Ann Hampton Callaway with the SJW 50/50 Jazz Orchestra

“For sheer vocal beauty, no contemporary singer matches Ms. Callaway.” —The New York Times

“Callaway establishes herself as one of the best equipped jazz vocalists swinging today.” —Chicago Tribune

Ann Hampton Callaway doesn’t just interpret the American Songbook, she’s actually added a few pages of her own. Though best known as a sumptuously gifted vocalist equally at home scatting in a jazz club or revealing a familiar standard’s unexpected drama in a cabaret, she’s also an exceptionally gifted songwriter. Over the past four decades her music and lyrics have been recorded and performed by Karrin Allyson, Barbara Carroll, Blossom Dearie, Barbra Streisand, Michael Feinstein, Patti LuPone, and Lillias White, among many other vocal luminaries. Callaway’s 1992 debut album featured her original musical setting for an unrecorded lyric by Cole Porter, “I Gaze in Your Eyes,” a project authorized by his estate. Now that’s a big entrance! It’s not surprising that she’s been drawn to a vocal legend whose star power often overshadowed her tremendous talent as a tunesmith. Her latest album is 2023’s Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration (Palmetto). Equally at home performing solo accompanying herself at the piano or backed by a symphony orchestra, Callaway has thrived in just about every type of musical setting. But she’s never performed with an ensemble quite like the SJW 50/50 Jazz Orchestra. Directed by trumpeter Fred Berry, an eminent educator, the 16-piece band features a stellar cast divided equally between men and women. It’s a manifestation of the SJW’s commitment to gender equality, a struggle embodied by players like 50/50 altoist Mary Fettig, who in 1973 became the first woman to join the Stan Kenton Orchestra.