Performance Experience
Teaching Experience
Education
Discography
Affiliations
Personnel
Lisa's Philosophy
As a teenager, Lisa sought performance opportunities all the time. Lisa
was a finalist in the Queens County Talent Search at
age 15 and performed at the New York City Improvisation.
Lisa was given the lead player in many of her school and camp
productions. She played Maria in West Side Story in High School and
Madame Dubonnet in the summer production of The Boyfriend at
USDAN theater arts camp in Long Island, NY. She also won
Honorable Mention in the vocal category by the National
Foundation for Advancement of the Arts (NFAA).
Throughout college, New York University 1985-1989, Lisa
Performed at many clubs and piano bars in New York City. Lisa led her
own college jazz quintet called The Yvesdroppers, which
performed at jazz clubs in NYC. As a Sophomore at New York University,
Lisa had a cabaret act which she performed regularly
and was also awarded a publishing deal by a Canadian
film company for three of her original songs to be used in a film. From
1986 through 1992, Lisa was active in the club date
scene performing at weddings and events regularly with The Evergreen
Orchestra and The Honeymooners in Long Island, New York and New Jersey.
Lisa Performed with Harry Connick Jr.,
at The Knickerbocker Saloon, NYC.
Lisa was a featured vocalist on the Robert Miller album, Child's
Play and a featured songwriter with Jeff Franzel on the
Kathy Kosins release, All in a Dreams Work.
After moving to Massachusetts with her husband and kids, Lisa continued
to perform in jazz clubs and with show bands at the Ritz Carlton
Hotel and the Parker Meridian in Boston.
Lisa performed her original songs at the Mid-point Music
Festival in Cincinnati, OH.
In 1999, Lisa was invited to Japan with a corporate
music company, Music Playground. COM as a demo singer
to demonstrate a new karaoke product.
Interviewed and performed on Boston radio stations WGBH with Ron
Della Chiesa and Eric Jackson, WERS and New York stations WNYC, and WBGO
with Awilda Rivera.
She was a featured artist for two years in Basically
Broadway, a musical revue in Newton, MA with Barbara Brilliant. Lisa
also performed the Parkway Orchestra led by Larry
Isaacson.
Lisa sang on the National Honey Nut Cheerios TV
commercial and has recorded and produced her own commercials which have
aired on AM 680 WRKO in New England.
Lisa performs annually with the Rich Rancatore Jazz Quartet
in Marshfield and Duxbury, MA.
Lisa has performed with her jazz trio at Nassau Community College, Long
Island, NY, The Brookline Music School, The Winthrop Jazz Festival,
Roxbury Jazz Festival and Equinox Jazz Festival.
In 2004, Lisa was a finalist in the Boston Popsearch
and performed with Keith Lockhart at Symphony Hall.
Lisa's current all women rock band, HRT, has performed
at New York's Cutting Room, Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA, in
Boston at TT The Bears, Dante's and The Paradise Lounge. They
have been seen on the Today Show, heard on WZLX with Matty in
the Morning, WAAF with Carmelita and read about in Boston Magazine, The
Pheonix and The Boston Globe as well as most local publications and
local TV stations in the Boston area. They are also the subject
of a 13 episode TV series called Rocker Moms, airing primetime in Canada
on the Slice Network and HGTV.
Lisa has produced and recorded three Jazz for Kids cds with Emmy
award winning composer, Brad Hatfield, celebrating the history
of traditional jazz and has received accolades from Jon
Hendricks, The Manhattan Transfer, Mollie Ringwald and parents
and educators as well. She was featured in Jazziz magazine, The
Boston Globe, Billboard and The Los Angeles Times as well as Parenting
and The Baltimore Parent's Paper. Jazz for Kids has won the Parent's
Guide to Children's Media Award in 2000.
Lisa has recorded for the Bose Company with Pianist,
Dave McKenna and has appeared on the Bose release,
Whirligigs.
Lisa has licensing deals with Sony, BMG, and Universal
for use of her original recording, Alphabet Scat, which
can be heard on Jazz for Kids, Everybody's Boppin'.
Lisa's original song, Drinking in the Dark, has been
licensed to appear in a Mayon Productions feature film, Green
River, due out in 2008.
Lisa's new release, Do You Remember? is her latest creation.
Recorded with her mother, Helen Sukienik, Lisa captures the essence of
Eastern European life for some Jews during the holocaust. See
more on Do You Remember? in the right hand column.
1989: Assistant teacher at New York University
to jazz vocal coaches Marion Cowings and Kim Shaw culminating in an
invitation to perform with Harry Connick Jr.
at the Knickerbocker Saloon, NYC.
1992-1995: Worked with private adult vocal students in
New York. Hosted a Singer's Night at La Cave nightclub.
