March 5, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — Jazz vocalist Jackie Allen. described by the Chicago Tribune as "“musically sophisticated and artistically daring," will join the DePauw Jazz Ensemble for a Thursday, March 10 concert. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. in DePauw University's Kresge Auditorium, which is located in the Judson
and Joyce Green Center of the Performing Arts. Admission is free.
After the concert, the music will continue with an open jam session at the Fluttering Duck, located within The Inn at DePauw. Audience members will have opportunities to meet Jackie Allen and enjoy performances by members of the DePauw jazz faculty and student jazz combos.
Jackie Allen has been singing jazz in Chicago since 1992 and has nine compact disc releases to her credit. Her self-produced debut album Never Let Me Go (1994)
was on the national charts for 13 weeks. Her 2003 CD release of The Men
in My Life was a tribute to the many male vocalists that have
influenced her, including Frank Sinatra, Sting, and James Taylor. Her 2004 release, Love is Blue, reached number eight
nationally in airplay and the top fifteen on the Billboard charts. In
2006, Jackie Allen was signed to Blue Note Records and released Tangled, and followed that with
Starry Night, a live 
recording with an orchestra featuring star-themed
songs arranged expressly by such gifted arrangers as John Clayton (Count
Basie Orchestra and Diana Krall) and Bill Cunliffe (2010 Grammy winning
arranger).
V.R. Peterson of People magazine writes that Jackie Allen “possesses a voice that combines the expressiveness of Annie Lennox and the pitch of Rickie Lee Jones, while achieving it’s own bright, dramatic sound … sassy … tender.”
In her performance with the DePauw Jazz Ensemble, directed by part-time assistant professor of music Shawn Salmon, Allen will sing original compositions as well as arrangements of classic jazz standards. The Jazz Ensemble will also be performing arrangements of hits by the Beatles and the Yellowjackets.
Founded in 1884, the DePauw University School of Music is one of the
oldest in the nation and has an established tradition of educating
leaders in virtually every facet of music, including performers,
educators, composers and administrators. Learn more here.