Dominique Eade

Dominique Eade ranked among the leading emerging jazz vocalists toward the close of the 1990s, though she entered the studio with an extensive background already in place. Born to an officer in the American Air Force, she passed much of her early years relocating across various European locales. Piano instruction began in childhood, and by second grade she had resolved to pursue singing; during her teenage years, spent largely in Germany, she also took up guitar. While majoring in English at Vassar she performed for a period with the group Naima, whose members included Joe McPhee. She later moved to Berklee College and enrolled as well at the New England Conservatory of Music, where Ran Blake figured among her principal instructors. Since 1984 she has instructed at the New England Conservatory even as she maintained an active singing career. A skilled composer in her own right, Eade released two albums on Accurate in 1991 and 1994 that attracted notice, then issued her RCA debut in 1997 as a tribute to June Christy and Chris Connor.