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Boise, Idaho: birthplace of jazz. No, not really. But that's the home of singer/saxophonist Curtis Stigers, who recalls getting his first taste of jazz there from a friend's Smithsonian Jazz album. |
Growing up, he can't remember a time when he wasn’t singing, either in school choirs or in the basement of his parents home. And when he first heard Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Williams on that jazz album, his ears were wide open.
Stigers found himself performing in a number of different musical outfits -- from singing in the high school jazz choir to playing drums in basement rock 'n' roll bands. Stigers also took up the saxophone in high school, which led him to an interest in the blues.
Stigers' first real jazz experiences came sitting in with the legendary pianist Gene Harris. Harris had retired to Boise, but continued to play in a local club where he hosted weekly jam sessions. Stigers never missed an opportunity to sit in with Harris and the two became friends.
Stigers continued playing in and around Boise until age 21 when he moved to New York to pursue a musical career. He gigged around town with a number of musical groups -- playing blues saxophone in one band, singing jazz standards in another -- before various record labels began taking an interest in him.
His first record on Arista in 1991 went platinum and Stigers became an international pop success. He had several top ten singles and found himself playing sold out arenas with the likes of Elton John and Eric Clapton. Stigers made two more pop records in the '90s.
Stigers eventually became frustrated by the artistic strictures that came with superstardom -- the record company wanted pop hits while Stigers was finding his way back to into jazz singing. Stigers left Arista, signed with Concord Records, and put out his first full fledged jazz album, Baby Plays Around in 2001. He's since put out three more jazz records for Concord.
Check out this week's Piano Jazz Shorts: the Piano Jazz podcast.
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Set List for Curtis Stigers on Piano Jazz:"But Not For Me" (G. & I. Gershwin)
"My Foolish Heart" (Washington, Young)
"Centerpiece" (Hendricks, Edison)
"Crazy" (Nelson)
"All The Things You Are" (Kern, Hammerstein)
"You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" (Porter)
"In the Days of Our Love" (McPartland)
"10th and Main" (Stigers)
Web Resources
Curtis Stigers' Site
Stigers found himself performing in a number of different musical outfits -- from singing in the high school jazz choir to playing drums in basement rock 'n' roll bands. Stigers also took up the saxophone in high school, which led him to an interest in the blues.
Stigers' first real jazz experiences came sitting in with the legendary pianist Gene Harris. Harris had retired to Boise, but continued to play in a local club where he hosted weekly jam sessions. Stigers never missed an opportunity to sit in with Harris and the two became friends.
Stigers continued playing in and around Boise until age 21 when he moved to New York to pursue a musical career. He gigged around town with a number of musical groups -- playing blues saxophone in one band, singing jazz standards in another -- before various record labels began taking an interest in him.
His first record on Arista in 1991 went platinum and Stigers became an international pop success. He had several top ten singles and found himself playing sold out arenas with the likes of Elton John and Eric Clapton. Stigers made two more pop records in the '90s.
Stigers eventually became frustrated by the artistic strictures that came with superstardom -- the record company wanted pop hits while Stigers was finding his way back to into jazz singing. Stigers left Arista, signed with Concord Records, and put out his first full fledged jazz album, Baby Plays Around in 2001. He's since put out three more jazz records for Concord.
Check out this week's Piano Jazz Shorts: the Piano Jazz podcast.
Subscribe!
Set List for Curtis Stigers on Piano Jazz:
Web Resources
Curtis Stigers' Site