A Grammy recipient recognized for her vocal jazz work, Nicole Zuraitis blends her strong command of jazz roots with elements drawn from pop, rock, and R&B as a vocalist, composer, and pianist. After early recordings devoted to standards, she introduced her own material on Pariah Anthem in 2013 and Hive Mind in 2017. Regular partner to husband and drummer Dan Pugach, the two earned a 2019 Grammy nomination for their arrangement of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." Additional originals and selected covers appeared on All Wandering Hearts in 2020. She received the 2024 Grammy for Best Vocal Jazz Album for the big-band set How Love Begins, co-produced with bassist Christian McBride.
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1985, Zuraitis spent her childhood in nearby Litchfield and first pursued athletics. An injury from soccer redirected her energies toward singing and trombone in the school band. Her high school music director prompted her to perform with a local community college jazz ensemble and to attend the Litchfield Jazz Camp. After graduation she studied classical voice at New York University and briefly explored opera before concentrating on jazz performance and songwriting. Spread the Word, her debut album as leader, arrived in 2008 as a small-group standards collection. The all-original Pariah Anthem followed in 2013. She finished as runner-up in The Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition two years later. In addition to directing her own quartet, Zuraitis has appeared alongside Antonio Sanchez, Veronica Swift, Benny Benack III, Cyrille Aimee, Dave Stryker, Omar Hakim, Rachel Z, Helen Sung, and Bernard Purdie, among others. She has also performed as featured soloist with the Savannah Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony, and Macon Pops, and maintains regular work with the Birdland Big Band. When not on stage she teaches, having served on the vocal faculty at NYU, SUNY Purchase, and the Litchfield Jazz Camp.
Hive Mind, her third album and second consisting entirely of originals, was released in 2017. It included contributions from her then-partner drummer Dan Pugach, whom she married in 2018. That year she also joined Pugach on his Nonet album Plus One; the set contained her arrangement of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," which received a 2019 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals. All Wandering Hearts followed the next year and mixed her compositions with covers such as "What a Wonderful World" and Prince's "I Would Die 4 U." How Love Begins, a large-ensemble album of her original compositions, appeared in 2023. Co-produced with bassist Christian McBride, it featured Pugach, guitarist Gilad Hekselman, organist Maya Kronfeld, pianist David Cook, drummer Billy Kilson, and vocal duo Sonica. The recording won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2024.
