Introduction:
Singer/songwriter/pianist Paola, of Venezuelan/British descent has been described as, “a jazz chick with hits.”
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About Paola...
Singer/songwriter/pianist Paola, of Venezuelan/British descent has been described as, “a jazz chick with hits.” Disarming in her intimacy, her soul-stirring performances won her the 2006 Yamaha Outstanding Young Jazz Musician’s Award (in association with Jazzwise) and recently 2nd place in 2011's International Jazz voices competition held in Klaipeda, Lithuwania. Paola’s debut album, ‘Spellbound’ is a collection of original catchy pop songs which incorporate hints of acid jazz, R&B and soul. Produced by the highly acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Paul Booth (Steve Winwood) the album features his playing amongst rising stars of the London jazz scene. Recorded at Wincraft Studios under the careful eye of James Towler (Grammy nominated and twice winner of the prestigious City Guilds sound engineer of the year award 2010) the album holds an exciting blend of deep groove and powerful melodies.
Paola is a recent graduate from Trinity College of Music, where she finished with a First class Honours degree in Jazz performance. In 2007 Paola was awarded a Yamaha Jazz Award for outstanding young Jazz musicians. As well as a singer she is a talented pianist and has performed with many greats of the British Jazz scene; Tony Coe, Paul Booth, Jim Mullen, Henry Lowther, Pete Churchill, Don Rendell to name a few. She has performed at Ronnie Scotts, 606, The Vortex, Pizza Express Dean St and many British Jazz festivals. She has been a member of a number of different projects, including National Youth Jazz Orchestra and more recently Pete Churchill’s London Vocal Project, recently featured with Bobby Mcferrin at the 2010 ‘Vocabularies’ London Debut.
In 2011 she met composer/producer Richard Niles who has worked with such jazz artists as Pat Metheny, Bob James and Ray Charles, and pop artists such as Paul McCartney, Kylie and Take That. He was so impressed with her talent that he began working with her, co-writing songs for a new album project, “Neverland”. The music is an introspective mixture of pop passion, sensual jazz and soulful groove.
In April 2011 she was featured as part of the Steinway Festival at The Pizza Express Jazz Club (to be broadcast on BBC R3) showcasing songs from the new album.