Fay Victor and John Austria

Teaches at New York Jazz Workshop

Fay Victor:

Fay Victor hypnotizes audiences, whether she sings a blues, sculpts a free piece, reinvents a Herbie Nichols tune through her own lyrics, or effortlessly scats over the harmonies of a jazz standard. Her musicality is deft and the words (usually hers) speak of universal themes in story-driven ways, running the full gamut of human emotion in an original mix of traditional song forms and free improvisation – she prefers to call it “FreeSong” – that has become her trademark approach to improvised vocal music.

Victor was accepted by Art Omi International to be a 2010 Music Omi Fellow as well as being nominated in the Female Vocalist Category in the 58th Annual Downbeat Critic’s Poll, featured in the August 2010 issue. Besides performance engagements and teaching Ms. Victor curates an experimental weekly vocal series through RUCMA and Arts for Arts, Inc in New York City. The Evolving Voice Vocal Series focuses on vocalists with strong vocal personalities and clear musical & conceptual vision. The series has garnered acclaim from participants and audiences alike for its eclecticism and quality of programming. For more information on the series, please visit visionfestival.org or read the Evolving Voice piece on the front page of the FV website.

John Austria:

John Austria is a jazz pianist who has been performing and teaching professionally in New York City for over ten years. He performs regularly with the Sonny Simmons Quintet, Michael Marcus Quintet, and Makane Kouyate's West African/Jazz fusion ensemble "Denbaya". John also runs a weekly jam session at "Boom" restaurant in Soho. He has been teaching with the New York Jazz Workshop for over a year now, and has also taught at the non-profit music school Upbeat NYC for several years. Born and raised in NYC, John had the good fortune to learn jazz as it has been passed down from generation to generation in an oral tradition. Studying under the mentorship of the great jazz pianist Mike Longo, John absorbed the musical knowledge Mike had learned playing with musicians such as Cannonball Adderley, Roy Eldridge, Paul Chambers, and Dizzy Gillespie (in whose band Longo was the pianist and musical director for over 15 years). Alongside his studies with Longo, John also performed with the semi-professional Laguardia High School Big Band, under the direction of Bob Stewart. Stewart, one of the great tuba players in jazz history, passed on his years of experience playing with Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, David Murray, Taj Mahal, and Freddie Hubbard, among many others. In this ensemble, John performed with Branford Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Gary Smulyan, Ray Barretto, Wynton Marsalis, and Randy Brecker. John received his Bachelor's degree in music from The City College of New York, with a focus in music theory. As a teacher, John focuses on cultivating each student's unique musical voice, while passing on the oral traditions of the great jazz masters.