Chip Parker

My repertoire is vocal jazz and standards including many tunes from the Great American Songbook. Singing has always been one of the most important ways for me to communicate how I feel. Music was part of every day in our home – listening to the radio or records and singing and harmonizing along with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ted Lewis, Ink Spots, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Ravel, Broadway shows and so much more.

I love the interaction and improvisation working with musicians – the interplay in performance where we take a known tune and build on it’s structure, bending and blending it a bit into a slightly different shape and form, exploring the music with each rendering and sharing it with the audience in the moment.

Since 2009 I have performed in a number of venues in Seattle and Portland including Tula’s, Egan’s Ballard Jam House, Vashon Allied Arts Jazz Series, Hotel Sorrento, Osteria La Spiga, North City Bistro, Little Tin, Bottlehouse, and Wilf’s in Portland. (See my Home page calendar for a listing of prior and current gigs.) I have a mailing list of over 450 and a loyal following that regularly attends my gigs.

The best thing for me about singing? I get to share my creative energy and tell stories through music - conveying joy, humor, love lost and found – stories and a bit of theatre in tunes. My style reflects what I have absorbed over the years from many singers and instrumentalists including Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra, Chet Baker, Shirley Horn, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Billy Holliday, Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, George Shearing. It’s swinging jazz, sweet ballads, the blues, and all soulful fun.