Joan Crowe Resume

      
“A slightly twisted and superbly talented chanteuse”- New York Times

New York Newsday called her “as polished as a diamond." Joan Crowe is a versatile performer who can not easily be put in a category. As a vocalist, she possesses an extensive repertoire of jazz, standards, pop, rock, blues, R&B and folk. Her talents have made her equally at home leading her popular society band, High Society Rhythm, in the recording studio, on stage, TV and in film and performing in intimate jazz clubs or large corporate events. Joan’s comic ability earned her the 2002 MAC Award (Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs) for Female Musical Comedy. She also is the creator and star of an innovative pod cast: www.FunnyJazzChick.com, which is filmed live at Birdland every Monday night.

Joan “caught the jazz bug” when she opened for Joe Lovano in 2002. Since then, she has played in many prestigious jazz clubs, including The Jazz Standard, The Iridium Jazz Club, Sweet Rhythm and Birdland. In her live shows, she is a risk taker and likes combining jazz with other musical genres and then adding a touch of comedy.

“Joan Crowe gets to the heart of a song’s story. And she’s funny. And she is beautiful. She gets the hat trick.” is how Michael Bourne of WBGO describes Joan. A long time supporter of her work, he wrote the liner notes for her debut CD, Bird On The Wire. The CD garnered rave reviews in LA Jazz Scene, Jazz Improv, All Music Guide, Cadence, JazzReview.com, All About Jazz and others. Joining her on the CD is Tedd Firth on piano, Jay Leonhart on bass, Scott Neuman on drums, George Walker Petit on guitar, and Justin Flynn on sax. She recently returned from a successful tour of Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam and the UK as a result of the international airplay her CD has been enjoying.

She performs regularly with her 10-piece band, High Society Rhythm. Her credits include performances at The Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institute, The Uvar Hazy Center in Washington D.C., The Rainbow Room, The Oak Room in Grand Prospect Hall, The Carnegie Club, The Metropolitan Room, Trumpets Jazz Club, The Manor, Rockland Center for the Arts, The Emelin Theatre, Archie’s Place, The Plaza Hotel, The Hackensack Cultural Arts Center, Westchester Conservatory of Music, Judy’s Chelsea, The Cinegrill in Los Angeles, Odettes, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the ASCAP songwriters’ showcase, and the Mable Mercer Cabaret Convention at Town Hall, and countless private functions.

She is very proud of the money she has raised for breast cancer and other charities performing one of her several Cabaret shows: Women of Note, a tribute to women songwriters such as Bessie Smith, Dorothy Fields, Peggy Lee, Joni Mitchell, and Carol King Jazz In The Key Of Comedy, which features the music of Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Lois Jordan, Dave Frishberg and other “Jesters of Jazz”; The Devil in Miss Joan, a hysterical look at good and evil which garnered her the coveted MAC Award for Musical Comedy in 2002; As the Crowe Flies dubbed “Fabulous!” by Bloomberg Radio, and “Hilarious!” by the Associated Press and earned her a second MAC Award nomination; and Shooting Stars, which earned her first MAC Award nomination in 2000, and a Critics Pick nod from Time Out New York.

Joan is at home singing various genres of music. Her shows range from the music of the Great American Songbook including works by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Rogers and Hart: with music made popular by Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney and Doris Day to the pop and rock music of Bette Midler, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Carol King, Bonnie Raitt and Leonard Cohen.

She started her career in theatre and was classically trained with a MFA from the Asolo State Theatre and a BFA in Theatre from Indiana University at Bloomington. Before shifting her focus more to singing, she had a successful acting career and was well known to daytime viewers in a recurring role on All My Children. Joan has also appeared on screen in Working Girl and An Eye For An Eye, with Sally Field. Her acting credits are extensive. She has performed Regionally at the Asolo State Theater, Kennedy Center, Indiana Repertory, and The Phoenix. Her New York acting credits include Dance Theatre Workshop, Altered Stages and Theatre Works USA.
Updated:  December 3, 2011

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