DIANE LINSCOTT
The newest CD, Once Upon A Summertime, recorded in April with BOB ALBERTI, piano; MARK NEUENSCHWANDER AND JIM HOWE, bass; JOHN MOORE,drums; RICK PETERSON, guitar;HARRY ALLEN, tenor; and WARREN VACHE', cornet will be released in 2008...
Linscott got a late start as a singer when , after raising a family, she decided she simply had to pursue her dream of singing professionally. She was accepted, with a talent scholarship, into the Jazz in July program at UMASS where Dr. Billy Taylor was guest director, and from that experience was to start her career. Tragedy struck, however, when her husband died suddenly of cardiac arrest the very day she was packed to leave. A year later she reapplied to the workshop at Umass, was accepted again and singing, which had always been her passion, also became her healing.
For several years Ms. Linscott worked in Mexico where she performed to SRO audiences from all over the United States and Canada every Sunday night at La Vendemia. She also was featured at several concerts at the Teatro Peralta in San Miguel de allende.
Since 1998 she spends her winter season in the Sarasota area and performed every Thursday night for six years at Sean Murphy's Islands End in Anna Maria with an outstanding trio, Charlie Prawdzik, piano, and Billy Pillucere, bass. In her six years at Islands End, and at other gigs in the Sarasota area, she has built a large, growing, and loyal contingent of fans. During the summer months she performs with Her Trio at various venues throughout her home state of Maine to equally enthusiastic audiences.
Starting in November 2007 she appears weekly with trio at Ooh La La! Bistro in Holmes Beach, Florida on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights during the winter season.
Linscott’s performance venues include in Maine, The Asticou, The Claremont, The Manor, Ocean Meadows Inn, and the Camden Opera House, Borders, Maine Center for the Arts, Downeast Jazz Festival and frequent live performances on Maine Public Radio. In Florida, Sarasota Jazz Festival, Jazz Caravan, Bayfront series for the Jazz Club of Sarasota, Florida Winefest, VIP concert before Patti Austin, Jane Monheit at the Van Wezel and many private functions.
Linscott has performed at The Jazz Corner in Hilton Head with the Bob Alberti Trio: Bob Alberti, piano; Ben Tucker, Bass; Steve Primatic, Drums. Also is a featured artist at The Press Room, Portsmouth, NH with The Jim Howe Trio, and at The Waterville Opera House in concert with The Gerry Wright Trio.
Of her singing Dan Barrett reviewed in The Mississippi Rag, “although most of the singers of jazz’s Golden Age are no longer with us, there are a few women singing today who seem to embody the best aspects of their predecessors. Diane Linscott is one of them…”
She is great. Since I’ve worked with the greatest of them all (among them); Ella, Carmen, Judy…I’m pretty sure I know what I’m talking about"
BUDDY BREGMAN, Los angeles, ARRANGER, COMPOSER
Roger Crane, Writer for Planet Jazz and All About Jazz magazines says, “What a pleasure in this world of “look at me” singers to hear a “look-at-this-nice-song” singer. Diane Linscott is certainly a songwriter’s best friend. She is a treasured rarity, a singer who “tells a story” as well as “tells the music “. Diane is a delight.
“For some years now, the people of Maine have been keeping secret the fact that in their midst is a very fine singer. Now the secrets out and Diane is steadily receiving more and more well-deserved exposure…” Bruce Crowther, from CD, Singin’ Around review
Review for, OUR DAY AT THE MOVIES
"With a great idea for an album, Diane Linscott shows off her gorgeous personal style in a collection of thirteen songs from Hollywood's Golden Age, all originally performed by Doris Day. Ms. Linscott is a top-notch singer, both skilled and warm, and she is backed by a sympathetic band that features the graceful accompaniment of Charlie Prawdzik on piano and the steady time of bassist Mark Neuenschwander.
These are songs that deserve to be remembered, and we're grateful to Diane Linscott for recalling them."
DICK HYMAN
Ms. Linscott has recorded and produced seven CD’s on the DjazzL Music label:
I REMEMBER YOU
I LOVE BEING HERE WITH YOU
SINGIN' AROUND
ALONE/TOGETHER
YOU MUST BELIEVE IN SPRING
OUR DAY AT THE MOVIES
ONCE UPON A SUMMERTIME
and on the Jazzology label:
THE JAZZ HOT ENSEMBLE with Vince Giordano, Andy Stein, James Chirillo, Dan Levinson, Hank Ross, Stan Levine
Largely self- taught, She is also an active visual artist, sculptor, printmaker, jewelry designer and composer, having won awards in all disciplines.
Her one- of- a- kind art jewelry is shown at L’attitude on Newbury St. in Boston, Sarasota, and at her studios in Maine and Florida. Her monotypes and sculpture has been exhibited in many Maine galleries including Turtle Gallery, Deer Isle; Danforth Gallery, Portland; Carnegie Gallery, University of Maine; University of Christ Church, Australia; and most recently at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport.
Ms. Linscott is a commissioned composer with a concentration in chamber music and was selected as Maine Composer of the Year in 1989, for her composition, Quark Suite, a six-movement work for Flute, Oboe, Strings, and Piano. Other works include Suite Mockingbird, Composer in Residence, Maine State Commission for the Arts, 1988, and Conversations With A Swan, commissioned by the Maine Music Teachers Association.
Active in civic affairs, Ms. Linscott served as a Trustee of the University of Maine Foundation; member of the University of Maine Development Council; Advisory Board for the Maine Center for the Arts and as volunteer for many organizations throughout the community and state.
She received a BA in Journalism from the University of Maine, with two years postgraduate study with a TA in Experimental Psychology and ten years of Liberal Studies in Literature, Philosophy, Music and Art. Concurrent with her gigs in Mexico Ms. Linscott did independent study in sculpture and printmaking at the Instituto de Allende and the Belles Artes in San Miguel de Allende.