Charenee Wade, vocalist

Attucks Jazz Club

Brooklyn-born Charenee Wade began singing at the age of 12 and fell under the spell of Sarah Vaughan. The young singer attended LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and earned her music degree from Manhattan School of Music. She was selected for the Dianne Reeves Young Artist workshop at Carnegie Hall, was first runner-up at the 2006 New York City Jazzmobile Vocal Competition, and entered the famed Thelonious Monk Competition in 2010, thrilling the judges and coming in second to her friend Cecile McLorin Salvant.

Known for her flights of vocal improvisation and her seriously swinging groove, Wade evokes the classic sound of Betty Carter and her idol, Sarah Vaughan. Wade’s style has been embraced by such jazz stars as Wynton Marsalis, who features her regularly at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Christian McBride, who mentored her at his Jazz Aspen Academy.

Wade’s 2010 self-released Love Walked In earned glowing praise, including an NPR Song Travel feature. Her most recent album, the 2017 Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, has won rave reviews. The first tribute by a woman artist to the socially conscious poet and musician Scott-Heron, the recording is arresting in its timeliness, and stunning in its powerful message and jazz chops.

Catch a singer with stories to tell at the Attucks Jazz Club!