Family Matinee w/ Tiffany Austin

For this encore Family Matinee presentation, soulful Bay Area songstress Tiffany Austin explores the art of storytelling, guiding us on an adventure to other places through song. In this stellar performance, music becomes our very own time machine through which we can travel to the past, present and future, and on to other worlds. Austin and her musical co-pilots—pianist Tammy L. Hall, bassist Marcus Shelby and drummer Ben Esposito—share the magical compositions of Lil Hardin Armstrong, Miles Davis, eden ahbez and others, and celebrate the indelible songs of our jazz lexicon.

Vocalist Tiffany Austin’s tradition-rooted yet totally modern style has established her as one of the fastest rising jazz stars in Northern California. Before earning a law degree at U.C. Berkeley, she’d performed on three continents—around her native Los Angeles while attending college, then for a year in England, and eventually for five and a half years in Tokyo. However, instead of taking the bar exam, she decided instead to devote her life to her first love—music.

Drawing upon influences such as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and Aretha Franklin, Tiffany also infuses songs with her own signature style that is precise, intelligent, and soulful. Her nuanced delivery has caught the attention of eminent artists, whom she has joined onstage: vibraphonist Roy Ayers at Motion Blue (Japan), drummer Tommy Campbell at the Blue Note (NYC), and saxophonist John Handy for a three-night engagement at Dizzy’s (NYC) commemorating his 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival performance.