Cécile McLorin Salvant performs unique interpretations of unknown and scarcely recorded jazz and blues compositions. She focuses on a theatrical portrayal of the jazz standard and composes music and lyrics, which she also sings in French, her native language, as well as in Spanish. After Cecile won the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, the jazz world’s most prestigious contest, the buzz began immediately. Following her first place finish, The New York Times proclaimed, “Ms. McLorin Salvant has it all. If anyone can extend the lineage of the Big Three—”Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald—it is her.”

Made possible in part by the Douglas Wheeler Fund for Emerging Artists. WPAS performances at Sixth & I are made possible by the Abramson Family Foundation and by an anonymous gift in appreciation of Douglas Wheeler’s continuing efforts on behalf of WPAS.