Great Dutch jazz singer with a warm, sensual voice.

www.colettejazz.com

Review: "...She has a voice like a luxuriously upholstered bridal suite. Pleasant, sumptuous, warm. Complete with exciting nooks and soft carpets in subdued shades. Colette Wickenhagen, one of the shiners of Amersfoort jazz, blossomed into the complete jazz diva with her elastic timbre, almost unlimited technique, playful improvisations, penetrating interpretation of the lyrics and remarkable radiation......" (Jeroen de Valk, NL)


Line-up: Just Friends Jammin':
vocal - Colette Wickenhagen,
ts - Clous van Mechelen,
ts - Rinus Groeneveld,
bs - Frits Kaatee,
trp - Saskia Laroo,
violin - Michael Gustorff,
piano - Hans Kwakkernaat,
bass - Wiro Mahieu,
drums - Ben Schröder.

Line-up: Songs For Sale:
vocal - Colette Wickenhagen,
ts - Clous van Mechelen,
piano - Nick van den Bos,
bass - George van Deijl,
drums - Menno Veenendaal.


Summary & Discography:

1990 - Won the Polaroid Award & Soloist Award

1992 - Won the Breukelen Jazz Award

1994, the first solo CD: "the Kick of the Blues" was released and later that year she also sang on
the Big Band Nijmegen
CD: "Retrospective".

1994, toured through Bahrain and Kenya.

1997, a project with the Royal Dutch Airforce Orchestra in Holland, Germany & Spain.

2000, a guest on the CD "Swing Time!" from the band Captains of Mainstream.

2001, she sang on the compilation CD "Summer Sessions 2001".

2002, she was a guest on the CD "A Living Legend" from the saxophone legend Harry Verbeke.

2002, a new summer project with the Royal Dutch Airforce Orchestra in The Netherlands.

2003, a new cd was released with Clous van Mechelen playing the saxophone: “Songs for Sale”,
BMCD 341. Record label: CoGer
2004, a new summer project (Brazilian style) with the Royal Dutch Airforce Orchestra in The Netherlands.

2007, invited to sing in the International Vocal Jazz Festival in Russia, in Moscow & Tver.

2009, back to Russia: Moscow and Obninsk.

2009, a new CD: Just Friends Jammin’

2010, two songs were released on the compilation CD Vocal Reference 3, in Hong Kong.


Another critic review:

“Even if you would call Colette Wickenhagen just a singer, you wouldn't do her any justice at all. Even if you don't see her, if you only listen to her music, you can hear that she does a lot more than just use her vocal cords.
She is one piece of dynamite that can make any stage rock and explode. She just forces the audience to listen. In view of the varied course of her career, it is not so strange.
She studied successively at the Conservatoire in The Hague (NL), the Arts Educational School in London / Tring Park (GB), at the renowned (amongst ex-students the cherished as well as notorious) Nel Roos Academy and the Art of the Cabaret Academy in Amsterdam.
Furthermore she worked as a dancer with the ballet company Intro Dans (NL), as an actrice in the TV-series "De weg naar Peruwelz" (TROS / NL), as a Dramatic Arts & Musical teacher at cultural centers in Nijmegen and Harderwijk (NL) and as a singer in her own ensembles as well as in other peoples bands, ranging from trio's to big bands.
Of course she brings this enormous amount of stage experience with her; she knows how to move, how to send the right mimicry, in short she knows how body language can enhance her musical expression.
Still, while performing she gives a lot more than just a professional sophisticated show; she gives herself. That enormous physical expressiveness, the willingness to throw herself deeply into a song, the art of swingingly taking in tow a full concert hall, is part of her being. From the top of her head to the tip of her toes, she ís music…”
(part of a CD-review written by the renowned Dutch jazz critic Jan Rensen in 1994).