MEET ANGELA BINGHAM
JAZZ VOCALIST
Angela Bingham Jazz Vocalist
Angela Bingham Jazz Vocalist EPK
Angela Bingham Jazz Vocalist EPK
Angela Bingham, vocalist The Frim Fram Sauce
"About 2 minutes into an Angela Bingham show you are hearing lyrics you never paid attention to before. About 10 minutes in, you are hoping you can still get a ticket for the 2nd set."
-Dave Finucane, Durham Jazz Workshop
Raleigh, North Carolina based jazz vocalist Angela Bingham has been a singer her entire life. She began studying piano and performing from the American songbook at age 5 in her home of the San Francisco Bay Area. She studied jazz in her teens and early 20s under the direction of Roger Letson at De Anza College, and went on to gain training through workshops and private lessons with some of the world's most well known jazz vocalists and instrumentalists.
Bingham officially began her career in 1999 in Salt Lake City, Utah. There, she honed her craft working extensively with guitar virtuoso Kenji Aihara and Utah's pre-eminent tenor saxophonist David Halliday. She left Utah and moved to New York City in 2005, where she held down a monthly residency for five years at the now (sadly defunct) Total Wine Bar, garnering a delightfully loyal Brooklyn fan base. During this time, she began working with many of New York's most heavyweight jazz musicians and sitting in and performing at venues large and small throughout the city including Birdland, Smalls, and others. She also held down a steady performance schedule at New York's famed Bar Next Door, a coveted venue for New York jazz musicians.
Bingham's singing is characterized by the qualities of honest expression, solid swinging and an emphasis on the blues. With a clear, steady tone and a penchant for improvisation, "She phrases conversationally, making the lyrics her own and creating the impression that she's speaking her mind and heart directly to you, as if the two of you were conversing over cocktails or an intimate supper - without sacrificing any of a song's musical interest. When Angela steps onto the stage, the instrumentalists respond with the same genuine enthusiasm and respect with which they would greet a bad-ass horn player." (David R. Halliday, 20 year west coast veteran of jazz radio DJ) Angela is steeped in the tradition of the great jazz vocalists and pulls material from both the Great American Songbook as well as more modern singer/songwriters.
Bingham arrived in North Carolina in late 2011 and has been playing regularly at local venues and festivals throughout the region with the area's top instrumentalists. Appearances include the O.Henry Hotel in Greensboro, the now, sadly defunct Empress Room and C. Grace in Raleigh, Sharp Nine Gallery in Durham, to name a few, as well as countless private parties and corporate events. In 2016 Angela was a headlining performer at the South Carolina Jazz Festival and headlined the "Jazz Served Three Ways" event in Winston-Salem. Angela was a headliner as part of the “Excellence in the Community” concert series in Salt Lake City, 2018.
In addition to singing jazz, Angela Bingham is also an in-demand voiceover artist who works with clients all over the world from her home studio in North Carolina.
Angela also teaches a weekly jazz vocal workshop at the Durham Jazz Workshop.
Of her decision to sing jazz, Angela says, "First and foremost, I am an entertainer and a storyteller, and I use my voice to help people feel their emotions. I want to bring a message of healing through these stories set to music. Jazz is the perfect format for this, because the stories can go in many musical directions. I know that my job is to sing the story, to approach the music as an improvisational musician, and to commune with the audience through laughter, tears and everything in between. It is not enough to have a pretty voice. It goes way beyond that. It's letting your audience feel that you are in this with them."
Angela released "The Night We Called It a Day," co-produced and co-headlined by Utah's well-known tenor saxophonist David Halliday in 2016. She frequently collaborates with many of the top jazz musicians in the Triangle Region of North Carolina, including genre-busting guitarist Scott Sawyer, Kevin Van Sant, Ron Brendle, Grant Osborne, Dan Davis, Doug Largent, Paul Creel, and many others. Angela also performs regularly and collaborates with her husband, the multi-instrumentalist and highly creative Frank Longino.