Biografie Robin Mckelle

She was the unexpected revelation on the jazz scene in late 2006 with a sensational debut album – Introducing, propelled to the top of the charts and into the best-seller lists worldwide. In France alone, she notched up three sell-out concerts in Paris and 60 dates around the country to accompany the release.

Her success attracted the attention of the legendary Blue Note, which asked Robin McKelle to join the label and release her second album Modern Antique.

Robin McKelle, her best performance yet!

Standards from the 50s and 60s, Steve Miller’s magnificent Abracadabra and a few jazz swing classics such as Lover Man and Lullaby of Birdland! Plus a bluesy touch with Go to Hell from the fabulous Nina Simone and last but not least a track penned by Robin herself – Remember – that her concert followers will already be well acquainted with… 

By revealing a more contemporary feel than the first album, partly thanks to a mixture of great cheek-to-cheek classics and modern blues such as Save your Love for Me, Robin clearly wants to let us know the full extent of her range and musical culture. An ever-present Antique dimension, yet with a strong Modern perspective.

“Picture an old black-and-white Hollywood movie. Leaning on the bar, a pretty redhead is singing jazz. Her voice is graceful, relaxed and oozes class. It’s a heart-felt contralto, powerful, with just the right amount of soul. You can tell from the picture quality that the film is from another era. Then the image becomes cleaner, more modern. There’s even colour now, in high resolution. Yet the heroine is the same. She continues to sing with a voice that harks back to big names like Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald, while behind her, the chords from the orchestra soar with verve into the air.” (Jean-Marc Grosdemouge, M-la-Music.net)

Supported as for her previous album by a big band (with most musicians having played in Frank Sinatra’s legendary orchestra), you are immediately struck by the impeccable production, conjuring up the old jazz bands of the 1940s, yet with the added benefit of digital clarity. It’s very nearly an exact copy, in terms of both the sound recording and the mixing. Willie Murillo, a trumpeter for the Brian Setzer Orchestra, has taken the production and arrangement in hand, except that this time Robin herself worked alongside him. The rich brass sound on this album is a tribute to a time when jazz orchestras reigned supreme over dance halls and concert halls everywhere.

Thrice-nominated at the Boston Music Awards this year, Robin McKelle is receiving accolade after accolade: "SUBLIME VOICE”, “THE NEW VOCAL PHENOMENON”.

Shaped by her experiences, Robin McKelle began life in Rochester, in the state of New York. McKelle, whose father sang in the church, began her musical career studying classical piano before tickling the ivories in a jazz band at high school.

After studying at the University of Miami and receiving a music degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, she left for Los Angeles, where she worked as a chorister.

Back in Boston, McKelle formed her own trio, then enrolled at her old school Berklee, but this time for singing classes. In 2004, she took part in the much-celebrated Thelonious Monk Vocal Jazz Competition in Washington, DC, where she won an award.

Just a few months after her performance in Washington, she was taken on by the Boston Pops Orchestra. Since then, McKelle has sung for David Bowie, Carly Simon and Wayne Shorter as part of the Berklee Commencement Concerts, as well as for BeBe Winans, Don Grusin and many others.

By way of overture, Introducing breathed new life into pre- and post-war classics. We have the big-band swing sound, led by Willie Murillo (Aimee Mann, Brian Stezer Orchestra, LeAnn Rimes, etc.), which whisks listeners away in a time machine, landing slap bang in the period of the greats, such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Offering retro charm, the deep timbre of this American songstress, ranging from contralto to soul-rooted vocals, has a quality that will send listeners all a-quiver with nostalgia. 

It takes just one listen to the first track on Introducing – Something’s gotta give – to understand very quickly that this debut album is from a magnificent artist. Robin McKelle stands out as the latest new talent with an impressive word-of-mouth following and unanimous acclaim.

Robin McKelle’s voice is teeming with soul accents blended with swing, a captivating cocktail of sounds. The young singer is touching when she delivers a repertoire of ballads with a blues undercurrent. Her voice is throaty, almost brittle, a crack of fragility that is undoubtedly the mark of every grande dame of jazz.

France was quick to flash its lashes at Robin McKelle. The new album from this young singer with the angelic face and voice laced with gold is eagerly awaited by a public that welcomes her with open arms!