Lauren Newton: VOCAL Adventures
Free Improvisation in Sound, Space, Spirit and Song
216 pp., pb.
Lauren Newton, born in Oregon, USA, completed classical voice studies at the University of Oregon and the State University of Music in Stuttgart, Germany, where she has lived since 1974. She began expanding her range of voice techniques without using words, focusing primarily on vocal expression, and gained recognition in both the jazz and avant-garde music scenes. She performed solo and toured with various ensembles in the USA, South Korea, India, Japan and throughout Europe. In 1983, she received the annual German Critiques Award for Timbre, her first recording as bandleader. Concerts and recordings with: Vienna Art Orchestra (1979-90), Vocal Summit (1982-83), vocal quartet Timbre (1990-2007), Anthony Braxton, Fritz Hauser, Joëlle Léandre, Koichi Makigami, Phil Minton, Barre Phillips, Aki Takase, Vladimir Tarasov and the Austrian poet Ernst Jandl (among others). Her own projects have included compositions for music and theater productions, small and large ensembles, choirs and radio plays. She taught jazz vocals and free improvisation at universities in Graz (Austria), Essen (Germany) and Lucerne (Switzerland). She continues to perform and give Vocal Adventures workshops. Her discography to date encompasses over 85 recordings. In 2020 she received the Lifetime Achievement Jazz Award from the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
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