Reel To Reel

Alison Wedding

"Alison Wedding is the most impressive jazz singer to emerge on the Melbourne scene in quite a few years...Wedding certainly has an appealing voice, a strong technique and reliable intonation. But the qualities that make her stand out from the crowd are her ablility to explore and convey the emotion in a song's lyrics, and her ability to scat solos with both daring and control."

-Adrian Jackson, Rhythms magazine

Recipient of the Gibson-May award in the 2006 London International Jazz Competition, expatriate American vocalist Alison Wedding has built an impressive reputation among both musicians and the public in the years she has been based here, with many weekends residencies at Bennetts Lane.

Originally from Ohio, she has developed a contemporary repertoire (with some original compositions from band members) in a regular groups featuring some of the finest musicians Australia has to offer. Alison's album 'The Secret' won the 'Best Jazz Vocal Album' at the 2004 Bell Awards.

Alison Wedding started her music career at age two, singing for family and friends in the living room. She went on to study jazz at University of North Texas under the guidance of Paris Rutherford and began to sing professionally in the Dallas area.

One of her career highlights was singing with the One O'clock Lab Band with the late Gerry Mulligan. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she spent a summer at Epcot in Florida, singing in the show Swingin' Summer Nights,where she had the opportunity to sing with an amazing line up of singers such as Dianne Reeves, Diane Schuur, and the late Joe Williams. Alison then decided to move to the west coast to develop her career. While in Los Angeles, Alison performed professionally, both live and in the studio.

She toured as a back-up singer with Kevyn Lettau, and recorded with artists such as Andy Summers (formerly of The Police) on his CD Peggy's Blue Sklight. Since her national tour, Alison was invited to sing with Tim Ries (saxophone player with The Rolling Stones) at the 2004 Melbourne International Jazz Festival.