under her own name in addition to working with

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans (), was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for playing the chromatic harmonica, as well as his guitar and wh ...

, James Moody,

Lee Konitz Leon "Lee" Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's ass ...

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American Swing music, swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948� ...

Kenny Barron Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era. Early life ...

Fred Hersch Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and a 17-time Grammy nominée. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than ...

Kenny Werner Kenny Werner (born November 19, 1951) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 19, 1951, and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Werner began playing and performing at a young ...

Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. T ...

Eddie Gómez Edgar Gómez (born October 4, 1944) is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist, known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1966 to 1977. Biography Gómez moved with his family from Puerto Rico at a young age to New York, where he was raised. ...

and the

WDR Big Band WDR Big Band is the jazz big band of German public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne, Germany. History Origins After World War II, the ''Kölner Rundfunk-Tanzorchester'' (''Cologne Radio Dance Orchestra'') was active from ...

(among others). In 1987, while living in New York, Niemack met guitarist

Jeanfrançois Prins Jeanfrançois Prins (born 18 February 1967) is a Belgian jazz guitarist, composer, vocalist and record producer. He has spent many years between New York City and Berlin where he was leading the Jazz Guitar departments in both music universitie ...

; the two would eventually marry in 1998. In 1992 Niemack relocated to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and taught vocal jazz in the

Royal Conservatory of Brussels The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (, ) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Providing performing music and drama courses, the institution became renowned par ...

, the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, and the

Royal Conservatory of the Hague The Royal Conservatoire (, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherlands. Since September 2021, t ...

. The couple recorded several CDs together and performed together extensively.Jazz Times. Judy Niemack: Night and The Music, with Jeanfrancois Prins. NOVEMBER 1, 1997
/ref> In 1995 the couple moved to Berlin, where she became the first Professor of Jazz Voice in Germany, teaching at the

Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

(later called Jazz Institut Berlin) and also establishing the vocal jazz program at Musikene, the Basque School of Higher Music, in San Sebastian, Spain (2003-2015). The couple eventually divorced in 2016.

Teaching

Niemack has written and published a set of three widely praised method books on jazz singing; the ''Hear It and Sing It!'' series. Since 1995, she has been a professor of vocal jazz studies at the JIB (Jazz Institute Berlin). Prominent vocal students of Niemack's include artists such as Dominique Lacasa,

Marc Secara Marc Secara (born 20 February 1976) is a Germans, German singer and recording artist known for jazz, American pop, American pop music, and Schlager music, German popular repertoire. He is also a member of the German singing group the Berlin Voi ...

, Efrat Alony, Lucia Cadotsch and Erik Leuthäuser. Niemack has written lyrics for over 100 compositions by

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...

Richie Beirach Richard Alan Beirach (born 23 May 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Beirach was born in New York City. He initially studied both classical music and jazz. While still attending high school, he took lessons from pianist ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

and

Kenny Dorham McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and occasional singer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention ...

(among others) which have been recorded on numerous albums.

Personal

Niemack currently lives in both

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Discography

* ''By Heart'' with Simon Wettenhall (Sea Breeze, 1978) * ''Blue Bop'' with Cedar Walton (Free Lance, 1989) * ''Long As You're Living'' (Free Lance, 1990) * ''Heart's Desire'' (Stash, 1992) * ''Beauty and the Prince'' with

(AMC, 1993) * ''Straight Up'' (Free Lance, 1993) * ''Mingus, Monk & Mal'' with

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

(Free Lance, 1995) * ''Night and the Music'' (Free Lance, 1997) * ''About Time'' (Sony, 2002) * ''Jazz Singer's Practice Session'' (GAM, 2004) * ''What's Goin' On?'' (Temps, 2005) * ''Blue Nights'' (Blujazz, 2007) * ''In the Sundance'' (Blujazz, 2009) * ''Listening to You'' with

Dan Tepfer Dan Tepfer (born 1982 in Paris, France) is a French-American jazz pianist and composer. He is best known for his 2011 album ''Goldberg Variations/Variations'' and his 2019 multimedia project ''Natural Machines''. Biography Dan Tepfer grew up in ...

( Sunnyside, 2017) – recorded in 2012 * ''New York Stories'' with

Jim McNeely Jim McNeely (born May 18, 1949) is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and faculty. Biography Jim McNeely was born in Chicago, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois, and moved to New York City in 1975. ...

DR Big Band The Danish Radio Big Band (aka DR Big Band), often referred to as the Radioens Big Band is a radio ensemble and big band founded in Copenhagen in 1964 at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). Band history Originally called the New Radio ...

(Sunnyside, 2018) * ''Sing Your Song'' with Wolfgang Koehler (Contemplate Music, 2019) * ''What's Love'' with

Peter Bernstein (guitarist) Peter Andrew Bernstein (born September 3, 1967) is an American jazz guitarist. Biography Born in New York City on September 3, 1967, Bernstein began playing piano when he was eight but switched to guitar when he was thirteen, learning the inst ...

, Sullivan Fortner, Doug Weiss,

Joe Farnsworth Joseph Allen Farnsworth (born February 21, 1968, in Holyoke, Massachusetts) is an American jazz drummer. Farnsworth was one of five sons born to trumpeter and bandleader Roger Farnsworth; one of the brothers played saxophone in Ray Charles's ban ...

+ guest

Eric Alexander (jazz saxophonist) Eric Alexander (born August 4, 1968) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator. Having placed second at the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition behind Joshua Redman and ahead of Chris Potter and Tim ...

( Sunnyside, 2022) * ''Voices in Flight'' with

Jay Clayton (musician) Judith Theresa Colantone (October 28, 1941 – December 31, 2023), known as Jay Clayton, was an American avant-garde jazz vocalist and educator. Early life and education Judith Theresa Colantone was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1941. From a youn ...

Jay Anderson Jay Anderson (born October 24, 1955) is an American jazz double-bassist and studio musician. Career Anderson received a bachelor's degree from California State University, Long Beach in 1978, then worked with Woody Herman (1978-1979), Carmen McRa ...

, and John di Martino (GAM, 2023)

References

External links

Official website
* * *
Judy Niemack
at ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

''
Judy Niemack
at

Rate Your Music Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online encyclopedia of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also features comm ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niemack, Judy American jazz singers American women jazz singers Jazz musicians from Los Angeles Cleveland Institute of Music alumni Musicians from Pasadena, California Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin Living people 1954 births Singers from California Widespread Depression Jazz Orchestra members American women academics 21st-century American women