ONE TO WATCH: Aria Jay

It’s been a while since we last featured a new female artist. This one’s from the Big Apple and her name is Aria Jay. When she’s not working on her own music she can be found at numerous New York venues such as Joe’s Pub and Rockwood Music Hall with Joshua Kwassman and his band. But don’t be fooled into thinking she’s a “pub/cabaret singer”.

Aria graduated from The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and before that, she had trained with opera singer Judy Hages from the age of 11 (if you click her name and watch the video, you might just find a clip of a certain New York emcee named Q-Tip, so she’s kind of a big deal). But enough about all that, ‘does she have anything out”, I hear you cry. Well, yes! in 2010, she released a live EP, The First, where she mixed jazz with neo soul and hip hop.

A match made in heaven if we ever heard one. With her extensive vocal abilities and training and frequent live performances, I have no doubt in my mind we’ll be hearing from her again. It seems Aria had a different kind of “School Spirit” to the one Kanye talked about.