Grace Testani

QUOTES & ARTICLES (Full articles in PDF format below)

"...If you like your singers bold and sassy, Grace Testani delivers on both counts!
~ Jazz Times Magazine

"... She showed that she has listened well.  She bent notes, stretched phrases, scatted and melismatized with the best of them."
~ NY Post

"The first thing a listener hears on Grace Testani’s Something’s Coming isn’t Grace Testani, but rather an obviously seasoned back-up group complete with congas and a McCoy Tyner-influenced vamp. In only 14 seconds, the take-charge nature of the instrumentalists creates anticipation for the singer to follow. Testani doesn’t disappoint. Instead of meeting expectations head-on with the melody of “Sweetest Sounds,” Testani repeats the note on which pianist Jim McNeely concludes the intro, and then descends chromatically to the resolution of first chorus at the repeat. Testani possesses verve and force and puts them to use in her singing."
~ Jazz Improv Magazine

“As it was happening, as you were making the music, I was aware of the effect and tried to identify right then what was going on. Best I can say, it was as though you were showing an image of, maybe, an old and beautiful garden. Where another singer might have zoomed in on the roses, you showed them in the context of the brick wall that gave this lovely spot its bounds. You showed these bricks, this wall, that gave definition to the space and then you went into the mortar between the bricks and into the moss covering them. You went deep. Your performance--you--were remarkable.”
` Audience Fan Letter

"...A risk-taking singer with an impressive range and an appealing, slightly husky voice... Testani gives us reason to be optimistic about the future of jazz singing.
~ LA Jazz Scene

"... Grace gave a terrific show, moving easily from ballads to bossa nova to blues.  She was clearly enjoying herself and she communicated this enthusiasm very effectively... For an encore, the group performed an old Bill Withers’ tune that was so good, it left the audience begging for more!"

"... If you like swing. Latin rhythms, sonorous ballads and jumpy bebop, you’ll love Grace Testani, a sensitive and versatile performer in the current generation of jazz vocalists."
~ National Alliance newspaper

"... Grace is equally comfortable singing standards or mainstream jazz instrumentals with lyrics.  Her sense of the jazz tradition, her respect of the lyric, her interpretations and improvisation, and her ability to "swing" in any situation, make her performances always a unique and enjoyable experience."
~ Jazz World Index

"...Her version of Kenny Barron's "Morning Sunshower" is a gem.  … Recommended Listening!
~ Canadian Radio

4-STAR PICK
~ All Music Guide

Jazz Improv Review
Other CD Reviews
Review from the audience
Jazz Times Education review of The Singers Center