Biography
Born on 1 April 1962 in Wilmington, Delaware, the vocalist began classical piano lessons at eight. Four years afterward she took up tenor saxophone in her school ensemble. By sixteen she had become a member of the American Youth Jazz Band, whose European itinerary featured a stop at the Montreux Jazz Festival. While pursuing an English-literature degree at Harvard she continued to play saxophone and also performed as a singer with various campus groups. Illinois Jacquet, then serving as Artist in Residence, heard her and urged her to make music her profession. After receiving her diploma in 1984 she moved to France, where Jacquet once again crossed her path and invited her to tour with the band he was leading. At that point she shifted her primary focus to singing and steadily attracted listeners in Parisian clubs and concert halls. She fronted her own ensembles and collaborated with Franck Ansellem, Patrice Caratini, Riccardo del Fra and Jacky Terrasson.
In 1994 Lazarus re-crossed the Atlantic to enter the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition, in which she captured first prize. She then settled again in France, where she and her husband, saxophonist Eric Breton, brought up their sons. During the first half of the following decade her regular trio consisted of pianist Alain Jean-Marie, bassist Gilles Naturel and drummer Andrea Michelutti. Additional associates included guitarists Biréli Lagrène and Hono Winterstein, bassist Diego Imbert and drummers André Céccarelli and Winard Harper, several of whom appeared on her 2005 debut recording. Her repertoire draws on standards such as “Get Out Of Town,” “Give Me The Simple Life,” “Taking A Chance On Love,” “Embraceable You,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” “This Can’t Be Love” and “He Was Too Good To Me,” together with the Clare Fischer composition “Morning.” For the follow-up album It’s All Right With Me she reunited with Lagrène, who led his Gipsy Project on the sessions.
In 1994 Lazarus re-crossed the Atlantic to enter the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition, in which she captured first prize. She then settled again in France, where she and her husband, saxophonist Eric Breton, brought up their sons. During the first half of the following decade her regular trio consisted of pianist Alain Jean-Marie, bassist Gilles Naturel and drummer Andrea Michelutti. Additional associates included guitarists Biréli Lagrène and Hono Winterstein, bassist Diego Imbert and drummers André Céccarelli and Winard Harper, several of whom appeared on her 2005 debut recording. Her repertoire draws on standards such as “Get Out Of Town,” “Give Me The Simple Life,” “Taking A Chance On Love,” “Embraceable You,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” “This Can’t Be Love” and “He Was Too Good To Me,” together with the Clare Fischer composition “Morning.” For the follow-up album It’s All Right With Me she reunited with Lagrène, who led his Gipsy Project on the sessions.
Albums
