CARMEN LUNDY / SATURDAY, MAY 16 / Cape May Convention Hall / 3:30-4:45 PM
The Story
A beguiling vocalist currently enjoying a career renaissance, singer-pianist-composer-educator Carmen Lundy has been mesmerizing audiences for five decades with her graceful, effortless delivery, clear and fluid vocal style and hauntingly dramatic stage presence. Recently named a 2026 NEA Jazz Master, she has recorded 16 albums as a leader, the most recent being 2022’s Fade to Black and 2019’s Grammy-nominated Modern Ancestors.
Said Lundy in her Jazz Master Award acceptance speech: “My life’s work is a sum of many parts. Throughout my 50 plus years as a jazz musician I have been shown the world through this music and feel proud to be an American ambassador to this original art form. I’m truly grateful to be standing on the shoulders of the teachers, the ancestors, the veteran musicians and singers who have come before me and helped shape the beautiful, rich sounds and stories revealing the infinite possibilities and power in the art of creating great jazz music.”
An admirer or vocal jazz greats like Betty Carter, Shirley Horn and Sarah Vaughan, the multi-faceted Lundy was called “an authentic jazz singer” by former Village Voice critic Gary Giddins while Jack Massarik from the London Evening Standard wrote: “In a world of pretenders, she’s a genuine jazz singer.” But perhaps the Los Angeles Times’ Don Heckman said it best in reviewing her live show: “Lundy’s performance was the product of talent that has ripened fully. Her far-ranging, fluidly mobile voice roved through and around the melodies, and her innate sense of theatricality illuminated every layer of drama in her story-driven songs.”
The Sound
Carmen’s sets routinely take audiences on an emotional journey, from shimmering modal numbers like “Shining Light” to the soulful, gospel tinged feminist anthem, “Daughter of the Universe,” to invigorating numbers like “So Amazing.” Expect her to also tackle difficult social issues on thoughtful originals like “Say Her Name,” “Transition” and “Ain’t I Human” while also musing on the joys of love and relationships on tunes like “Spell of Romance,” “Reverence” and “Privacy.” And she invariably concludes her sets on a spiritual note with the moving hymn-like ballad, “Rest In Peace.” Lundy will fill the Convention Hall with a joyful noise in her first appearance at the Exit Zero Jazz Festival.
