LISA BAUER Biography
Lisa Bauer is a South African jazz- vocalist, jazz vocal teacher, instrumentalist and educator based in Cape Town, South Africa. Bauer’s qualifications include a Masters degree in Music (by jazz performance & research dissertation) in 2011 and a Bachelors degree in Music (by jazz performance on voice and drum kit), with a distinction in singing) in 2004.
In 2007 Bauer was a finalist and received a Merit award in the prestigious SAMRO Singing Overseas Scholarship Competition. This and the three Jules Kramer Travel Scholarship Awards, allowed her to travel to New York and San Francisco to study with legendary jazz vocalists Kitty Margolis and Dr. Gloria Cooper at LIU in July 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Bauer released her debut quartet album Finding a New Way in 2010, featuring South African Jazz musicians Andre Petersen, Chantal Willie, Kesivan Naidoo and guests Mark Fransman on saxophones & Maxim Starcke on guitar. For the album, she drew inspiration from her musical experiences in New York & San Francisco. Bauer and Petersen’s beautiful piano and voice duet rendition of Ntjilo Ntjilo was inspired by the legacy of Miriam Makeba. The album also captured three of Bauer’s original compositions with four lesser-performed jazz standards to create a compelling and well-produced collection of compositions. The album was released and launched in January 2010 at the SABC Auditorium in Cape Town. In 2011, the album Finding a New Way was nominated for a South African Music Award (SAMA) in the category of ‘best traditional jazz album’ at the 17th annual South African Music Awards. The album is distributed in South Africa by Jassics and available for digital download internationally.
Another highlight for Bauer in 2011 was performing as featured artist with the Lisa Bauer Quartet (and guests) on the Moses Molelekwa stage at the 12th Annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Bauer’s composition De Ja Blues was selected by Sheer Sound for the 12th Annual CTIJF compilation CD alongside international artists such as Esperanza Spalding, Simphiwe Dana, Patricia Barber, Wayne Shorter, Cindy Blackman and Earth Wind and Fire.
During her undergraduate years, as a student of Natasha Roth and Efrain Toro, Bauer performed with bands and music projects including Gavin Fullard’s jazz vocal group Track Five as an alto (recording two albums), Jazz Attack, The UCT Big Band, The Glenn Miller Orchestra South Africa and the Jonny Cooper Big Band. She has also performed and recorded with groups such as Mamavox (with Amanda Tiffin, Monique Hellenberg and Mimi Ntenjwa) who shared a stage with Stefon Harris, Gloria Bosman and Mike Campbell’s South African Big Band at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Souled (with Melanie Scholtz and Shane Cooper) and released an EP recording with electro-lounge group Nightlife Conspiracy in 2008. Lisa Bauer’s first solo EP ‘De Ja Blues’, featuring Bruce Muirhead, Dan Shout and Shaun Johannes, was dedicated to the late Capetonian saxophonist Nic Le Roux, a friend and colleague. Apart from her own quartet and quintet, she currently works with groups such as Baobab Three, LMR Trio (with Maxim Starcke & Ronan Skillen) as well as her jazz quintet, which first performed at the Kirstenbosch Winter Concert Series in 2008. In 2010, Bauer was also invited to perform with her jazz trio at a high profile private event in the Seychelles.
Bauer released her single A Life That’s Lead in February 2015 with her new electric quartet which was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York City and is available presently as a digital download. She is currently part of a collaborative art project, video installation and exhibition that investigates the highly contentious issue of fracking in the Karoo region of South Africa; performs with her new project Moon Song and is working on the pre-production for her 2nd full length album.
She currently teaches at AISCT as a music specialist teaching the highs school vocal group and band, as well as holding the post as high school vocal teacher at BHS, specialising in jazz phrasing, theory and Trinity Rock & Pop.
