“One of the finest jazz singers working in this or any other city,” The Chicago Tribune stated emphatically.
“A wicked way with a lyric!” exclaimed The New York Times.
Heard world wide as the co-star and co-creator of the internationally syndicated Public Radio series Words and Music , Spider Saloff has received critical acclaim nationally and internationally. He newest CD release Like Glass received rave reviews and continues to get airplay all over the US. It has not only received praise as a recording, but Saloff’s original songs have charmed the critics.
Recently, Saloff was featured with the prestigious Chicago Jazz Orchestra in a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. She received the honor of performing the American Premiere of a newly discovered song by the great Billy Strayhorn, “So This Is Love”. And as one of the rare officially sanctioned acts of the Gershwin Centennial, her concert, Spider Saloff Sings Gershwin, toured the U.S. and headlined the St. Petersburg Gershwin Festival in Russia.
Ms. Saloff has played such renowned jazz and night club venues as New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, Iridium, Joe’s Pub, Birdland ,The Russian Tea Room, Michael’s Pub, and The Algonquin, as well as San Francisco’s Jazz at Pearl’s, and Plush Room and Seattle’s Triple Door. And Chicago’s famed Gold Star Sardine Bar, The Green Mill, and the Fairmont Hotel.
Other leading venues include symphony orchestra and concert spaces such as; The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, Wilmington Grand Opera, Wallingford Symphony, The Castro Theater is San Francisco, and Town Hall and Dick Hyman’s Jazz in July in New York.
Spider Saloff has recorded and performed with such jazz luminaries as Tom Harrell, Nick Brignola, Ray Drummond, Harry Allen, Mark Murphy and Dick Hyman. She has worked frequently with Larry Novak, Tony Monte, Steve LaSpina, Ken Peplowski and Bill Charlap.
A five-time winner of the prestigious MAC Award, including one for Best Female Jazz Vocalist, presented by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, she also received a special citation for her musical contributions from NARAS (presenter of the Grammy Awards).
Spider Saloff has 7 CDs released nationally on Kopaesthetics Records: 1938, Sextet, The Memory of All That, Cool Yule and A New Set of Standards, Like Glass.. Her Christmas CD entitled Cool Yule was a finalist for the Indie Awards. Her newest release, Cole Porter Live at Maxim’s will be out summer of 2008.
Television and radio credits include: The Bonnie Hunt Show (CBS), The Steve Baskerville Show (CBS), Centerstage (PBS), Artbeat (PBS), Words & Music (syndicated series, 57 episodes), a one-hour feature on the Noteworthy Women series (Public Radio), and Studs Terkel (WFMT).
What celebrities say about
SPIDER SALOFF
“Here is a list of qualities that every great singer must have. Great pitch, Time, Clarity, (Diction) and the greatest gift of all instant identifiability - you hear a few notes and immediately know who is singing. This is something that any singer would kill for.
Spider Saloff needn’t worry. She has all these qualities and then some!
She’s incredibly musical, a great performer, and marvelous songwriter. A perfect example of this is the title track from her latest CD “Like Glass” on Kopaesthetics
Just listen. You’ll love it!”
Johnny Mandel
“ A great person, as a singer and personality!”
Margaret Whiting
“A great singer! Not just a jazz singer…a deep love of music. She cherishes each note. Martha Raye had it and Mel Torme, and Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland and so does Spider Saloff.”
Hugh Martin
“A thrilling singer! This is a voice you can dig, ‘cause I dig it too.”
-Lionel Hampton
“Right-on intonation and a personal style which can sell a ballad or tantalize with half a chorus of scatting.”
-Dick Hyman
“Full of life and vitality.”
-Studs Terkel
“Ms. Saloff is a gifted and polished song stylist. A most enjoyable musical outing!”
-Rex Reed
“ the Lady Spider’ will reel you in immediately! There isn’t a venue she can’t make her own, from the biggest auditorium to the most intimate nightclub. She’s blessed with perfect pitch, exquisite phasing, and she’s a marvelous actress. I’ve known her for years and she’s a warm, witty and unforgettable person. I love and admire her both as a performer and as a woman. She can SING and she can COOK TOO!”
-Julie Wilson
\"If there is a greater, more electric and sensitive singer on the planet than spider saloff, my ears eagerly await.\"
Rick Kogan Chicago Tribune/ WGN SuperStation
The critics rave about
SPIDER SALOFF
“Rarely have I heard so many musical ideas from one set of pipes with the talent and self assurance to carry them off. Her jazz phrasing is flawless.”
-Back Stage
“A wicked way with a lyric and a glint of well-controlled mischief.”
-The New York Times
“Slyly sophisticated, easily accessible, Saloff stands as a kind of ideal.”
-Chicago Tribune
“Saloff’s frenzied scat-singing trip brought the audience to its knees.”
-Star Ledger
“Her voice takes on a lovely Billy Holiday-like quality. Saloff will win you over completely.”
-New York Post
“It’s apparent she’s a performer of depth…she demonstrated her impressive jazz skills [with] a sudden outpouring of high notes.”
-Chicago Sun-Times
“Saloff’s flexible pop soprano pipes are tops.”
-Variety
“ She is dynamic, a powerhouse of passion!”
-San Francisco Examiner
“Whether scatting impressively or breaking hearts with her stirring performance, her agile voice and winning stage presence kept the audience totally enthralled.”
-Asbury Park Press
The elegant style and vocal delivery of Chicago vocalist Spider Saloff secure her place in the tradition of great female jazz singers.
-WTTW Channel 11, (PBS) Network Chicago
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