Haya Band
These days, you can find Janis in the place she loves most, the studio, producing various ventures for other artists and singing on projects ranging from patriotic Americana, to tributes to Gene Krupa and Lionel Hampton, a full blown vocal extravaganza that she produced for legendary Filipino singer/songwriter Jose Mari Chan. This CD was entitled “The Manhattan Connection” and featured 15 incredible vocal artists such as Lisa Fisher, Canada’s Kellyelee Evans, Theo Bleckmann, Laurel Massé Lauren Kinhan and Marlon Saunders among many others…all singing new arrangements of classic songs of Mr. Chan.
Janis Siegel is a nine-time Grammy winner and a seventeen-time Grammy nominee. Janis Siegel has over a dozen solo albums and has amassed a large international fan base to consistently high critical praise.
With The Manhattan Transfer, Janis’ sang lead on some of the Transfer’s biggest hits, such as “Operator,” “Chanson D’Amour,” “Twilight Zone,” “Birdland,” “Ray’s Rockhouse,” “Sassy,” “Spice of Life,” “Mystery,” and “The Boy from N.Y.C.”. She also gained a reputation as a vocal arranger by writing five of the charts for the group’s acclaimed masterwork, Vocalese, seven charts for the group’s Grammy-winning album Brazil, and won a Grammy herself in 1980 for her arrangement of “Birdland.”
Her second solo album, At Home, earned her a Grammy nomination in 1987 for Best Female Jazz Vocals. She collaborated with jazz pianist Fred Hersch on the 1989 album, Short Stories, which JazzTimes ranked “among the most graceful, thoroughly heartbreaking efforts of the modern era, thanks to her rich, emotive vocals.” That same year, the New York Music Awards named her Best Female Jazz Singer. Siegel rejoined Hersch in the making ofSlow Hot Wind in 1995, and The Tender Trap in 1999 and included high-profile players like Michael Brecker, Hank Crawford, Russell Malone and Matt Wilson.
Her studio recording for Telarc, released in 2006 and produced by Brian Bacchus, is the Latin- flavored A Thousand Beautiful Things which features the talents of Edmar Castaneda on Colombian harp, Edsel Gomez on piano, John Benetiz on bass, Steve Hass on drums and Brian Lynch on trumpet. Edsel Gomez provided the arrangements for this formidable NY/Latin band, to songs written by contemporary songwriters such as Björk, Annie Lennox, (who wrote the title tune) Nellie McKay, Suzanne Vega, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.
