Al Gomes of Big Noise was
hired by Denise Donatelli to lead her
strategic and publicity team that successfully scored her
her fourth Grammy Award Nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album
for her CD 'Find A Heart.'
Denise Donatelli has been voted by the Downbeat Critics Poll as 'Female
Vocalist Rising Star' for the past three consecutive years, and was named 'Female Jazz Vocalist of the Year' by the Los Angeles Jazz
Society. With the release of 'Find A Heart,' Denise once again proves why she is the subject of such accolades.
Denise's fifth solo album expands the Great American Songbook by
embracing the work of modern composers and artists like Beck, David
Crosby, Donald Fagan, Brenda Russell, The Yellowjackets, Journey, and
more. The album features an all-star cast of musicians including pianist
Geoffrey Keezer (who produced the album) and trumpeter Chris Botti. Grammy Award-winning jazz journalist Neil Tesser says of Denise, 'Her intonation combines accuracy
with ease in a way most singers can only imagine. Donatelli makes it sound so natural to hit the
dead center of each note, you can almost forget how rarely
it occurs in the rest of the world.'
Denise Donatelli is a Multi-Grammy
Nominated jazz vocalist alternating between jazz and adult
contemporary music. As a Savant Recording artist, Donatelli's
last three recordings Find a Heart (2015), Soul Shadows
(2012) and When Lights are Low (2010) have collectively
received four Grammy nominations: three nominations for
Best Jazz Vocal Album and one nomination in the Best Arrangement
category. Previously, she recorded two albums, What Lies
Within (2008), her first Savant Records release, and In
the Company of Friends (2005) for Jazzed Media Records.
In addition to her four Grammy
Nominations, The Los Angeles Jazz Society, whose voting
advisors include Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Johnny
Mandel, has honored Denise with the 2012 Jazz Vocalist of
the Year award. Denise has also been elected to the DOWNBEAT
Critics Poll Female Vocalist Rising Stars for the past four
consecutive years.
Donatelli's musical journey started in rural Allentown,
Pennsylvania when she was only four years old with classical
piano training that continued through her high school years.
Her parents who were both musically inclined, subscribed
to Columbia and Capitol music clubs and gave young Denise
access to a large collection of jazz records.
She grew up listening
and singing along to the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Lambert
Hendricks and Ross, Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae, Miles Davis, Chet Baker,
among other notable jazz artists. These records became the soundtrack of
her childhood and later would influenced her vocal styling. After a move
to Atlanta, Georgia, she turned to singing jazz professionally, honing her
skills with a jazz trio at the Ritz Carlton Hotel for several years.
Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles where she immediately found her place
in the community of well-respected musicians. Denise performs at some of
the leading jazz venues, colleges, and with university big bands across
the country.
Described as a 'musicians' singer' by the late saxophonist Phil Woods, her
innate musicianship and pure tone have won her spots singing for
television episodes of The Simpsons and TV promos for CBS/Paramount and
Turner Classic Movies. Her on-camera work consists of national and
international commercials for such brands as CNN, Hyundai, Lexus, and
Mercedes-Benz. Denise supports the American Heart Association and recently
performed at their annual Heart Walk in Los Angeles.
