Alexis Cole
 With a voice praised
as “a deep contralto as smooth and dark as the
richest espresso” (Jazz Times, November 2007,)
award-winning jazz vocalist Alexis Cole has made
an impressive impact on audiences ever since she
first took the stage as a teenager.
Winner of the 2007 Jazzmobile competition and an
award recipient of the Montreux Jazz Vocal
Competition, Alexis was cited as "a rising star
in the jazz world” by Hot House Magazine.
With seven records so far, Alexis Cole is on her
way to becoming the next great singer.
Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times says “Cole’s
easy sense of swing is strongly reminiscent of
Sarah Vaughan”. Ernest Barteldes for
AllAboutJazz writes “Cole’s voice is
inspired”. While Scott Yanow states
“Alexis Cole grows in power, maturity and depth
each year. She continues to have unlimited
potential.”
Born in New York City, and raised in Ft.
Lauderdale, FL, Alexis came from a musical
family on both sides, so it was only natural
that she had begun to perform at the Ritz Hotel
in South Beach when still in high school,
rapidly earning a reputation as one of the most
talented young singers in town. After graduating
from the New World School of the Arts- a
prestigious performing arts HS and College, She
went on to enroll in the University of Miami's
Jazz Studies program with the help of a
YoungArts Scholarship, and finished her
undergraduate studies at under the tutelage of
Rufus Reid and Nancy Marano at William Paterson
University in NJ, and her graduate studies with
Antonio Hart and David Berkman at Queens College
in NY.
Alexis released her first CD in 1999, a duo
project with Blue Note recording artist, pianist
Harry Pickens, titled for the Bill Evans
composition Very Early. Later that year she had
a residency studying Indian Classical singing at
the Jazz India Vocal Institute in Mumbai.
In 2004 she released a second CD. Nearer the Sun
(Canopy Jazz) which renowned jazz critic Scott
Yanow lauded as “a particularly strong effort
from a jazz singer well worth
discovering.” The next year, while holding
the Music Director seat at Jan Hus Presbyterian
Church in Manhattan, she completed her Masters
degree in music, and began to perform frequently
at clubs throughout New York City, including The
Oak Room, Dizzy's Club, The 55 Bar, The Zinc
Bar, Smoke, Smalls and Sweet Rhythm. As her
performing career took wing, Alexis traveled
across Europe, Asia and South America. She was a
guest faculty member at the Berklee College of
Music in Quito, Ecuador, and entertained
audiences during several three-month-long
residencies at the Tableaux Jazz Lounge in
Tokyo. Despite her penchant for globetrotting,
Alexis managed to release a third CD, Zingaro,
(Canopy Jazz 2007), which Time Out New York
praised as a “disc that will please purists and
more adventurous listeners alike.”
Inspired by her travels and her love for
bicycling, she dedicated the
better part of the nex t two
years to producing
The Greatest Gift - Songs of the Season, (Motéma
Music 2009) a holiday album featuring over 50
musicians including a children's choir, strings,
and Cole's father- composer and vocalist/pianist
Mark Finkin. The album raises awareness
and funds for World Bicycle
Relief, an organization that works in developing
nations to provide access to independence and
livelihood through the power of bicycles.
All About Jazz describes Cole's singing on the
album. "…warm and rich vocals, so emotive they
register in the keys of love and
gratitude."
Two of her recent releases for Venus Records,
"Someday My Prince Will Come" (2009) and "You’d
Be So Nice To Come Home To" (2010) were both
produced by Todd Barkan of the world renowned
Jazz at Lincoln Center. Prince, an album
of Disney love songs for grown ups, features a
stellar group including Fred Hersch, Matt Wilson
and Gregoire Maret. "You'd Be So Nice" is a
collaboration with the band One For All
featuring Eric Alexander and David
Hazeltine.
Alexis’ latest album, “I Carry Your
Heart” (Motema 2012) was one of five CD’s
featuring the full body of work from the great
baritone saxophone player, Pepper Adams.
The album featured numerous jazz greats
including Pat LaBarbera and Eric Alexander on
tenor sax, Jeremy Kahn on piano, George Fludas
on drums, and lyrics by jazz poet, Barry
Wallenstein.
