Lauren Kinhan

Biographical Information:

Lauren Kinhan is an Adjunct Lecturer of Jazz Vocal Performance at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College. 

The first thing you notice is her voice, and then her savvy choices. Lauren Kinhan possesses a rare and beautiful instrument, tough and tender, clear and fine-grained in every register, she dips down into husky chest notes and ascends into silvery head tones. Whether on her own highly-acclaimed solo albums, 32-year+ member of the internationally acclaimed vocal group New York Voices, or as co-founder of two diverse and inventive supergroups, Moss and JaLaLa, the singer and composer has always forged her own path as a performer, composer and improviser.

With her latest album on her Dotted i Records, A Sleepin’ Bee, Kinhan once again steers herself in unexpected directions that is at once the first all-standards collection of her career, a loving tribute to legendary vocalist Nancy Wilson, and unmistakably a Lauren Kinhan album – with all the unique perspective and idiosyncratic personality that has come to imply. In particularly Wilson’s collaborations with Cannonball Adderley and George Shearing proved the jumping-off point for Kinhan, who utterly transforms these classic and obscure numbers with the help of pianist/creative partner Andy Ezrin and veteran producer Elliot Scheiner as well as a stellar band featuring bassist Matt Penman, drummer Jared Schonig and special guest trumpeter Ingrid Jensen. “Every single song in this collection hits a sweet spot of a different sort, but the most pleasing aspect of the recording is how it uncovers the stripped-down, soulful side of Kinhan’s voice,” All About Jazz. And Downbeat crowned the recording with 4 1/2 stars, a near perfect rating from their discerning ears.

Her remarkable journey with New York Voices since 1992 has contributed to their full color catalogue of recorded works, logging millions of touring miles, and creating an educational division that is highly respected across the globe. Recent recordings celebrate their 30th Anniversary in 2019, collaborating with the Bob Mintzer Big Band to create Meeting of Minds for the MCG Label in 2018. And in the fall of 2019 they released the stunning Reminiscing in Tempo on Origin Records. Dedicated to compositions by Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Duke Ellington, Ivan Lins, Fred Hersch and the Beatles and a sprinkling of a cappella Cuban Dances by Ignacio Cervante and a few originals by the members, this album is the typical varietal bouquet we’ve come to expect from this group who so often stretch across genres and use the voices to paint poetically.

The group has announced their retirement taking a long walk about visiting the people, places and venues they have played over the years, capping it off with a final NYC style performance in January of 2027. In the meantime, they will be madly releasing some projects that have been in the bag for a while and a brand new collection of songs and arrangements to give their career a proper send off. Look for their collaboration with the Danish Radio Big Band and Ivan Lins which is a stunning celebration of this legendary composer’s deep and gorgeous music and beloved friend of the group. And because of their immense love of the Brazilian songbook, there is a live concert recorded in Los Angeles from 2022 that is finally finding a distribution home. Additionally, because there is still a stack of yet to be recorded music on their desks and in their minds, they are tackling one final NYV studio album in the fall of 2025. Expect it to be full of standards, big bands charts and originals, following their tried and true formula of eclectic programming and sating their muse.

New to Lauren’s resume is the role of being a presenter. In 2018, with her co-partner Janis Siegel, they began curating a monthly live vocal centric salon called Vocal Mania in NYC, made up of the amazing talent in boroughs near and far and showcasing them at Birdland Theater and Zinc Bar. This popular event became a wonderful place to hear stars and unknowns alike and celebrate the vocalist. When the pandemic hit, they took this idea, rebranded and launched Vocal Gumbo. Partnering with Laurie Green, Janis and Lauren made their homes into recording and video editing studios and their kitchens broadcast sound stages. They produced collaborations with artists from all over the world and created a way to stay connected and creative while sequestered. In recent years, they have returned to a live format for Vocal Gumbo now playing regularly at The Iridium. To learn more about Vocal Gumbo, the stunning list of vocalists they feature and much more, visit, VocalGumbo.com

Along with Lauren’s writing and recording career, becoming an educator has been a wonderful journey in learning, sharing, and mentoring. She joined the adjunct faculty of New York University in 2018, co-directing the jazz and contemporary vocal ensemble with Janis Siegel called Village Voices. It has become a beloved and coveted group to be a part of, gleaning the insight from these two iconic singing group divas. Lauren also joined the adjunct faculty at Queens College – Aaron Copland School of Music in 2024, currently working with the Masters in Jazz Studies students, both singers and instrumentalists alike. She has been on faculty at The New School and LIU Post. Her private voice studio is in demand in the many styles she loves to coach: jazz, pop, singer/songwriter, folk, and R&B. Lauren’s other solo albums include, Circle in a Square (Dotted i Records), 2014’s vivid collection capturing and distilling the emotional currents of everyday life.

