Tulivu-Donna Lynn Cumberbatch (July 28, 1950 - January 17, 2022) was 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 ...

singer. Her African name "Tulivu" translates from

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

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

Donna Lee "Donna Lee" is a 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 unusual ha ...

," 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 Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

. Her father, Harold Cumberbatch, was a baritone saxophone player.

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 f ...

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, Muhal ...

, 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 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

, 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 of soundtracks for anime series, Video game, video games, Japanese television drama, television dramas and movies. She has written scores for ''Cowboy Bebop'', ''Terror in Resonance'', ''Gho ...

on the album ''Song to Fly'' and on Kanno's soundtracks for the anime television series ''

Cowboy Bebop is a 1998 Japanese neo-noir space Western anime television series that aired on TV Tokyo and Wowow from 1998 to 1999. It was created and animated by Sunrise (company), Sunrise, led by a production team of director Shinichirō Watanabe, ...

''. With

Yuki Kajiura is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer. She has provided the music for several popular anime series, such as ''Sword Art Online'', '' Puella Magi Madoka Magica'', '' Fate/Zero'', ''The Garden of Sinners'', '' Pandora Hearts'', and ...

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

Fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

''.

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 Ingle may refer to: People * Ingle (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Ingle Martin (born 1982), American former football quarterback Places in the United States * Ingle, California, a community * Ingle, Florida, an unincorporate ...

(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 Gilles ...

(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 website
{{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 singers 1950 births