Biography
Born in 1961 in Guildford, Surrey, England, Wardell moved with her family to Australia at age twelve. There she later finished a four-year jazz and improvised-music performance program at Adelaide University. Professional work soon followed, including festival appearances alongside Richie Cole as well as with James Morrison and Don Burrows; the latter pair later featured her on tracks from two albums. Returning to the UK in 1989, she enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Norma Winstone heard her there and remarked, “She sings without affectation, and with clarity of voice, which I love.” Throughout the early 1990s Wardell performed widely across Europe, made a U.S. visit, and sang at festivals in San José, Edinburgh, and Finland. A close partnership developed with John Stevens, yielding drums-and-voice duo performances and a joint recording in 1994. Her first album under her own name appeared in 1995 and consisted of duets with pianist Liam Noble.
Wardell’s rich, expressive, and agile voice equips her equally for the great ballad standards—delivered with striking emotional depth—and for bop repertoire. Mark Murphy, widely regarded as the guiding figure among today’s jazz vocalists, has praised the precision of her bop phrasing, noting that it is “always so clear and accurate in its linearism.” Scat singing also figures prominently in her sets; unlike many younger performers who approach the technique with limited understanding of its demands, she demonstrates exceptional command of the idiom.
Wardell’s rich, expressive, and agile voice equips her equally for the great ballad standards—delivered with striking emotional depth—and for bop repertoire. Mark Murphy, widely regarded as the guiding figure among today’s jazz vocalists, has praised the precision of her bop phrasing, noting that it is “always so clear and accurate in its linearism.” Scat singing also figures prominently in her sets; unlike many younger performers who approach the technique with limited understanding of its demands, she demonstrates exceptional command of the idiom.
Albums
