Jazz Workshops
January 5, 2009
Ellen has been amazed at the demand for good, accessible vocal jazz literature in the Milwaukee area. She has been thrilled to work in several Milwaukee area schools as a vocal jazz consultant and clinician and has over 200 arrangements in her personal library. Ellen is in direct contact with many up and coming as well as established arrangers and can help find the right literature for your group. The most important thing a music teacher can do is provide the right opportunity for students to learn and understand vocal jazz through literature that is accessible and still true to the art form. It is Ellen’s belief that this initial exposure is crucial in creating the audiences of the future, just as it will help inspire the jazz musicians of the future. One cannot exist without the other.
Ellen earned three DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards while singing with VoicesIowa and Gold Company and taught vocal jazz workshops throughout the U.S. and Canada. She is still sought after as a clinician, vocal jazz consultant and adjudicator and is currently working with several Milwaukee area high school choral programs. Ellen’s unique resume has also prompted various high schools throughout the Midwest and collegiate Schools of Music at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Tiffin University in Ohio, University of Wisconsin-Fond du Lac and the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana to invite her to perform and address music students about her diverse professional experiences.
In 2010, Ellen will be a guest artist and clinician at the Terra Community College Winter Jazz Festival in Fremont, OH and the Best of Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships in Des Moines, IA. She will also present a Vocal Jazz session at the Ohio Music Educators Convention with friend/colleague Michael Shirtz of Terra Community College.
Ellen can provide workshops to heighten your students’ jazz awareness and aural abilities. Over the last eleven years, Ellen has been an adjudicator and clinician throughout the Midwest and in Canada. Ellen continues to be a Vocal Jazz/Show Choir judge for the Wisconsin School Music Association for Solo/Ensemble competitions. She is also adjunct staff at Columbia College Chicago, where she teaches classes in Techniques in Singing, Sightsinging I, Private Jazz Voice and is the director of the Jazz/ Pop Choir. Ellen also has a private voice studio at Hartland Music in Hartland, WI.
The Chick Singer Night Story
January 4, 2009
Chick Singer Night has been expanding at a rapid pace in this millenia, and is now proud to announce it’s first international launch in Stockholm Sweden this Fall. Since celebrating it’s 15th year anniversary with Megan Mullally in Hollywood and Norah Jones & Daru in New York, Chick Singer Night is the nation’s most notable original and longest-running songfest for female artists. Gathering support from NAMM in 2004, and the producer project with Guitar Center bringing winning performers into world class recording studios, CSN has developed into a national and soon to be global presence.
The format is a simple one. All singers are welcome; all styles of music, all levels of experience, all walks of life. Each singer shows up the afternoon of the show, charts in hand, and runs her songs with the CSN Band. Later that evening they hit the stage with a hot band in a cool venue and give the performance of a lifetime!
The credit for CSN’s success belongs to many people, all of whom give their time and music to create this special songfest. First and foremost is the team of people who keep the CSN tradition going strong in each city. The CSN Directors:
- Boston (Vykki Vox, Jennifer Truesdale)
- New Jersey (Deb Ferrara, Jodelle, Kathy Phillips )
- Chicago (Marie Cinquemani, Celeste Harrell, Evan Rea)
- Las Vegas (Darelle Holden, Maggie Verderame)
- Los Angeles (Lori Maier)
- Hollywood/Miami (Mary Huddleston)
- Minneapolis ( Lisa Wenger )
- Milwaukee ( Alaria Taylor )
- Nashville (Laura Clapp - Jaclyn Brown )
- New York (Deena Miller)
- Hawaii (Ginai)
The CSN Bands: world-class musicians who create incredible music for and with each featured artist. Their contribution to CSN is immeasurable. We have a Gallery now to show off our amazing and world-class talented CSN Men - CSN Bands Gallery Page
Thousands of women have been featured on the Chick Singer Night stage. To join us, simply send in your CD, a brief bio and your contact information to the CSN address in your city, or you can attend a show and give it directly to one of the CSN Directors.
About Ellen Winters
January 2, 2009
An award-winning jazz singer, Ellen is devoted to keeping her music fresh while still paying tribute to the great jazz artists of the past. A student of trad-jazz, Ellen has studied with some of the best vocal jazz educators/arrangers in the country including Phil Mattson, Steve Zegree, Ron McCurdy, Steve Tyler and Chip McNeill. Ellen’s current project, Secret of Life, is a unique blend of popular and original tunes re-arranged to fit the jazz idiom.
“Beautifully done and so sweetly sung!” – Peter Eldridge, singer/songwriter & member of the Grammy award winning group New York Voices
Ellen has sung in award winning vocal jazz groups VoicesIowa and Gold Company and has performed at the Montreux and North Seas Jazz Festivals in Europe, the Rocky Mountain Jazz Festival in Banff and the Monterey Jazz Festival Sea Cruise. As a soloist, Ellen has performed jazz and cabaret all over the country. She has been featured at wonderful venues like Danny’s Skylight Cabaret and Rose’s Turn in New York City and the Third Ward Summer Sizzle, Bastille Days and Summerfest stages in Milwaukee.
“If you think NY and LA are the only places to be, have I got news for you. Ellen Winters breezed through town for an intimate CD release party at Upstairs at Rose’s Turn and turned it upside down with her rocking jazz/pop stylings. Ellen is a gifted songwriter as well. I’m listening to her fabulous 2nd CD, Secret of Life, as I write this.” — Kevin Scott Hall - Upstairs at Rose’s Turn
Ellen continues to be sought after as a jazz and cabaret singer throughout Milwaukee and the Midwest, while working as a clinician, adjudicator, and arranger. Ellen is also on staff as a voice teacher/coach at the Waukesha Conservatory of Music as well as several locations/schools in Southeastern Wisconsin. She is also on the Private Voice Faculty at Columbia College in Chicago. Both of Ellen’s CD’s are available on Amazon and CD Baby, as well as Ellen’s live performances. Ellen is signed to 251 Records, a Chicago-based independent label.
