Tina May

Tina May earned widespread acclaim as one of the United Kingdom’s most distinguished jazz vocalists, collecting several high-profile honors that underscored her stature. At the 1998 BT Jazz Awards she received both the Number One Vocalist title and the Critic’s Choice designation, while the 1995 British Jazz Vocalist Award likewise placed her at the top of the critics’ list; three years earlier, in 1993, she had been presented with London’s Outstanding Young Musician Award. Such distinctions carried added weight in a country already rich with accomplished singers.

Recordings by Duke Ellington and Fats Waller that she encountered in childhood shaped her approach, allowing her to move comfortably between the classic pop and standards of the Great American Songbook and the work of present-day songwriters. In the early 1980s she directed her own Back Door Theatre Company, mounting productions that included Lady Chatterley’s Lover. By the late 1980s she had relocated to Paris, where she worked as a chanteuse in several City of Light nightspots; that period prompted her to commit fully to jazz, and she assembled her first quartet in 1989.

Over an extensive recording career she issued seven albums on the British label 33Jazz and appeared as a featured soloist at major events and venues such as the Duke Ellington Mass, the historic London club Ronnie Scott’s, and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris. On stage and in the studio she collaborated with pianists Nikki Iles, David Newton, Stan Tracey, and Marian McPartland, as well as with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth; in 1989 she married drummer Clarke Tracey. Frequent BBC radio and television broadcasts showcased her both as a guest artist and as leader of her own ensembles.

Although classically trained as a pianist, May concentrated on leading small groups, among them a trio and the Paris Quintet. She also wrote lyrics for bop standards, adding words to Cannonball Adderley’s “Havin’ Fun,” and composed original jazz pieces. Her dusky three-octave soprano delivered both longstanding standards and newer material with equal suppleness and inventiveness. That commanding presence kept her among the foremost jazz vocalists well into the 2020s. Diagnosed with cancer, Tina May died on March 26, 2022, at the age of sixty.