The Story

Queens-born vocalist Marianne Solivan is currently one of the best-kept secrets on the New York jazz scene. A hard swinging, passionate singer with a commanding stage presence, she is able to captivate audiences with her joyous exuberance and unbridled passion. As Jordan Richardson at Blinded by Sound wrote: “The exquisiteness, expression and sentiment of her singing are supreme. She is well beyond the go-through-the-motions singers of the genre by an enormous margin.”

Originally a saxophonist, Solivan’s interest turned to singing at the Berklee College of Music and The New England Conservatory, where she gravitated to such role models as Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae and Nina Simone. And while all those greats may have shaped the early part of her career, Solivan’s singing today is a mixture of honest storytelling with a modern sense of self and determination. Having performed and recorded with the likes of Christian McBride, Peter Bernstein, Jeremy Pelt, Bruce Barth, Gregory Hutchinson, Johnathan Blake, Xavier Davis, Steve Wilson, Gene Bertoncini and Lewis Nash, Solivan has also released three albums as a leader, the most recent being 2023’s Mood for Love. A regular at Smoke Supper Club in Manhattan, she has also appeared at such NYC venues as Smalls, Dizzy’s Club, Birdland, The Blue Note, The Django, Mezzrow, Zinc Bar and Bar Bayeux. She is making her first appearance at the Exit Zero Jazz Festival with her quartet. In addition to her full performing calendar, Solivan is also Assistant Professor of Jazz Voice at Syracuse University.

The Sound

Whether she’s cooing on an alluring “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To,” summoning up the spirit of Betty Carter on “Open the Door,” emoting on “Moody’s Mood for Love,” scatting her way through an evocative take on “Stolen Moments,” romping through the Joe Williams/Count Basie shuffle blues, “I Don’t Like You No More” or interpreting Horace Silver’s moody “Lonely Woman,” Solivan’s versatility and depth of feeling is bound to charm listeners of all stripe.