Handmade Moments & Cyrille Aimee

Biography

Cyrille Aimée is a French jazz vocalist born on August 10, 1984, in Samois-sur-Seine, France, to a French father and Dominican mother. She grew up in a multilingual household immersed in Afro-Caribbean rhythms from her mother's native Dominican Republic and the vibrant gypsy jazz traditions of her hometown, which hosted the annual Django Reinhardt Festival. As a teenager, she would sneak out of her bedroom window at night to mingle with gypsy musicians performing at the festival, igniting a lifelong passion for jazz and inspiring her vision of a global community united in musical creativity and spontaneity.

Aimée pursued formal training at the American School of Modern Music in Paris before relocating to the United States to earn a jazz degree at SUNY Purchase in New York. During her college years, she became a regular performer at iconic New York jazz venues including Birdland Jazz Club, Joe's Pub, and Smalls Jazz Club in Greenwich Village. Her breakthrough came with victories at major international competitions: the Montreux Jazz Festival Competition in 2007, finalist status at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2010, and the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2012. Her debut album, Cyrille Aimée & the Surreal Band (2008), immediately showcased her winsome charm, supple voice, and stylistic diversity, incorporating swing, French and Latin influences, and folk and pop elements.

Throughout her career, Aimée has established herself as an internationally renowned vocalist celebrated for her bold improvisation and magnetic stage presence. Her critically acclaimed albums with Mack Avenue Records, including Move On featuring Stephen Sondheim compositions, earned a Grammy nomination. Her latest album, À Fleur de Peau (Whirlwind Recordings), co-produced with Jake Sherman, showcases her unique blend of jazz, pop, and Caribbean rhythms. Currently based in Brooklyn and later New Orleans, she continues to perform regularly in Manhattan's historic jazz clubs and has collaborated with jazz legends including Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis, Emmett Cohen, and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

Fun Facts

• As a teenager in Samois-sur-Seine, Cyrille would climb out of her bedroom window at night to sneak into the Django Reinhardt Festival and mingle with gypsy musicians, which directly inspired her passion for jazz and global musical community.
• She spent a transformative year in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where she performed approximately 8 gigs per week and was the only jazz singer in the country at that time, significantly deepening her improvisational skills and knowledge of jazz standards.
• Her album Move On features compositions by the late Stephen Sondheim and earned her a Grammy nomination, representing a unique collaboration between contemporary jazz and Broadway musical theater.
• Cyrille's musical identity is a deliberate fusion of three distinct guitar traditions: the electronic jazz guitar, the gypsy steel string guitar, and the Brazilian nylon string guitar, which she intentionally incorporated into her albums to represent different facets of her heritage.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Pete Malinverni - Jazz instructor at SUNY Purchase who helped master improvisation techniques (SUNY Purchase jazz program curriculum) [2000s]
• Jon Faddis - Jazz educator at SUNY Purchase providing instrumental and performance guidance (SUNY Purchase jazz program curriculum) [2000s]
• Jimmy Greene - Jazz instructor at SUNY Purchase contributing to her musical development (SUNY Purchase jazz program curriculum) [2000s]
• Ella Fitzgerald - Vocal influence through recordings that guided her into the art of improvising with music (Ella Fitzgerald recordings) [Formative years]
• Stephane Grappelli - Gypsy jazz influence through recordings during her early musical development (Stephane Grappelli recordings) [Formative years]
• Manouche Romani people - Community in Samois-sur-Seine who taught her gypsy jazz traditions and improvisation philosophy (Gypsy jazz traditions and cultural immersion) [Teenage years]

Key Collaborators

• Roy Hargrove - Jazz trumpet legend with whom she has performed and recorded (Cyrille Aimée & friends Live at Smalls) [2010s]
• Wynton Marsalis - Jazz icon with whom she has collaborated on performances (Various performances) [2010s]
• Jake Sherman - Producer and multi-instrumentalist who co-produced her album À Fleur de Peau (À Fleur de Peau (Whirlwind Recordings)) [2018+]
• Adonis Rose - Drummer and artistic director of New Orleans Jazz Orchestra with whom she recorded (Petite Fleur (Storyville Records)) [2024]
• Joel Frahm - Saxophonist featured on her live album (Cyrille Aimée & friends Live at Smalls) [2010s]
• Diego Figueiredo - Brazilian guitarist with whom she recorded multiple projects (Various albums with Diego Figueiredo) [2000s-2010s]
• Steve Davis - Jazz musician with whom she regularly performs in NYC venues (Various performances at NYC jazz clubs) [2010s+]
• Spike Wilner - Jazz musician and venue operator with whom she regularly performs (Various performances at Smalls Jazz Club) [2010s+]
• Anat Cohen - Jazz saxophonist with whom she regularly performs (Various performances at NYC jazz clubs) [2010s+]

Discography

Albums

Top Tracks

1. Je Suis Seule Ce Soir (Just The Two Of Us)
2. Loving You (Move On: A Sondheim Adventure)
3. Samois A Moi (Just The Two Of Us)
4. Just The Two Of Us (Just The Two Of Us)
5. I'll Be Seeing You (I'll Be Seeing You)
6. Je Suis Seule Ce Soir (Just The Two Of Us)
7. En el Último Trago (feat. Cyrille Aimée)
8. Samois A Moi (Just The Two Of Us)
9. Young at Heart (It's a Good Day)
10. You Make Me Feel So Young (Hooray For Love)

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia