Kavita Shah

Kavita Shah is a New York City-based jazz singer and composer of Indian descent. Shah has performed and recorded with musicians such as Lionel Loueke, Steve Wilson, Yacouba Sissoko, Rogerio Boccato, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and Samir Chatterjee. Shah was named by Downbeat Magazine as the "Best Graduate Jazz Vocalist" (2012) and winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award (2013). Shah's 2014 debut album, "Visions", was produced by Benin-born jazz guitarist Lionel Loueke, and released on saxophonist Greg Osby's record label Inner Circle Music. "Visions" combines a jazz quintet with the West African kora and Indian tabla and includes special guests Loueke (guitar, vocals), Steve Wilson (saxophone, flute), and Rogerio Boccato (percussion). Early years[edit] Shah grew up in Manhattan, where she studied classical piano and performed regularly at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as a member of the award-winning Young People's Chorus of NYC.[3] Her family is of Gujarati origin, and her parents are originally from Mumbai, India. Shah holds a B.A. from Harvard College in Latin American Studies. During her Harvard years, she lived abroad in Brazil and conducted fieldwork on Afro-Brazilian music and politics; her senior thesis "Experiments with Transnationalism: Constructing Diaspora in the bloco-afro Malê Debalê” was awarded the Kenneth D. Maxwell Thesis Prize in Brazilian Studies and the Cultural Agents Thesis Prize. While at Harvard, Shah also received the Cecilia Meireles Prize and David McCord Prize.[5] Shah received her Master's in Jazz Voice from Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Theo Bleckmann, Peter Eldridge, Steve Wilson, and Jim McNeely. [5] Music[edit] Shah plays regularly in New York venues such as Joe's Pub, Cornelia Street Cafe, Rubin Museum, National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Bar Next Door, 55 Bar, Shapeshifter Lab, Minton's Playhouse, and NuBlu. She has performed as a leader at The Kennedy Center (DC), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Vermont Jazz Center, and Paris' Sunset/Sunside. Shah has collaborated with Sheila Jordan, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Peter Eldridge, Steve Wilson, Lionel Loueke, Linda Oh, Rogerio Boccato, Pierre de Bethmann, Yacouba Sissoko, Stephen Cellucci, and Samir Chatterjee. [5] In addition to the "Visions" project, Shah leads the Brazil Trio, a jazz quintet, and the 3rd World Orquestra, a 13-piece ensemble with tabla, kora, rhythm section, and strings. She regularly works with contemporary composers and has premiered over 12 works in ensembles ranging from chamber groups to big band to jazz philharmonic. She is a member of the Steve Newcomb Orchestra ("Caterpillar Chronicles," Listen/Hear Collective 2012), and is the lead voice for tabla virtuoso Samir Chatterjee's project "Rabi Thakur."