Brighter Day Album Out Now on

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Jazz Vocalist & Educator

"A young jazz vocalist delightfully blowing off the bullshit of the modern world leads with her old school soul and delivers the goods.  Whether scatting on Gershwin or giving good reading to Joni Mitchell, her pure performance is a welcome tonic to jaded ears that just want it true and direct. A winner throughout and a great beginning." - Chris Spector, Midwest Record

“McLean understands the prestige of the “jazz musician” label, yet she is personal, expressive and keeps up with her instrumental counterparts, never losing her personality in her music.” - Valerie Vampola, Bandwagon Magazine. 

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“With a beginning like this, her potential could be limitless.” - Thomas Cunniffe, Jazz History Online

Jenna McLean is the Graduate College Winner in the Vocal Jazz Soloist Category. She is also the recipient of an outstanding arrangement honor.

Jenna McLean is a jazz artist and Lecturer in Music and Entertainment at the University of Memphis Lambuth in Jackson, TN. As an accomplished performer, vocal technician, songwriter and educator, she finds her artistic drive in bringing new twists to timeless standards of the Great American Songbook as well as pop, funk and soul tunes. With a love and devotion for jazz, opera, R&B, and folk music, she maintains the belief that all music is good music as long as it speaks to the soul and grooves.

Jenna is a doctoral candidate in Jazz Studies at the University of Northern Colorado where she is writing a dissertation called "A  Study in Effective Teaching Methods in Jazz Voice Technique in Higher Education". She also completed her Master of Music Degree in Jazz Studies at UNC, and has a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Wyoming. She has studied voice with Julia Dollison and Maureen Boddicker, Alexander Technique with Larry Hensel, and has participated in masterclasses with Dawn Upshaw, Martin Katz and Jeannie LoVetri. 

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Jenna is the recent winner of the Downbeat Student Music Awards Graduate Vocal Soloist Category, and is a recent recipient of the Pathways to Jazz Grant. She performs regularly at renowned Colorado Jazz Venues including Dazzle and  Nocturne, and has performed multiple times at the Jazz  Education Network conference and the Five Points Jazz  Festival in Denver. She has had the pleasure of performing alongside renowned musicians such as Bobby McFerrin, Aubrey Logan and the New York Voices, and also performs regularly with incredible Denver-based jazz musicians such as Steve Kovalcheck, Ben Markley, Eric Gunnison, Tom Amend, Dawn Clement, Annie Booth and others.  

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