Showcase Talents

The Showcase on October 11^th will not only highlight the talents of eleven JzVMn singers rotating solos, but will also include some group numbers. Vocalists scheduled to perform at the showcase include:

• Dorothy Doring has been making waves as far south as New Orleans. Her first CD, About Time, was nominated for a 2001 Minnesota Music Academy Award. Her most recent release, Southern Exposure, was recorded in New Orleans in 2005.  In addition to singing jazz, Dorothy has an eclectic background in everything from rock to country to blues and R&B. Not only a performer, Dorothy Doring is a highly respected music educator for the St. Paul Public Schools. In addition to gigs in the Twin Cities, Dorothy performs several times per year in the Crescent City and currently co-hosts the Skylark Singers (showcase) at Jitters.
• Connie Dussl. Currently appearing with Pizzazz Jazz, Connie was one of the co-founders of Mill City Mix, and has performed with the Clinton Avenue Jazz Trio, the Minnesota Jazz Orchestra, the Rod Smith Big Band, Black Tie Affair, Planet Swing and the Wolverines.
• Lee Engele. Think Ella meets Streisand, with a pinch of Julie London, Lena Horne, Keely Smith, Judy Garland and Peggy Lee and you’ll have an idea of the music of Lee Engele. A long-time vocalist for the Just Friends Big Band, Lee also performs with the Somewhat Dixieland Band and her own Lee Engele Jazz Band.
• Nancy Harms received classical voice training at Concordia College in Moorhead and sang with the Concordia Choir. She has recorded, enjoyed radio play, and performed with many jazz and gospel musicians including her current band, The Nancy Harms Trio, in various cities and venues across Minnesota including the Dakota, Rossi's and the Fine Line.
• Rhonda Laurie began her career as a cabaret singer in New York nightclubs.  She has studied with several renowned vocal coaches, including jazz legend Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton.  Recently she has performed at Rossi's Blue Star, Sophia's, the Times Bar and Cafe, and Dakota, and is working on her debut recording with the great Peter Schimke, Chris Bates, Jay Epstein and Irv Williams.
• Vicky Mountain’s eclectic past runs the stylistic gamut from warming up for the Hollies, Tim Weisberg, Scarlet Rivera and others to co-writing and performing original jazz operas to concerts from Winnipeg to South America to nightclub and church performances with duos to big bands. Currently she performs with her own group and as a freelance singer, and teaches jazz voice at the MacPhail Center for Music.  Her CDs (Birds Of A Feather and Don't Go To Strangers) feature her original lyrics.
• Lucia Newell has sung in jazz clubs, concert halls and festivals around the world and can be heard on local and national TV and radio jingles. Lucia teaches improvisation and enjoys writing music and lyrics. She released the critically acclaimed CD Enter You, Enter Love with guitarist Joan Griffith, is featured on Laura Caviani’s jazzy Christmas CD, Angels We Haven’t Heard, and collaborated with Pete Whitman’s Departure Point on her 2004 release, Steeped in Strayhorn.
• Connie Olson has had a career that has taken her into various styles of music, including Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues and Jazz.  After her start with top Twin Cities’ bands, she moved to Los Angeles, where she attended the Dick Grove School of Music and worked many of LA’s venues. She has performed throughout the world with such top musicians as The Bill Molenhof Group, Peter Duchin’s Big Band, The Peter Graves Orchestra, The Manhattan Transfer, The Brian Setzer Band, Prince and Madonna. Her tribute to Doris Day, Daydreaming, was released in fall 2004, and she has continued to celebrate the music of Doris Day in gigs throughout the Twin Cities and LA.
• Christine Rosholt was born in Minneapolis, graduated from the Children’s Theatre Company & School, and went on to receive a BFA in performance art and photography from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She sings at many venues throughout the Twin Cities with top-notch musicians and, in 2006, released Detour Ahead, which is playing on the airwaves across the USA, Canada and in some European countries. This fall she celebrates five years singing on Twin Cities stages.
• Vincent. One of the JzVMn singers at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival Showcase, Vincent is a crooner in the best sense of the word. But the real question is, will he really play his trumpet at the next showcase?
• Donna Wilson is the vocal (and sax) half of Bellatrex, an eclelctic duo with keyboardist Laura Fleming. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls where she studied with local saxophone great, David Milne. After graduation she worked for Carnival Cruise Lines and later in Phoenix with a funk band, Knee Deep Experience, as well as co-founding a jazz duo called, Lubben and Larson. After 3 years of desert heat she moved back to the Midwest and cofounded a jazz group called Bellatrex (formerly known as Merge), which released its debut CD in 2005, Atmosphere. Donna teaches private music lessons and promises to bring her sax to the Showcase!

Lee Engele, Vicky Mountain, Gregg Marquardt, Donna Wilson and Connie Dussl sing at the February showcase in Burnsville©Andrea Canter

The JzVMn Showcase will be presented on the stage of the Dakota County Music Café, in the Dakota County Steakhouse at the Holiday Inn Burnsville (County Road 42 and Nicollet Avenue, just east of I-35), from 7-10 pm. There’s no cover! Enjoy great music and great food—the perfect combination for a weeknight outing. 

For monthly gig listings for Jazz Vocalists of Minnesota, visit the Twin Cities page of Jazz Police. Additional information about the JzVMn is available on the JazzINK website (www.jazzink.com) under “Twin Cities Jazz.”