Lundy, Carmen
Lundy, Carmen
Lundy, Carmen, American singer; b. Miami, Fla., Nov. 1,1954. She is a gifted jazz singer who writes much of her own material. Though she draws widely from outside the jazz tradition influences as diverse as country, folk, pop, and soul, her approach is rooted in jazz rhythms and improvisation. Her wide range, including deep resonant chest tones, makes her a highly expressive singer. She is also an accomplished actor and painter. Sister of bassist Curtis Lundy, she began performing professionally while still a teenager. She enrolled at the Univ. of Miami as an opera major, but soon her gospel and blues background drew her toward jazz and she began performing around Miami, and with the school’s big band. She moved to N.Y. in the late 1970s, sitting in with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orch. She developed a successful stage career, playing the lead in the Duke Ellington review Sophisticated Ladies and the role of Billie Holiday in the Off-Broadway production They Were All Gardenias. Since relocating to Los Angeles in 1991, she has firmly established herself as one of jazz’s most promising singers. She has recorded for Blackhawk, Arabesque, Sony/CBS, and JVC, her current label.
Discography
Just Be Yourself (1985); Good Morning Kiss(1986); Moment to Moment (1992); Self Portrait (1995); Old Devil Moon (1997).
—Andrew Gilbert