Tulivu-Donna Lynn Cumberbatch, daughter of Harold Cumberbatch (a baritone saxophone player), was a

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

singer from Brooklyn. Her African name "Tulivu" translates from

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

loosely to "beautiful," and her middle name, "Donna Lynn" is derived from "

Donna Lee "Donna Lee" is a bebop jazz standard attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis has also claimed authorship. Written in A-flat, it is based on the chord changes of the jazz standard " (Back Home Again in) Indiana". Beginning with an unusu ...

," the jazz piece made popular by

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

. She died on January 17, 2022.

Career

As a child, Cumberbatch participated in church choir and the All City High School Chorus, then studied at Herbert H. Lehman College. After training, she began her solo career, influenced by such artists as Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nancy Wilson. She joined "The Magnificent Trio," which consisted of Mark Johnson, Donald Smith, and Rachiim Ausar-Sahu. In live performances, when not performing with her trio, Cumberbatch has sung with Hannibal Peterson, Kimati Dinizulu and the Kotoko Society, the

Brooklyn Philharmonic There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence fr ...

Diedre Murray Diedre Murray is an American cellist and composer specializing in jazz and musical theater. She also works as a record producer and curator. As a performer she has worked with Leroy Jenkins, Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson, Henry Threadgill, Mu ...

, the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary class ...

, Akyenee Baako and Drumsong Productions, the Hank Doughty/Ray Abrams Big Band, and the Cliff Smalls Septet. She has performed in the Caribbean, Europe, and Canada, and frequently at jazz clubs and festivals in New York City. She gained recognition for her work with

Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer best known for her work on the soundtracks of anime series, television series, live-action films, video games, and advertisements. She was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. She ha ...

on the album ''Song to Fly'' and on Kanno's soundtracks for the anime television series '' Cowboy Bebop''. With

Yuki Kajiura Yuki, Yūki or Yuuki may refer to: Places * Yuki, Hiroshima (Jinseki), a town in Jinseki District, Hiroshima, Japan * Yuki, Hiroshima (Saeki), a town in Saeki District, Hiroshima, Japan * Yūki, Ibaraki, a city on Honshu island in Japan * Y ...

she recorded a jazz version of the '' Noir'' song "Lullaby" for Kajiura's solo album '' Fiction''.

Discography

* ''Harmony'' (1990) * ''Lullabies in the Key of Life – For the Child in All of Us'' (1997) * ''Daughters of the Nile'' (1999) * "In the Company of You" ingle(1999) As guest * ''Spirit Within Us'', Andrei Strobert (1993) * ''Universal Dancer'', Masujaa: The X Factor (1994) * ''Springboard'', Lucy Galligher (1995) * ''Cowboy Bebop: Original TV Soundtrack 2 – "No Disc"'',

The Seatbelts is a Japanese band led by composer and instrumentalist Yoko Kanno. An international ensemble comprising both a stable lineup of musicians and various collaborators, the band was assembled by Kanno in 1998 to perform the soundtrack music for the ...

(1998) * ''Cowboy Bebop: Original TV Soundtrack 3 – "Blue"'', The Seatbelts (1998) * ''Song to Fly'',

(1998) * ''Brooklyn Bebop: The Brooklyn Four Plus One'',

Cecil Payne Cecil Payne (December 14, 1922 – November 27, 2007) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, New York. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute. He played with other prominent jazz musicians, in particular Dizzy Gille ...

(1999) * ''Passport to Brooklyn'', Brooklyn Repertory Ensemble (2002) * ''Fiction'',

(2003) * ''For My Brothers'', Dwight Carson (2003) * ''Cowboy Bebop: Tank! The! Best!'', The Seatbelts (2004)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumberbatch, Tulivu-Donna 2022 deaths American jazz singers American women jazz singers Singers from Brooklyn Jazz musicians from New York City 21st-century African-American women 1950 births