Joan Crowe

Joan Crowe
Biography

“A slightly twisted and superbly talented chanteuse”
- New York Times

New York Newsday called her “as polished as a diamond." Joan Crowe is a versatile performer and Bandleader of four bands. As a vocalist, she possesses an extensive repertoire of jazz, standards, pop, rock, blues, R&B and folk. Her talents have made her equally at home leading her Jazz Quartet, her popular New York society band, High Society Rhythm, her jump, jive swing band, Jesters of Jive, or her newest band, an all-female band; The Broad Band.

She has two CD’s to her credit, Bird on a Wire and In the Key of Comedy. She is the creator of an innovative video podcast, FunnyJazzChick, with 40+ episodes were filmed live at Birdland in NYC. With thousands of subscribers in 43 countries world wide, it focuses on the “lighter side of Jazz” Joan’s comic ability earned her the 2002 MAC Award (Manhattan Association of Clubs) for Female Musical Comedy.

Joan caught the jazz bug when she opened for Joe Lovano in 2002. Since then, she has played in many prestigious venues and festivals both in the states and abroad, including The Kennedy Center, Jazz Standard, Birdland, The Iridium Jazz Club, The Rainbow Room, The Carnegie Club, Sweet Rhythm, The Hard Rock, Smoke, Night Towne, and the Oak Room. In her live shows, she is a risk taker and likes combining jazz with other musical genres and then adding a touch of comedy.

“Joan Crowe gets to the heart of a song’s story. And she’s funny. And she is beautiful. She gets the hat trick.” is how Michael Bourne of WBGO describes Joan. A long time supporter of her work, he wrote the liner notes for her debut CD, Bird On The Wire which garnered rave reviews in LA Jazz Scene, Jazz Improv, All Music Guide, JazzReview.com, All Cadence, About Jazz and others. Joining her on the CD is Tedd Firth on piano, Jay Leonhart on bass, Scott Neuman on drums, George Walker Petit on guitar, and Justin Flynn on sax.
For her live CD, In The Key Of Comedy she re-teamed with Firth and Leonhart along with drummer extraordinaire, Matt Wilson and Jazz legend, Bob Dorough.

She is very proud of the money she has raised for breast cancer and other charities performing one of her several themed shows: Women of Note, a tribute to women songwriters such as Bessie Smith, Dorothy Fields, Peggy Lee, Joni Mitchell, and Carol King. Jazz In The Key Of Comedy, which features the music of Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Lois Jordan, Dave Frishberg and other “Jesters of Jazz”; and The Devil in Miss Joan, a hysterical look at good and evil.

She has been dubbed “Fabulous!” by Bloomberg Radio, and “Hilarious!” by the Associated Press and earned a “Critics Pick” nod from Time Out New York.

She started her career in theatre and was classically trained with a MFA from the Asolo State Theatre and a BFA in Theatre from Indiana University at Bloomington. Before shifting her focus more to singing, she had a successful acting career and was well known to daytime viewers in a recurring role on All My Children. Joan has also appeared on screen in Working Girl and An Eye for an Eye, with Sally Field. Her acting credits are extensive. She has performed regionally at the Asolo State Theater, Kennedy Center, Indiana Repertory, and The Phoenix. Her New York acting credits include Dance Theatre Workshop, Altered Stages and Theatre Works USA.