Emily Braden

Emily Braden (Canada)
www.myspace.com/emilybraden

Years of beautiful hard work has allowed Emily to develop a truly unique style. With her powerful range and soulful sound, she explores everything from gospel wails, confident blues, hard funk and feverish vocal improvisations to heartfelt, subtle ballads. Her career as a versatile and engaging soloist is rooted in an early passion for powerhouse vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin. She recalls hours spent at a young age memorizing classic vocal recordings and scat solos. Emily later found an outlet for this intense dedication in vocal jazz choirs. As a performer with the Oregon-based vocal jazz group “Genesis,” she had the privilege of opening for jazz artists such as Ernie Andrews and the New York Voices. As a lyricist for the group, Emily interpreted the big band charts of Quincy Jones, Hank Levy and Clifford Brown. “Genesis” produced two Downbeat award-winning CDs during the two years that she spent with the group.

Originally from Boise, Idaho, the now-26-year old moved to Victoria, BC in 2002 to begin a four-year mentorship with the legendary Louise Rose. In her lessons with Rose, Emily explored her love of communication through song, striving for an honest and creative interpretation of each lyric. Her instrument-like improvisations and affinity for the blues gained the attention of world music artist and Juno-award nominee, Harry Manx. With Manx, Emily has recorded on three albums and toured across Canada. Locally, she headlines multiple jazz trios as well as a group dedicated to r&b, soul and Latin rhythms. She is also the feature vocalist for local bassist, Sean Drabitt, and his Jaco Pastorius tribute band.

Emily has balanced her impressive performance schedule with an equally demanding academic career. As a student of Latin American studies, she has conducted research and attended academic conferences in Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria in 2004, earning the distinction of holding the highest G.P.A. within the faculty of Humanities. Emily then completed a Master of Arts degree in December of 2007. Her thesis on the representations of voluptuous women in Hispanic Caribbean popular music allowed Emily to explore the “big mama” persona as well as a feminist politic which she embodies on a personal level in her own identity as a performer.

Currently, Emily is dedicating more time to the development of original compositions in both Spanish and English. She plans to record her upcoming debut CD the summer of 2008 with New York pianist, composer and producer Misha Piatigorsky.