Biography
Born in Maryland, Hubka grew up in a household steeped in music, above all through her mother’s participation in a folk ensemble. Although drawn from childhood to singing and particularly to rock, she set those ambitions aside during high school and college, limiting herself to private lessons on piano and guitar. At Frostburg State University she first encountered jazz under the guidance of her guitar instructor Bill Bittner and soon joined the Frostburg Jazz Quartet, which Bittner had founded with fellow student Mike Geller. As her professional aspirations crystallized, she studied the work of two Maryland-based singers, Shirley Horn and Ethel Ennis.
Following graduation she settled in Washington, DC, where she performed at such rooms as Blues Alley. A 1989 Jazz Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts enabled her move to New York City for study with Anne Marie Moss. She simultaneously deepened her instrumental skills, working on piano with Harold Danko and on guitar with Gene Bertoncini and John Hart, and took part in workshops at Barry Harris’ Jazz Cultural Theater and the Universal Jazz Coalition. Through appearances with both small ensembles and large orchestras she gained recognition at such landmark clubs as Birdland, the Blue Note, and The Jazz Gallery, while making periodic returns to Maryland as featured soloist with the Western Maryland Symphony and the Potomac Highland Symphony.
Her first widely circulated recording, Haven’t We Met?, included guest appearances by Lee Konitz and received a 1999 Jazz Journalists Association nomination for Best Recording Debut Of The Year; an earlier, privately issued cassette had already been recorded. Among vocal influences she names Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Carmen McRae, while instrumentalist Connie Crothers has also shaped her approach. Collaborations have included work with Frank Kimbrough and Harvie Swartz, and she counts Bob Dorough among her admirers, regularly performing his songs alongside vocal treatments of pieces by Clare Fischer, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans. Onstage Hubka presents an inviting timbre and delivers ballads with unhurried warmth; in more up-tempo settings she remains active yet consistently melodic, lending immediacy to newer material and renewed vitality to familiar standards.
Following graduation she settled in Washington, DC, where she performed at such rooms as Blues Alley. A 1989 Jazz Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts enabled her move to New York City for study with Anne Marie Moss. She simultaneously deepened her instrumental skills, working on piano with Harold Danko and on guitar with Gene Bertoncini and John Hart, and took part in workshops at Barry Harris’ Jazz Cultural Theater and the Universal Jazz Coalition. Through appearances with both small ensembles and large orchestras she gained recognition at such landmark clubs as Birdland, the Blue Note, and The Jazz Gallery, while making periodic returns to Maryland as featured soloist with the Western Maryland Symphony and the Potomac Highland Symphony.
Her first widely circulated recording, Haven’t We Met?, included guest appearances by Lee Konitz and received a 1999 Jazz Journalists Association nomination for Best Recording Debut Of The Year; an earlier, privately issued cassette had already been recorded. Among vocal influences she names Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Carmen McRae, while instrumentalist Connie Crothers has also shaped her approach. Collaborations have included work with Frank Kimbrough and Harvie Swartz, and she counts Bob Dorough among her admirers, regularly performing his songs alongside vocal treatments of pieces by Clare Fischer, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans. Onstage Hubka presents an inviting timbre and delivers ballads with unhurried warmth; in more up-tempo settings she remains active yet consistently melodic, lending immediacy to newer material and renewed vitality to familiar standards.
Albums
