Sophie Milman

Saturday, August 13, 2011 | Magnolia San Jose Rep Stage | 4pm

Sophie Milman, the Toronto-based jazz singer whose unique style has captivated audiences worldwide, has been branching out by bringing pop songs into the jazz repertoire. Milman, a native of Russia who is fluent in Russian, Hebrew, French and English, was born in the Siberian town of Ufa and moved to the Israeli port city of Haifa when she was seven. The Canadian singer has performed around the globe, hitting landmark venues like the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center and New York's Blue Note club, sharing stages with the likes of Chick Corea, Chris Botti and the Manhattan Transfer.

At 16, Sophie’s family moved to Canada where as a teenager she absorbed pop, jazz and gospel, her favorites being Mahalia Jackson, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Nat "King" Cole and, at the top of the list, Stevie Wonder. Her self-titled debut was released in 2004.  Make Someone Happy followed in 2007 and won the Juno Award for Jazz Vocal Album of the Year after it topped the iTunes jazz chart in the U.S. and Canada for months, and cracked the top 5 on Billboard's jazz chart.  A new album is due out this autumn.

Her goal is to remain song driven while taking listeners on an emotional ride with varying styles and tempos.  With respect to her latest album, Take Love Easy, she says "I wanted to continue my experimentation with songs that are not usually part of the jazz tradition. The key was to arrange them in an organic way, peel back the layers to discover the essence of each song and then build on the jazz elements." Whether it's a jazz standard or what Sophie calls a "new standard," they approach it the same way: respect the intent of the songwriter but depart as much as possible from the original.

http://www.sophiemilman.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sophiemilman

Photo Credit: Alex Collados-Nunez