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Downbeat review
Aimee Nolte
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Downbeat Review - Aimee Nolte’s voice is beautiful, sonorous and reflective on her latest album Looking For The Answers, The singer arranged and produced every track on the album, lending a consistent aesthetic and laid-back vibe to most of the cuts here. What separates Nolte from other vocalists and composers is the poetry and storytelling quality of her compositions, with lyrics reminescent of Joni Mitchell - just minus Mitchell playfulness. “Save Me One Last Time” speaks to the bandleadeader’s seriousness as a lyricists when the theme of lost love is addressed: “If I keep on falling, I’ll be lost forever/ Save me one last time.” [ Read the full review here ]
Los Angeles musician, Aimee Nolte is a jazz pianist, vocalist and thriving YouTube creator, constantly pursuing new recording, performing, and educational projects. Though primarily a jazz player, she knows over a thousand songs and can play them at the drop of a hat. Aimee earned her jazz piano degree from Brigham Young University In 1998 and has been an active and passionate musician ever since; even as a wife and mother of four! She has released three full-length albums so far that have been reviewed as deeply personal, captivating pieces of art. Downbeat praised her 2019 release, Looking For The Answers, raving that “What separates Nolte from other vocalists and composers is the poetry and storytelling quality of her compositions, with lyrics reminescent of Joni Mitchell.” In 2016, Aimee started her YouTube channel, "Aimee Nolte Music" where she now has over 150K subscribers. She shares the music that is inside of her with the world in her videos, whether through captivating duets with John Clayton and Nicki Parrott or breaking down the tiniest nuances of a McCoy Tyner solo in a way that makes even the most advanced techniques understandable to beginning musicians. Teaching topics like harmony, arranging, advanced jazz piano techniques, and even beginning piano and vocal skills comes as second nature to Aimee, and she is frequently called upon to perform and appear as a guest clinician all over the country.
She continues to play and sing regularly all over Los Angeles County. January, 2006 marked the release of her first album, “Up Til Now”. She sings, plays piano and harmonica, and wrote and produced all of the tracks on the album.
In 2010, Aimee released her second album with her longtime guitarist, Hideaki Tokunaga, entitled, "Just Us". Aimee composed 7 of the CD's 11 tracks, and co-wrote 2.
Aimee has had the opportunity to perform in the past with greats such as John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Ken Peplowski, Frank Vignola, Lenny White, and most recently, the Aimee Nolte Trio (with Mike Scott and Roger Shew), and her duo, "Skirt & Suit (with Joshua Payne on guitar) with regular gigs around the LA area. Recently she performed with Nicki Parrott along with a new trio (Robert Taylor & Justin Varnes).

Story Time!! Crazy Gig Stories!!

There are some...characters out there. Here are some of my best stories from gigs.

Accompanying Choirs

Taking a choir accompanying gig is a great way to keep your sight reading skills sharp. Hang out with me a bit as we talk about page turning, improvising, jazz trios, noticing mistakes in your part, and how to drive and support your choir. Thanks to Eric Hagstrom and Jordan Richards who hung out with me all day, making music.

You Should've - #MeToo

In 2013, I wrote this song about a dark time in my life. When I was 16 and he was 40, my music teacher pressured and pursued me, romantically and physically. He used music to make me fall in love with him and then tried very hard to take away my innocence. My teacher: someone who had power over me. And worse: my music teacher, someone who taught a subject so connected to feelings of love. Such a terrible place to be in, but thankfully, over a period of many months, I was able to fight off most of his advances.

Attachments:
File	Description	File size
You Should've - #MeToo	Free MP3	3879 kB

All Too Soon (duet with Mike Scott)

Mike Scott and I sat down one morning to record a bit. Here's one of our favorites from that day - the Duke Ellington classic, "All Too Soon."

Take All The Gigs You Can Get

Some advice that helped me progress as a jazz musician and saved my sanity as life got complicated. If you'd like to support me, you can do so here: https://paypal.me/aimn

Aimee Nolte Sings John Coltrane's Mr. PC

This was my video for Jam Of The Week on Facebook this week to celebrate one of my hero's birthdays...Mr. John Coltrane. I didn't have much time so I stopped and got a little crazy with this!

Bebop Scale Fingerings

The bebop scale is a descending major scale, with a flatted seventh added that is typically used over a dominant or V7 chord when improvising. Let's make sure we know how to finger it.

Purchase the worksheet from the videos below [5.00 $]

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The Jazz Jam Session: What To Know Before You Go

What is a jazz jam? How do you choose one? What do you do once you are there? How do you prepare to go? What's the etiquette? Who solos first? SO MANY QUESTIONS. SO MANY ANSWERS. -- See also Aimee's Top 25 Jazz Standards To Know