Album Notes

Music education, from middle school and high school jazz groups to community based music programs, has been instrumental in the progression and cultivation of Isabella Du Graf’s talent. Isabella started performing jazz standards at the age of 13 with the local school jazz bands in Seattle. She is currently a second year student in the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, majoring in Music, Jazz Performance. During the breaks from her school, Isabella is often featured in many jazz clubs and venues around the Seattle area. Isabella has been recognized for her many achievements: 2007 Downbeat College Student Outstanding Performance; 2006 Downbeat High School Student Music Award Winner. Wynton Marsalis awarded Isabella the Ella Fitzgerald Outstanding Vocalist Award in New York at the elite Essentially Ellington jazz competition in May 2006. That summer, she performed the National Anthem in front of her largest audience yet, the NFL Seahawks-Raiders game at the Quest Stadium. In 2005, she won the jazz vocalist competition hosted by the Seattle Kobe Sister City Assoc. at Dimitrious’ Jazz Alley. This earned her the opportunity to travel to Kobe and perform with Myoto Ozone at a special concert for the centennial celebration of jazz in Japan. In September 2005, she was featured on the cover of the Earshot Jazz Magazine. That same year, she competed in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow Idaho, and won the award for outstanding Alto Vocalist. In 2004, she was a featured singer in the More Music at the Moore Theater; shared the stage with singer-composer Bobby McFerrin. She cut her first CD at the ripe age of 14 (Blame It on My Youth). . Isabella is humble about how much she has accomplished, but isn’t resting on the comforts of early success. She continues to work hard on her craft and glean as much information as she can to take her passion as far as possible. Perhaps more impressive is how Isabella has carved out a place for herself in the Seattle music scene as a jazz vocalist on the rise, with chops and soulful confidence to win over even the most exacting and critical audience.

\"Du Graf channels the sultry and heartbreaking soulfulness of jazz vocalist Carmen McRae...\" -Earshot Jazz

\"Du Graf has the chops and soulful confidence to win over even the most exacting and critical audiences - even those abroad\". -Earshot Jazz