Susie Butler

About

Gifted with a unique voice that has been likened to a young Sarah Vaughan, Susie Butler’s musical style makes her one of the most exciting and acclaimed performers of today. She has a four octave range and is trained to sing opera as well as jazz and classical. Her music has played in every corner of the globe, especially in Asia.

Susie got her start by singing in church in Wichita, Kansas in an area rich with the jazz legacies of Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and many more.

Doodlin’ her latest release from Razzz Records, an independent company owned by Cecil Berkley and Susie Butler, was recorded over a 9-month period within an intimate Berkeley studio setting. Here, in the tradition of “classical recordings,” Susie, along with a hand-picked collection of some of the Bay Area finest musicians.

With a host of wonderfully familiar contemporary compositions, including Horace Silver’s “Doodlin” and Henri Mancini’s “It Had Better Be Tonight,” together with standards such as “Misty” and Something Cool,” this twelve-track album, showcases Susie’s tremendous 4-octive musical range, vocal dexterity and her distinctive style like never before.

Susie describes this project as “the most exciting and interesting album I have ever made.” Her goal was to make a “great record with great songs and great musicians.” She has accomplished all that and more.

With an all-star band, consisting of some of the Bay Area’s most accomplished artists and musicians – Terrance Elliott, Jackie Butler-Hairston, Sudi Ali (acoustic piano), Algie Glasco, Eric Hunt and Dwayne Oakley (upright bass), Leon Williams (alto saxophone), Earl Watkins and Kamal Suite (drums), and Cecil Berkley (congo drums).

“I’m basically a live stage performer,” Susie explains. I have an extensive background in live theatre, cabaret and dance. “Bringing people together, putting them in a studio environment while I’m recording and interacting with them only brings out the best in Susie Butler the singer.”

What hits you first about Doodlin’ is the phenomenal quality of the musicianship, combined with vocal performances which simply take your breath away. Seldom has such talent been gathered together with such intimacy and spontaneity.

Although the display of emotion and energy derived from this now rare style of recording is evident in Doodlin’, the album has the obvious quality and production values of the most controlled and advanced studio setting.

Special guest appearances by long-time friends, saxophonist Leon Williams, pianist Jackie Butler-Hairston (sister of Dr. George Butler) and Earl Watkins (a mainstay of the Bay Area Jazz Scene since the 1950’s) on “The Things We Did Last Summer” (from the Nancy Wilson songbook), all combine on the album to pay homage to Susie’s pop and jazz roots.

“All of the tunes have a kind of immediacy and importance to me,” says Susie. “I hope we’ve achieved an interesting and eclectic band of familiarity and freshness, taking some standards and other material into different directions, in term of both arrangement and style.”

Personnel

Mel Peters: Makeup
Latisha Harris: Promotions - Internet
Walter Atkins: Photographer
Kevin Owens: Hair

Influences

I have been influenced by all the great singers of the 20th center - Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat 'King' Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennet, Billie Holiday and Mel Torme just to name a few

What to Expect

Typical Gig Duration: 30 - 180 minutes

The audience can expect a professional show with lots of songs that they know and can sing along to. The costumes and the voice is what makes this the perfect show for your event.

Additional Notes:
Provide a sound system, stage lighting (varied), Shure vocal mic.
For events over 100 miles provide: 2 rooms at a 3-star hotel in the area of the event; breakfast and dinner for the group

Set/Song/Sequence List:
Day In, Day out, The Shadow of your Smile, Wave, One Note Samba, Perfida, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars, Unforgettable, Misty, Can't Get out of this Mood, Green Dolphin Street, Everything I have is Yours, A Cottage for Sale, Lullabye of Birdland, It Isn't Even Spring, That Old Black Magic, It's Witchcraft, Summertime, Doodlin', Prisioner of Love, Tenderly, Send in the Clowns, I've Got a Crush on You, Round Midnight, Do Nothing 'Til you Hear From Me, Mood Indigo, Sophicated Lady, Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got that Swing, I'll Take Manhatten, Mountain Greenery, Ten Cents a Dance, To Keep My Love Alive, Let's Do It, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, The Lord's Prayer, The Prayer, Inseparable, O Mary don't you Weep

Performance Schedule

Past Booked Dates:

09-16-2011 — Private Wedding Celebration
02-02-2011 — Susie Butler Sings National Anthem-Staples Center, Los Angeles
12-10-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - Crainway Pavilition, Richmond, CA
11-20-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - The Exit Theatre Cafe, 156 Eddy Street, S.F. CA 94100
11-13-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - The Exit Theatre Cafe, 156 Eddy Street, S.F. CA 94100
11-12-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - Angelica's - Redwood City, CA
10-30-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - The Exit Theatre Cafe, 156 Eddy Street, S.F. CA 94100
10-23-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - The Exit Theatre Cafe, 156 Eddy Street, S.F. CA 94100
10-22-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - Velma's Place, San Francisco, CA
10-16-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - The Exit Theatre Cafe, 156 Eddy Street, S.F. CA 94100
09-04-2010 — Sacramento, CA
08-27-2010 — Private Party
07-11-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan Yoshi's Jazz Complex - 1320 Fillmore, S.F., 2:00 and 5:00 pm
07-03-2010 — Susie Butler as Sarah Vaughan - San Jose, CA
05-29-2010 — Susie Butler Sings Sarah Vaughan - TBA
05-01-2010 — Scott's Seafood -Private Party
04-25-2010 — Susie Sings Negro Spirituals - Mt. Zion Baptist Church-San Francisco, CA
03-28-2010 — Sarah Vaughan Birthday Party
01-29-2010 — UAOS Crab Feed
10-31-2009 — Celebrity Impersonator-Private Party

Available for Your

Bachelorette Party, Band Member Wanted, Birthday Party, Casino, Christmas Party, Church Service, Club/Nightclub, Concert Venue, Convention, Corporate Event, Cruise, Fair, Festival, Fund Raiser, Funeral Service

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