Kim Nalley, recently awarded as one of the "Ten Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area," is an internationally acclaimed jazz & blues vocalist, actress, bandleader and producer currently residing in San Francisco after several years in Europe. She is also the owner of one of the top jazz clubs world wide Jazz at Pearl's.

Kim Nalley in looks and presence is often eerily reminiscent of Billie Holiday but vocally she packs a 3 1/2 octave range that can go from operatic to gritty blues on a dime, projection that can whisper a ballad yet is capable of filling a room with no microphone and the ability to scat blistering solos without ever losing the crowd's interest or the intense swing. Her singing is most reminiscent of the former Basie Singers Helen Humes & Joe Williams with a dash of Dinah Washington and occasional nods to Ella, Sarah and Nina Simone.

A born singer, as child Nalley was taught piano by her great-grandmother and later attended the Educational Center of the Arts studying Opera and Theatre. Relocating to San Francisco in the footsteps of the Greatful Dead, she sang every night in small dives to pay her way through UC Berkeley and learned to sing jazz the old fashioned way, at the jam session. Music critic Phil Elwood and San Francisco Symphony director Michael Tilson Thomas first bought Kim Nalley to national attention. Since then her collaborations and performances include Rhoda Scott, David Fathead Newman, James Williams & Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, She has performed at most of the major jazz festivals in United States Europe Japan and Canada including Monterey, Umbria Jazz and Lincoln Center.

She is the producer of several successful historiographical concerts in various venues including her award-winning "Ladies Sing the Blues™," "She Put a Spell on Me: Tribute to Nina Simone," which was just released as a live CD and shortlisted for a Grammy and the "Heart Of Billie Holiday." As an actress she recently starred as Billie Holiday in the dramatic play "Lady Day in Love," Blues Speak woman in Zora Neal Hurston's "Spunk" and has starred in Teatro Zinzanni as Madame Zinzanni a role subsequently filled by Joan Baez and Sandra Reeves-Phillipes. A trip to San Francisco is often said not be complete without hearing Kim Nalley perform.


   
Discography:
"She Put a Spell on Me" (CE Jazz & Blues/City Hall) 2006
"Need My Sugar" (CE Jazz & Blues/City Hall) 2002
"Million Dollar Secret" (Rounder/Bullseye) 1999
"Tuesday Live at the Alta Plaza" (MTT) 1996
"Kim Nalley & Johnny Nocturne" (out of print) 1996
"Jazz Dialogues" (Finas Music) with James Williams, Etta Jones, Nneena Freelon, Dianne Reeves & more 2003
"Any Woman's Blues" (Rounder/Bullseye)2001
"Jumpin' at the Border" (Tetrachord Music) 2004
"It's Bo Grumpus Christmas" (Bogrump Music) 2001


Awards:
"Most Influential African-American in the Bay Area" Award 2005 City Flight Magazine
"Best Jazz Diva" 7X7 Magazine Entertainment Award 2004
"Best of the Bay Area" 2000 San Francisco Magazine's
"Best Concert of Year" for "Ladies Sing the Blues" San Jose Mercury News 2004 and others
"Best Cabaret Performers of the Year" 2003 International Poll World Celebrity Magazine

Festivals:
Umbria Jazz, Monterey Jazz, Tokyo Jazz, Lincoln Center, Pacific Rim Festival Honolulu, Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, Vancouver, Du Maurier JazzFest, Tunø Denmark, ImFluss Switzerland and many others.

Radio:
NPR Mountain Stage, NPR Joy to the World, KCSM Sunday Night Suites, Desert Island Jazz,

Stage:
Swing!, Trial by Jury, Teatro Zinzanni, Lady Day in Love, Cabaret

Kim Nalley has performed and/or recorded with:
Rhoda Scott, David "Fathead" Newman, George Coleman, Harold Mabern, Eric Alexander, Roy Hargrove, Johnny Frigo, Giovanni Tommaso, James Williams, Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff, Billy Higgins, Lisle Atkinson, Buddy DeFranco, John Handy, Harold Jones, Wyatt Ruther, Merle Hoover, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, Johnny Nocturne Band, Red Holloway & Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra

 Kim Nalley brings her spectacular tour, "The Heart of Billie Holiday" to the East Coast in April, 2008.  Catch this rare east coast performance during  the Sunday Jazz Brunch - Aleatheas at the Inn of Cape May, 7 Ocean Street, Cape May, New Jersey - April 20, 2008 11:30AM to 3PM.  For information, call (800)884-5555

www.kimnalley.com

East Coast bookings, contact Nu-Cullers Entertainment Services

Eugene Dobbs      (203)589-7942