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Stories   >   WTIP's 'Minnesota Women of Song #15' chats with Nancy Harms

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WTIP's 'Minnesota Women of Song #15' chats with Nancy Harms

Posted: June 14, 2022
WITP feature

In a relatively short time, Nancy Harms has distinguished herself as one of the most uniquely gifted young jazz vocalists on the East Coast. Born and raised in the tiny Midwestern town of Clara City, Minnesota, Nancy had no exposure to jazz as a child, no connections to the music via family or education. Though she was singing for small public gatherings by the age of four, it wasn’t until attending Concordia College in Moorhead, MN that Harms discovered jazz.

Nancy Harms career in NYC began with a sold-out appearance in the summer of 2010 at the “Bar Next Door” on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, with classy accompaniment by former Minnesotan Michael O’Brien on bass and NY guitar legend Paul Bollenback. Observable at this or any other engagement since is Harms’ highly original physical presence; always in motion, yet always in service of the music and telling the story. The beautiful face is animated, but not overly so. There is mystery there, with abundant smiles and good humor, but the occasional flash of something untold; a sudden downward tightening of the mouth and far-away focus of the eyes… She seems to draw upon a passing sense-memory to more effectively convey the feeling of the lyric. Often, it’s a sense of hurt, or the pain of long ago; artfully intermingling with the good humor and inviting warmth of Nancy’s overall persona.

Her first CD “In The Indigo” put her on 140 radio and cable outlets in dozens of markets, and top sales on the CDBaby Jazz vocal chart. The CD received national airplay on “PRI’s “JAZZ AFTER HOURS”, NPR, THE PENTHOUSE RADIO NETWORK, and MUSIC CHOICE via satellite, cable and internet. Nancy’s follow-up disc, “Dreams In Apartments”, was even more successful, airing on the above (and other) sources, including Jonathan Schwartz’s broadcasts, and on the PopJazzRadio.com channel which placed one of Nancy’s original songs, “Weight Of The World”, in the #1 position on two separate occasions with over 44,000 votes from fans. Nancy went on to celebrate the release of “Dreams In Apartments” at New York City’s venerable BIRDLAND, as well as to share the album’s success with audiences in Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Paris.

For May 12, 2022, WTIP Radio - Minnesota Women of Song #15 features Nancy Harms. Also featured are Laura Underwood and Leslie Vincent. Three jazz performers from small-town Minnesota are featured in this segment of Minnesota Women of Song: Nancy Harms, Laura Underwood and Leslie Vincent. Produced by Joni Peterson for WTIP, Minnesota Women of Song is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Minnesota Women of Song is supported in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

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