Meet Denise Jannah: The Queen of Jazz

SHE is presently recognized as one of the best Jazz singers worldwide. As a woman, she could make you dream, cry and fall in love. Born on November 7, 1956, Denise Jannah is a Dutch Suriname-born Jazz vocalist and the first Dutch Jazz soloist to be signed by the Blue Note recording label. She is a honey-voiced singer with creative phraseology ranked alongside great female stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Carmen McRae. Jannah studied law at the University of Utrecht, but her love for music made her change her career. She enrolled into the Conservatory in Hilversum where she graduated as a vocal educator. She is a vocalist, actress, educator, theatre vocal coach, composer and lyricist, who has made a mark in the world of Jazz but does not shy away from other musical genres like Latin and Fusion. She has released several albums, three of them produced through the Blue Note Records. Jannah has participated in major Jazz festivals throughout the world and performed at many prestigious functions, including special performances for former Presidents Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela and on separate occasions for luminaries such as, Mrs. Grace Machel Mandela and Mrs. Hillary Clinton. In the wake of 1989, Jannah won a prize at the Internationales Liederfestival “Menschen und Meer’ in Rostock. In the same year, she was offered an important role in ‘A Night at the Cotton Club’ in which she starred in 347 performances in Holland, Germany and Belgium. She was also offered another leading role in “Joe, The Musical”. On April 29, 2009, Jannah received a Royal Decoration from Her Majesty the Queen of Holland, Beatrix, as ‘Ridder in de orde van Oranje Nassau’. Jannah has greatly influenced the industry and set many of the trends that pervaded throughout generations. She consistently featured as a guest with numerous bands, groups and orchestras throughout the years. She retained a strongly devoted fan base and challenged whatever rivals attempted to throw at her in the the Jazz game. Jannah lives and records in the Netherlands, where she has made a mark as one of the country’s top Jazz singers and has twice won the Edison Award (the Dutch equivalent of a Grammy). During her recent visit to the country, Jannah performed at Chez Robert, setting the house on fire with terrific Jazz skills. She performed alongside local Jazz maestro, Jean Mutsari and Rwanda-based Kenyan pianist, Kim Thuita, among others. Ends

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Meet Denise Jannah: The Queen of Jazz