1995-2003: Worked with kids, teaching voice and piano
in Massachusetts. Invited young students to perform and record with Lisa
regularly. Produced three Jazz For Kids cds as a
result.
1998: Taught History of Jazz elective to middle School
at South Area Solomon Schechter Day School, Stoughton,
MA
2002: Taught jazz performance to the Best
Friends Diamond Girls Jazz Choir in Washington, DC
2002: Taught jazz vocal techniques and repertoire to
inner city kids in Bronx, NY.
2003: Worked with the New England Jazz Alliance
teaching jazz vocal techniques and repertoire to inner city kids in
Boston, MA.
2003: Worked with kids in Winthrop, MA teaching jazz
vocal techniques and repertoire culminating in a performance at the
Winthrop Jazz Festival.
2003, 2005: appeared as a special performance guest for
a jazz seminar and performance with grades 2-6 at Montessori
School in Beverly, MA.
Summer 2005, 2006: Worked at SMARTS
(Attleboro, MA) theater arts camp as elementary musical director and
voice teacher to kids ages 5-11.
2004-2007: Worked as musical director, accompanist and
vocal coach at the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School
in productions Oliver, Mary Poppins, Fiddler On The Roof and created a
vocal program known as Jazz Kids for grades 1-4.
April 2007: Worked with over 1200 kids (grades 3-8) in
the Palm Beach County public schools teaching jazz and culminating in a
performance at the Palm Beach Jazz Festival in
Wellington, Florida.
Currently, Lisa is the founder and musical director of
a Jewish Gospel intergenerational choir at
Temple Beth Abraham in Canton, MA which performs monthly.
Lisa is also the musical leader of an all women rock group, HRT,
which performs regularly and has appeared on NBC's Today Show
and has a 13 episode series called Rocker Moms airing
on primetime TV in Canada.
1972-1981: Solomon Schechter Day School, Queens, New
York
1981-1985: Yeshiva of Flatbush, High School,
Brooklyn, New York
1985-1989: New York University, graduated with a
Bachelors Degree in music performance.
Lisa studied with jazz greats Barry Harris, Joe Lovano, Ralph Llama,
Marion Cowings, Kim Shaw, Hal Schaeffer.
2002-2005: Studied voice with McClosky professor and
voice therapist Lin Schuller and performed at the voice foundation in
Philadelphia, PA demonstrating “healthy singing techniques”.
- Jazz for Kids, Everybody's Boppin'
- Jazz for Kids, Vocalese
- Jazz for Kids, On The Road
- Lisa Yves, Sweet Symphony
- Lisa Yves, Icarus
- Lisa Yves, Girl Most Likely
- Lisa Yves, Do You Remember?
Lisa's cds are distributed by Allegro, New Sound, NorthCountry, CD
Baby, Amazon.com and CSMPRO International Switzerland.
“Alphabet Scat” is licensed by Sony, BMG and Universal.
“Drinking in the Dark” is licensed by Mayon Films for the feature
film, Green River.
New England Jazz Alliance (NEJA)
International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE)
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)
Harry Fox, Inc.
Boston Songwriters Association (BSA)
Lisa has performed with: Joe Lovano, Harry Connick,
Jr., Brad Hatfield, Dave McKenna, Rich Rancatore, Marshall Wood, Dave
Zox, Jim Gwin, Gary Johnson, Dick Johnson, Mike Monaghan, Dave Buda,
John Wilkins, Jeff Franzel, Ron Zak, Ken Cervenka, Tim Butterworth, Josh
Giunta, Jordan Scanella, Al Vega, Peter Kontrimas.
I believe that most people are born with the natural ability to sing
but somewhere along the way of life, they neglect that ability and
forget how. Singing is the type of thing that gets down to the core of
one's soulful expression. When I work with kids, I don't focus so much
on the training, I focus more on the learning and discovery of
repertoire. Kids don't need training right away because their voices are
still developing. I find that kids don't sing because they don't know
what to sing. When I introduce repertoire, whether it is jazz standards,
musical theater songs or rock/pop songs, I see their whole world open up
with a new found ability to sing because now they have something to
sing.
When I work with adults, I find the same is true. Most people don't
have the ability to teach themselves songs. The difference is that
adults usually need training to correct the bad habits they have
developed over the years so that they can sing correctly and find their
own sound. Adults, I have found, also need to learn repertoire. I like
to work with jazz standards to begin with because they are challenging
melodically yet simplified song forms which helps the singer learn them.
The repeated AA, then B, then A again is a comprehensive form that most
adults and kids understand.
Singing and music are important to our society. They evoke emotion,
heal, set a mood, move us, drive us and lift our spirits. One member of
my Jewish gospel choir, MUSAF, said to me: “It doesn't matter what kind
of a day I had, as soon as I start singing I feel great!”