Singer Judy Chamberlain: Modern Vintage Jazz & Swing

Judy Chamberlain sings the best songs that were ever written.

She is known for her extraordinary repertoire, and for knowing just what an audience might like to hear on a particular night. Or at a particular moment.

It’s a skill once employed by the likes of the great Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and other iconic performers.

Story songs, swinging songs, happy and sad songs – saloon songs – are delivered by Judy and her crew in a spontaneous jazz vein that really doesn’t exist anymore in live performance.

Except with Judy, it does.

No set lists here; the beloved tunes – and sometimes obscure rarities – of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, Rodgers & Hart, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, Harold Rome, Hoagy Carmichael, Dietz & Schwartz, Alec Wilder, Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn, Jule Stein, Gordon Jenkins, Henry Mancini, Cy Coleman, Lerner & Loewe, Michel Legrand, Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Johnny Mandel, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luis Bonfa, Jimmy Webb, Paul Anka and others come to life in Judy’s hands, all fresh and new as if you’re hearing them for the first time. Sometimes, of course, you are.

Elements of a master class in Twentieth Century popular music are likely to be woven through her performances.

It helps that, as jazz critic Don Heckman has said, “Judy Chamberlain knows more songs than anyone who has ever lived.”

Judy Chamberlain with
President Reagan

During a thirty-year career in Los Angeles, Chamberlain worked with, performed for and collaborated with many of the musical icons who wrote, arranged and/or recorded the definitive versions of the songs she sings.

As off-site concert producer for an influential West Coast FM jazz radio station and artistic director for a roster of high-profile performance venues, she was a major force in keeping jazz alive in Southern California during the 1990’s and early 2000’s before relocating to her current home base of North Texas in 2011.

Kodak Theater Marquee
A Jazz Salute to Frank Sinatra

“Jazz singer Judy Chamberlain solidly affirms the music’s far-reaching, continuing vitality.” Don Heckman, L.A. Times

“Judy Chamberlain is a singer who’s always a pleasure to hear. In part, because her astonishing repertoire makes every performance a fascinating journey through a century of song. But even more so because she brings such care, authenticity and musicality to everything she touches.” The International Review of Music

“Name a song, and she’ll sing it.” The Dallas Morning News

“Judy Chamberlain is a walking encyclopedia of The Great American Songbook.” Chuck Niles, Pacific Public Radio, Los Angeles

“I LOVE YOU JUDY CHAMBERLAIN!” Jonne-Marie Switzler, Manager/Playboy Jazz Festivals

“You’re just like ‘the Old Man,’ cookie,” guitarist Al Viola

Legendary guitarist Al Viola (that’s his mandolin you hear when you’re watching the “Godfather” movies), a veteran of more than 500 studio albums and a quarter-century of touring and recording with Frank Sinatra, was fond of comparing Judy to the legendary icon, whom he affectionately called “the old man.”

“Judy takes care of business and sings the hell out of a tune the way Sinatra did,” said Viola. “She can come out of nowhere and take the pickup on the song and the band is instantly with her because she gives great signals. Like Sinatra, she’s always in the moment and never does anything the same way twice. Her timing and phrasing are impeccable. I love working with her, because I’m never bored.”

“Look at all these people, having the time of their lives,” Viola would say to Judy from their perch on the bandstand.

“And you were here, cookie.”

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