She continues to perform regularly at
festivals, performing arts centers and jazz
clubs throughout the world as well as in her
home base of New York City. A dedicated
educator, Alexis has taught privately and at
the 92nd St. Y in New York City, and is a
guest clinician at many universities. Most
recently, she’s added the position of lead
vocalist for the West Point Band's Jazz
Knights, the U.S. Military Academy big band,
to her eclectic resume.
This is one singer you’ll want to
pay attention to. As the infamous jazz
publication Swing Journal states, “We've been
waiting for the next great singer to come
along, and finally... Alexis.”
"Singer and pianist Alexis Cole does
many things well, including uptempo numbers and
scat solos, but what she does best is slow
sultry numbers, both standards and blues, of the
sort that can't help but inspire couples to get
in the mood on Valentine's Day. The romanticism
is heightened to an extreme on her latest album,
"Close Your Eyes," a set of subtly swinging and
seductive standards, in which she even somehow
makes "Small Fry" sound erotic... One of the
busier young singers, recording-wise, Ms. Cole
(who is currently an active Staff Seargent in
the United States Army and vocalist with the
West Point Band's Jazz Knights), has at least
two other very different concept albums that
it's easy to recommend, "I Carry Your Heart," a
set of new songs based on the jazz compositions
of the brilliant baritone saxophonist Pepper
Adams, and "Someday My Prince Will Come," which
is as sultry as the Disney songbook is ever
going to get."
- Will Friedwald, Wall Street Journal
Downloads
Note: all of the
documents, audio and video samples below can
be downloaded and used in your publicity by opening the item and
then saving to your computer. Or you
can copy the link and use the link on your
website by right clicking on the link and
then selecting "Copy link location".
Audio & Video Samples
"I've_Got_You_Under_My_Skin"
from "Close Your Eyes" Venus 2013 (mp3
sample).mp3
"Teach_Me_Tonight"
from "Close Your Eyes" Venus 2013 (mp3 sample)
"Cry_Me_A_River"
from "Close Your Eyes" Venus 2013 (mp3 sample)
"In
Love With Night" from "I Carry Your Heart"
Motema 2012 (mp3 sample)
"I
Carry Your Heart" from "I Carry Your Heart"
Motema 2012 (mp3 sample)
"Now
In Our Lives" from "I Carry Your Heart" Motema
2012 (mp3 sample)
"So
This Is Love" from "Someday My Prince Will
Come" Venus 2009 (mp3 sample)
"Let
Me Be Good To You from "Someday My Prince Will
Come" Venus 2009 (mp3 sample)
"Someday
My Prince Will Come" from Someday My Prince
Will Come" Venus 2009 (mp3 sample)
"Delilah"
from "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" Venus
2010 (mp3 sample)
"Golden
Earings" from "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home
To" Venus 2010 (mp3 sample)
"I
Will Wait For You" from "You'd Be So Nice To
Come Home To" Venus 2010 (mp3 sample)
 Alexis
Cole Promo Video
Biography
Alexis
Cole Biography (pdf)
One
Sheet "Someday My Prince Will Come" Venus 2009
(pdf)
Master Clinics
Master
clinic video
Reviews
Wall
Street Journal Review of Alexis' Valentines
Day Concert
World
Music Report Review of "The Greatest
Gift-Songs of the Season"
Jazz
Times Review "Someday My Prince Will Come"
(pdf)
AllAboutJazz
Review "Someday My Prince Will Come (pdf)
LA
Jazz Times Review "Someday My Prince Will Come
(pdf)
JazzDaGama Review "Dazzling
Blue"
Alexis
Cole Quotes (pdf)
Alexis
Cole Additional Reviews (pdf)
Hi-Res Photos
Alexis
Cole > Hi-Res Pic # 1 (jpg)
Alexis
Cole > Hi-Res Pic # 2 (jpg)
Alexis
Cole > Hi-Res Pic # 3 (jpg)
Alexis
Cole > Hi-Res Pic # 4 (jpg)
Alexis
Cole > Hi-Res Pic # 5 (jpg)
Alexis
Cole > Hi-Res Pic #6 (jpg)
Artist Home Page
www.alexiscole.com
Request PR Materials
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Alexis Cole
including her latest CD*
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Alexis Cole's
latest CD*
* Note CD's and digital access to CD's are
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All other requests should be forwarded
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