Suzanne Cloud
{{Short description|American singer, writer and teacher (born 1951)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Suzanne Cloud
| image = Suzanne Cloud.jpg
| birth_name = Suzanne Raynor Dunkle
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|9|7}}
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| genre = Jazz
| occupation = Singer
| years_active = 1980–present
| label = Dreambox
| website = {{URL|suzanne.cloud}}
}}
Suzanne Cloud (born September 7, 1951) is an American jazz singer, writer, and teacher.
Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Cloud grew up in a musical family in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey. Her father played the ukulele and banjo, while her mother sang. During her time at Pennsauken High School, Cloud studied piano and participated in musicals.[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/169307509/ "Health series planned by Voorhees resident"], The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 5, 1986. Accessed April 11, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Jazz singer Suzanne Cloud of Collingswood recently released her first album, I Like It, which is also the name of the title cut.... Cloud, a former nurse, began her vocal career as the lead singer in the senior class musical at Pennsauken High School." After graduating, she attended nursing school at Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia. She also appeared in regional productions of The Pajama Game and Bell, Book, and Candle. Cloud received a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University–Camden and earned both a master's and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
In the mid-1970s, Cloud was hired as the lead singer for the disco band Autumn. She recorded jingles for banks, retail stores, and other businesses, including "Come Fly with Me" for the Playboy Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. By 1980, she began focusing more on jazz{{Cite web|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/tag.php?id=6311|title=Suzanne Cloud at All About Jazz|last=Jazz|first=All About|website=All About Jazz |access-date=2019-02-21}} while collaborating with producer and arranger Richie Rome. In 1982, she started working with pianist Eddie Green, performing jazz in hotels in Philadelphia, casinos in Atlantic City, and neighborhood jazz clubs. Her debut album, I Like It, was released by Encounter Records in 1986.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dreambox-media-the-philadelphia-jazz-label-jim-miller-by-mike-oppenheim.php|title=Dreambox Media: The Philadelphia Jazz Label |website=All About Jazz |access-date=2019-02-21}}
Cloud has served as the director of the Philadelphia Jazz Legacy Project, an archival initiative, and was the founding executive director of Jazz Bridge, an organization incorporated in 2005 with a friend, jazz singer Wendy Simon, to support local jazz and blues musicians in crisis.{{Cite web|url=https://jazztimes.com/columns/final-chorus/a-jazz-bridge-to-musicians-in-need/|title=A Jazz Bridge to Musicians in Need |website=JazzTimes |access-date=2018-07-22}} For PIFA 2016, she initiated Last Call at the Downbeat{{Cite web|url=http://mycitypaper.com/Arts/Last-Call-at-the-Downbeat-shines-a-spotlight-on-a-jazz-legendrsquos-forgotten-Philly-connection/|title='Last Call at the Downbeat' shines a spotlight on a jazz legend's forgotten Philly connection |website=mycitypaper.com |access-date=2018-07-22 }} featuring a new composition by saxophonist Bobby Zankel and his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound jazz orchestra alongside students from Grover Washington Jr. Middle School at the Kimmel Center.
Cloud is the editor of The Real Philadelphia Book, 2nd edition with over 300 jazz and blues compositions by Philadelphia musicians.{{Cite news|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/heath-brothers-eubanks-brothers-jazz-philadelphia-real-book.html |title=Philly jazz greats celebrate publication of new book |work=Philly.com|access-date=2018-07-22}} She also wrote a musical about Dizzy Gillespie's early years in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in 2014.{{Cite web|url=http://theartsinphilly.org/events/vision-song-our-hearts-our-future-our-voices |title=Vision Song: Our Hearts, Our Future, Our Voices |website=theartsinphilly.org |access-date=2018-07-22}}
Awards and honors
- Named a Creative Connector by the Philadelphia Leadership Council in 2012 and featured by WHYY-FM{{Cite news|url=https://whyy.org/articles/jazz-bridge-director-suzanne-cloud-steps-up-to-support-musicians-in-crisis/|title=Jazz Bridge director Suzanne Cloud steps up to support musicians in crisis : WHYY|work=WHYY|access-date=2018-07-22}}
- Received a grant in 2016 from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage to present the Philadelphia Real Book Concerts: New Music in Jazz and Blues,{{Cite web |url=https://www.pewcenterarts.org/grant/philadelphia-real-book-concerts-new-music-jazz-and-blues |title=Philadelphia Real Book Concerts |date=2016-11-30|work=The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage |access-date=2018-07-22}} This series of concerts helped stimulate city's jazz community and expanded the Jazz Bridge Neighborhood Concerts{{Cite web|url=http://www.montgomerynews.com/calendar/jazz-bridge-real-book-neighborhood-concerts-with-chris-aschman-s/event_0eb0edfa-45ba-11e8-9def-308d99b2b45f.html|title=Jazz Bridge Real Book Neighborhood Concerts with Chris Aschman's Electric Band |website=Montgomery News |access-date=2018-07-22}} established by Cloud in Collingswood, New Jersey in 2004.
- Named a Philadelphia Jazz Hero, Jazz Journalists Association, 2019{{Cite web|url=https://www.jjajazzawards.org/p/2019-jazz-heroes.html |title=2019 Jazz Heroes|website=JJA Jazz Awards 2019 |access-date=2019-05-10 }}
Discography
=As leader=
- I Like It (Encounter, 1986)
- With a Little Help from My Friends (Dreambox Media, 1996){{Cite web|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/with-a-little-help-from-my-friends-suzanne-cloud-encounter-records-review-by-jim-santella.php |title=Suzanne Cloud: With A Little Help From My Friends |website=All About Jazz |access-date=2019-05-10}}
- Looking Back (Dreambox Media, 2001){{Cite web|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/looking-back-suzanne-cloud-dreambox-media-review-by-aaj-staff.php|title=Suzanne Cloud: Looking Back |website=All About Jazz |access-date=2019-05-10}}
=As guest=
- Denis DiBlasio, Reflections of Childhood (Dreambox Media, 1997){{Cite web|url=https://jazztimes.com/archives/denis-diblasio-reflections-of-childhood/|title=Denis DiBlasio: Reflections of Childhood|last=Breton|first=Marcela|website=JazzTimes|access-date=2019-05-10}}
- Denis DiBlasio, Rhino (Dreambox Media, 2000){{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/rhino-mw0000007446/credits|title=Rhino - Denis DiBlasio|website=AllMusic|access-date=2019-05-10}}
- Jim Miller, If It's Not One Thing... (Dreambox Media, 2004){{Cite web|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/if-its-not-one-thing-jim-miller-dreambox-media-review-by-john-kelman.php|title=Jim Miller Time: If It's Not One Thing...|last=Jazz|first=All About|website=All About Jazz |access-date=2019-05-10}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3429189 Children of the Earle Theatre: The Philadelphia Jazz Community and the Jazz Aesthetic Cloud's dissertation]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloud, Suzanne}}
Category:Musicians from Camden County, New Jersey
Category:Pennsauken High School alumni
Category:People from Pennsauken Township, New Jersey