Performance Year: 2025
Poetic and passionate, American vocalist, composer and improviser Dominique Eade blends musical virtuosity with a songwriter’s straightforward emotional sensibility, creating music that has garnered critical acclaim, inspired audiences, and served as a creative signpost for generations of singers. The New York Times called Eade “an exceptional singer” with a “wide vocal range and a grasp on the intricacies of style,” one “who weighs a chanteuse’s coolness against a jazz musician’s exploratory instincts.” The Atlantic Monthly recognized Eade for her “rich voice and effortless delivery” while the Boston Phoenix called her music “sublime and daring.” Eade’s performances throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe include the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival, the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, Mountain Stage, the Rigas Ritmi Jazz Festival, the Panama Jazz Festival, the Molde International Jazz Festival, and the What is Jazz Festival and distinguished clubs such as Los Angeles’ The Jazz Bakery, New York’s The Blue Note, The Five Spot, and The Jazz Standard, D.C.’s Jazz Alley, and Boston’s RegattaBar.
Deemed “a fearless collaborator” by pianist Fred Hersch, Eade’s musical associations have ranged from Alan Dawson and Stanley Cowell to MacArthur grant recipients Ran Blake and Anthony Braxton. In 2017, NPR critic Nate Chinen listed Blake and Eade’s performance of music from their critically acclaimed Town andCountry at New York’s Park Avenue Armory as one of the Top Ten Jazz Performances of the year. Eade has recorded and co-produced 7 CD’s under her name, landing her on top ten lists at Billboard, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, DownBeat magazine, the Jazz Journalist Association, and elsewhere. Appearing as a guest in jazz and contemporary classical ensembles including the Either Orchestra and Boston Musica Viva, Eade is the featured vocalist on the 2020 Dave Douglas/Elan Mehler album, If There Are Mountains. Eade was nominated for Best Debut Artist in the 1998 First Annual Jazz Awards in New York City and received the 2006 Outstanding Alumni Award at New England Conservatory. Eade was signed to RCA Victor in 1998, recording with jazz luminaries Dave Holland, Victor Lewis, and Benny Golson.
