Cyrille Aimée & Michael Valeanu Captivating and internationally acclaimed vocalist brings an amalgam of gypsy, jazz, and Brazilian influenced music to Northeast Ohio in an intimate duo setting! Featuring Michael Valeanu on guitar.

Gypsy jazz vocal sensation, Cyrille Aimée, has made a huge splash on the international music scene. Winner of both the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Vocal Competition and the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, Aimée explores a range of musical styles, eras, continents and moods on “It’s A Good Day,” her major label debut on Mack Avenue Records, released in August 2014.
 
Aimée’s musical outlook is reflected in an emphasis on the guitar, an instrument with an indigenous form in nearly every culture of the world—and it was the sound of the gypsy guitar that inspired Aimée to become a musician.
 
While growing up in Samois-sur-Seine, Aimée snuck out of her home to the nearby gypsy encampments and was mesmerized by the music of those who followed the spirit of Django Reinhardt, revered as one of the world’s most influential guitarists. Aimée — who as a child also lived in Paris, Cameroon, Singapore and the Dominican Republic — later became fascinated with Brazilian guitar, and her music reveals a thorough understanding of bossa nova and samba idioms. She has now settled in Brooklyn, where she continues to absorb the inner workings of American jazz and the culture of the music’s homeland.
 
Join us in welcoming Cyrille Aimée and guitarist, Michael Valeanu, to the BLU Jazz+ stage right here in Akron as part of her 2014-2015 tour of the United States!
 

About Cyrille Aimée

Vocalist Cyrille Aimée was primarily raised in France by a French father and Dominican mother. As a curious child in Samois-sur-Seine, she would sneak out of her bedroom window to wander into the nearby gypsy encampments filled with those attending the annual Django Reinhardt Festival.
 
She quickly fell in love with gypsy music and way of life; years later she would sing on street corners with friends while traveling across Europe. While in the midst of one such odyssey, she found herself at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where she won first prize in the vocal competition – which included the financing of her first self-produced album.
 
When Aimée audtioned for the Star Academy (a kind of French “American Idol”), she became a finalist. Informed she would have to sing only what she was told, her gypsy spirit rebelled—and in what was a cause célèbre she walked from the competition.
 
She now happily tours the world with her band as well as in a duo setting with Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo. Aimée’s talents also recently caught the attention of Stephen Sondheim, who cast her in an Encores Special Presentation at New York City’s City Center in November 2013.
 
The New York Times referred to Aimée’s major label debut in August 2014, as “a bravura turn, presented with a smile.”
 

About Michael Valeanu

Born in Paris, France in 1985, New York based guitarist and composer Michael Valeanu is one of the most exciting players of his generation. His passion for Jazz and for all the other genres of music he came across while growing up as a musician in France and in the United States has allowed him to create a unique voice on his instrument.
 
Michael started studying guitar when he was 14 years old but the music was always around him. He recalls playing with his dad’s guitar since he was able to stand. ” My dad is a music lover and an amateur guitarist. He would play guitar on my mom’s belly when I was in the womb. He passed me the love for this instrument and he exposed me with a lot of different music, regardless of any stylistic boundaries.”
 
While in Paris he studied at the Nadia & Lili Boulanger Conservatory and at the Edim / National School of Music of Bourg-la-Reine. During those years the young guitarist was trying to get the most out of what Paris had to offer musically. He became very quickly active on the Parisian musical scene as a sideman and would regurarly get hired for studio work. At this time he also started playing and listening to music from North and West Africa, from Brazil and he even studied classical guitar .” I was obsessed with anything new I wasn’t able to do or understand. ”
 
In 2008, in order to quench his thirst for music and to learn “Real Jazz” he moved to New York city and attended the New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music. ” I was finally able to study and play with my heroes and I was surrounded by young talented musicians.” In 2010 he was selected to participate in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program for a two weeks residency at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
 
Since then Michael has played in New York Jazz clubs such as Small’s, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Smoke and in clubs and festivals all over the States, as well as in Europe and in Japan. In 2012 he released his debut album “Tea Time” and his second album “Hard To Cook” will be available on the 28th of April 2015.
 

Quotes

“When you see Cyrille Aimée perform, you instantly fall in love with her—her voice, eyes, curls and the joyful spirit she invests in each song…”
– JAZZ TIMES
 
“A voice like fine whiskey—oaky and smooth, with a hint of smokiness…”
– WASHINGTON POST
 
“Aimée is the revelation…”
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
 
“Astonishingly creative….with a brilliant sound, fresh ideas, impeccable rhythm and an overall approach that honors tradition without being shackled to the past…”
– THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
 

$25