Vivian Lee

B i o g r a p h y 

Jazz  vocalist and recording artist Vivian Lee is truly a child of the world  having grown up in a military family, then pursuing a twenty year  military career herself.   She specializes in the standards – Gershwin,  Ellington, Berlin, Mercer, Jobim, and the like, with a  little Brubeck, Gillespie and Monk thrown in.  Her main venues have been  the cabaret/supper clubs and nightclubs such as 7-Mile House in San  Francisco, Mondavi Center,  Tsakopoulos Galleria,and Three Stages  Theater in Folsom and Sacramento Jazz Cooperative She was  also  a  mainstay at the Sacramento Music Festival.

Ms  Lee has played with such notable musicians as bassists Bill  Douglass and Buca Necak, drummers Ed Thigpen and Eddie Marshall,  pianists Joe Gilman and Emmett Cohen, trumpeters Al Molina and Dave  Bengdekeit, and alto saxophonist Jeff Clayton. She has assembled a top  notch ensemble of players from the area.  Her current band consists  of Joe Gilman or Brenden Lowe on piano, Buca Necak on bass and Jeff  Minnieweather on drums. Together with her unique style, phrasing and  magical stage presence, they have been captivating audiences from Lake  Tahoe to the Bay area. Known for her story-telling and banter with the  audience she will pull you into the world that she creates on stage.

As  a recording artist she has released five CDs - her 2000 debut  CD, “Scarlett”, 2002 release, “Where is Love”, and 2004“Have You Met  Miss Lee?”  From Miss Lee To You in March 2013 now her fifth and current  release 2018 - Let's Talk About Love, which is now on a major radio and  press release campaign playing in 230 markets around the world and  spent 9 weeks on the top 100 on the jazz week charts, reaching #61, with  continuous play around the world for 21 weeks.  Let's Talk About Love  was listed in the top ten jazz CDs for 2018 at WCOM Chapel Hill by DJ  Larry Thomas and as one of the top ten International Jazz vocalists for  station CJUM in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by DJ Ray Alexander.

The  2007 SAMMIE (Sacramento area music awards) award winning Miss Lee is  also an active promoter of jazz in the Sacramento area with her twice  yearly series - Jazz at the Buddhist Church, an album themed series  presenting some of the most iconic jazz albums performed by the areas  top musicians in a concert setting.​

Ms  Lee has three times (2005, 2006, 2007) been voted one of Sacramento’s  top jazz groups and top local entertainer by subscribers in Sacramento  Magazine’s annual “Best Of Sacramento issue and is the 2009 Sacramento  Magazine editor’s pick as “Best Jazz Diva”.  In 2014 the Black Music  Association of America Sacramento Chapter inducted Ms Lee into the Hall  of Fame as a Music Icon and also selected her as Jazz Vocalist of the  Year for 2014.