Janis Siegel

Vocalist Janis Siegel joined the Manhattan Transfer in 1972 and simultaneously launched a solo trajectory that gained momentum from 1982 onward. Her debut leader date, Experiment in White, confirmed her viability outside the group, and its successor, At Home, received a 1987 Grammy nomination for Best Female Jazz Vocal. The first of her several partnerships with pianist and composer Fred Hersch appeared on the 1989 release Short Stories. On those sessions the pair favored contemporary material by songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Marvin Gaye and James Taylor rather than traditional standards. Through 1994’s Slow Hot Winds and 1999’s The Tender Trap, Siegel cultivated a wide-ranging repertoire that drew from successive eras of popular song. After signing with Telarc in 2000 she issued I Wish You Love in 2002 and Friday Night Special in 2003; both sets included appearances by Joey DeFrancesco, Houston Person, David Fathead Newman, Tom Harrell and Cedar Walton. She continued this run of recordings with the 2004 album Sketches of Broadway, offering her readings of rarely heard theater numbers. Throughout this period she sustained an active role within the Manhattan Transfer. The 2006 project A Thousand Beautiful Things assembled an ambitious set of recent pop compositions dressed in varied Latin idioms.