Rooted in jazz’s improvisational imperative, she celebrates the music in her own image, a selfcontained emotional narrative driven by her unerring musical taste. Jazz Journal called it a “Tour de Force” and Jazz Times’ Christopher Loudon said “Kinhan has never shone brighter.” Avalon precedes Circle with all the wonder and curiosity of how parenthood might effect one’s life. Basic recording began in 2001 upon discovering she was pregnant. That strategic recording session became the place marker for her to find her way back to finishing the record over the next 8 years, chipping away on the writing and recording while collaborating with longtime bandmate and producer Ben Wittman. “Sweet surprises lurk around every corner, says Loudon of Jazz Times, shaping a pastiche that is hip, intelligent and vibrant.” And the love song she wrote to her daughter Ella, “Here is My Avalon,” enjoyed her 5 year old cameo vocal appearance. Released on Sony’s EOne Records in 2010, its an important piece in the puzzle of understanding Lauren’s mosaic musical life.

Lauren’s debut recording resulted from one night right out of the story books. In 1999 at New York City’s storied The Bitter End, she delivered a set of originals with her commanding band, a full house – including Ornette Coleman with whom she recently finished touring and recording. Legendary music producer Phil Ramone offered Lauren a deal with N2K Records on the spot, calling the night a perfect set of music and not to change a thing! Hardly Blinking (2000), while the most singer/songwriter driven project of her catalogue, tips the hand to her deep blues influences, her rich melodic painting, her lyrical mining and limber, soulful voice. Phil called her “a true songstress, like Phoebe Snow.” During her dense touring and parenting years, two other super groups were formed. In 2006, the collective made up of some of Jazz’s most cutting edge creative vocal thinkers began meeting up to eat and play around with musical ideas which led to the super group Moss. Luciana Souza and Peter Eldridge came up with the idea while on the NYC transit and soon Theo Bleckmann, Kate McGarry and Lauren Kinhan were gathered in Lu’s upper west side apartment pushing around notes. The vocal vision has a looser script on vocal arranging and utilized more modern tonalities, vocal looping and planing to expand on what these 5 voices could create. Moss, was produced by Ben Wittman and released on Sunnyside Records in 2008 to rave reviews, Downbeat Magazine included it in their “Best of the 2000s” issue. In 2008 an invitation from jazz legend Janis Siegel to join her and prior bandmate Laurel Masse from The Manhattan Transfer to form a group, Lauren jumped at the opportunity. JaLaLa was inspired by the great women groups of the past and launched a tribute to the Johnny Mercer’s songbook to get the party started. “That Old Mercer Magic” came out on Dare Records in 2009.

Along with Lauren’s many projects, other wonderful opportunities as a special guest allowed her to offer her voice to projects throughout her career. Two of note, in 1997 she recorded and toured with Ornette Coleman, culminating with participating in his retrospective at Alice Tully Hall in 1997, “?Civilization,” playing alongside Ornette, Billy Higgins, Charlie Haden and Geri Allen. And she was also one of the fortunate singers that lent their voices to Bobby McFerrin’s Grammy award winning masterpiece, VOCAbuLarieS. New York Voices launched their New York Voices Vocal Jazz Camp in 2008 at Bowling Green State University and it is still going strong at Western Michigan University, home of the amazing vocal jazz ensemble Gold Company. In 2016, NYV premiered their International vocal jazz camp in partnership with the Bayerische Musikakademie in Germany. They will host one more International camp in the summer of 2026 in Germany. NYV has spent their whole career teaching and passing on the gospel of group singing and community making. Their summer camp will be 17 years old when they pass the baton to Greg Jasperse at WMU.

Along with their camps, they have been a part of mentoring at the high school and university level for as long as the group has been in existence. Their reach as artists has a multi dimensional audience due to this, with seeds planted in many arenas, their impact as an artist is deep and storied. They will continue to teach and perform as individuals beyond NYV, but the mark that they have made as a collective will be remembered through the generations they have connected with and inspired. In all of Lauren’s work, mentoring and guiding the next generation is a passion. Coaching high school students in preparation for college auditions, working at the University level or coaching seasoned pros, listening and inspiring is as primary a joy as the act of singing itself. Community through creation, growth and evolution through raising one another up are through lines in everything she does. 

To learn and hear more about Lauren, New York Voices, Vocal Gumbo, Moss, and her guest artist’s works, visit www.laurenkinhan.com