(Vocal Jazz) Ann Malcolm & Florian Favre Duo - Essence - 2014, MP3, 320

The American singer Ann Malcolm grew up in Iowa, USA. She began piano at the age of four, listening nearly daily to her grandmother who had been a pianist for silent movies. After adding the saxophone at age ten, Ann says: "I knew very young that I wanted to be a musician."
Ann received her Master of Music degree (saxophone performance) at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with the highly respected professor, Joe Allard. At the same time, she continued singing with New York guitarist Paul Meyers. She also was involved in the Third Stream Department, created by Gunther Schuller, including classes with pianist Ran Blake. Ann proved to be an exciting and expressive vocalist at the Charles Mingus Memorial Concert.
After attending saxophone master classes in France with Jean-Marie Londeix and Daniel Deffayet she moved to Switzerland. On the saxophone Ann has played and toured with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, Opera Orchestra Zürich, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Hessischer Rundfunk Orchestra, as well as with the saxophone trio Europort. In the late 1980’s and 1990’s she was the featured vocalist with the Peter Jacques Band, Alex Bally Orchestra, Victor Burghardt Orchestra, Vince Benedetti Tentet and Heritage
 Big Band, Cojazz, Ten In One Orchestra and Stage Four. In July 1992 Ann appeared with Cojazz at the Montreux Jazz Festival at the TCB Jazzclub Q's.
With the trio Robi Lakatos, piano; Reggie Johnson, bass; and Keith Copeland, drums, Ann performed in clubs and on festivals in Germany, France, Hungary and Switzerland. The CD “RSVP” documents this period in her career.
A reunion with the trio Cojazz in 2000 resulted in the CD " Scenes of Christmas ". Ann is a fascinating singer between mainstream and modern jazz. Her style is melodic and original, her voice is - als Ray Drummond wrote in the liner notes of "Scenes of Christmas" - "singularly unique and instantly recognizable".
In 2010, Ann's new recording “The Crystal Paperweight” has been released. Arranged for octet by the great trumpeter, composer and arranger Tom Harrell, this very special work includes 4 new lyric versions of Tom Harrell’s compositions and a second recording of Before Dawn (“Sail Away”), previously recorded by Ann in 1994 with Kenny Barron. As a producer, singer, lyricist and saxophonist Ann combines all facets of her musical talents on this new project.
Ann Malcolm is Professor for vocal jazz and workshop at the Hochschule für Musik, Abt. Jazz, in Basel and, since Oct. 2005, Professor for vocal jazz at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim, Germany.

Ann Malcolm can look back on an impressive, colourful career as a singer and saxophonist. Her roots are in Iowa USA, but for many years she has been living and working in Europe, where she maintains close contact with the up-and-coming names in the jazz scene through her teaching activities.
The Swiss pianist and composer Florian Favre is one of those talents who has drawn the attention of the artist Ann Malcolm. Florian Favre seems to be almost obsessed by piano; always on the quest for new tones, he finds his adventures between the notes of the keyboard. And at the same time, he also pursued a career as a professional footballer (with very good results) right up until his graduation.