EPK
BOOKINGS:
Benjamin Massicotte : benjamin @ boulevart dot ca 514-667-0880 x 2
ORIGIN: Toronto
GENRE: Vocal jazz, swing, blues, folk, singer-songwriter
NEW SINGLE FEBRUARY 10TH
“There is something about the imaginative way in which Denielle thinks, crafts and creates music that is undeniably her own.” – Dani Elwell, JAZZ.FM91
PHOTOS
COPY AND TECHNICAL DOWNLOADS
SHORT BIO
Toronto-born, Indie Swing chanteuse Denielle Bassels is a rising star on the Canadian jazz scene. Her music is a potent melange of jazz manouche, blues, folk and pop delivered with a powerfully unique contralto voice that packs solid heart punches, sure to "stop you in your tracks" - Juliet Dunn, Music Director, TD Niagara Jazz Festival. Think of Ella Fitzgerald sipping tea on a rollercoaster with the Mad Hatter, and you will know what a night of a Denielle Bassels concert is like. A voice as sweet as Doris Day can also launch into the ferocity of Big Mama Thornton and back, never leaving you to forget that it's Denielle you're hearing. Mix that with a natural penchant for storytelling, and you have a winning combo that leaves the audience wanting more.
Bassels first album of original songs, "What About Wool Wishbags," was voted top 5 albums of 2017 by Terry McElligot of JAZZ.FM91, and seven of the eleven songs went on to win songwriting awards, with "Cool Cool Water" garnering Grand Prize in the John Lennon Song Competition.
With her new single "Little Bit a' Love" out and three singles in tow, Bassels full album is poised for launch in early June 2023. The CD release party kicks off at Lula Lounge in Toronto on June 1st, just in time for Jazz Festival season.
PRESS QUOTES
Denielle will stop you in your tracks!
-JULIET DUNN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR - TD NIAGARA JAZZ FESTIVAL, NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA
There are few singers-songwriters in North America as original & refreshing as Denielle Bassels. A star on the rise!
- JAYMZ BEE RADIO HOST - JAZZFM.91, TORONTO
It’s not difficult to hear a sort of “coming of age” – of Denielle Bassels – in What About Wool Wishbags; a sort of musical equivalent of cinéma vérité in which the shy awkward street waif becomes a global queen of jazz and pop. The word “global” may be construed as being used somewhat loosely here and includes the use of airwaves and social media as weapons of mass combat for hyper-real world domination. But pause for breath when Miss Bassels does, if only to drink in the almost Dali-esque lyrics of a song gleam as they deliver spontaneous, unaffected joy and you will be sucked right in to the world of Denielle Bassels as it is in the process of being taken right over seemingly before your very eyes.
-RAUL DA GAMA, TORONTO MUSIC REPORT
DENIELLE BASSELS, one of the brightest new lights on Canada’s jazz scene, the Toronto-based Bassels has been earning fans across Canada and Europe since the moment she stepped in front of a mic at a jam session and sang a rendition of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
- DAVID DEROCCO, GOBE WEEKLY
VIDEOS
Headlining Empire Theatre, Belleville, ON
BAND MEMBERS
Denielle Bassels - Vocals
Drew Jurecka - Violin/Clarinet
Jacob Gorzhaltsan Clarinet/Sax
Julien Bradley Combs - Guitar
Russ Boswell - Upright Bass
Andrew Scott - Drums
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS
2022 - Toronto Jazz Festival
2022 - Old Mill Toronto - Headliner
2021 - TD Toronto Jazz Festival - Backyard Series - Headliner
2021, 2018 - TD Niagara Jazz Festival
2019, 2018, 2017 – Jazz Festivals for Port Credit, Oakville, Brantford, Barrie, St. Catharines, Niagara on the Lake, Ottawa, Winterfolk and more.
2019 – Nuit Blanche
2019, 2018, 2017 – Live to Air at Jazz FM91.1 multiple times with Dani Elwell, Brad Barker, John Devanish, Jaymz Bee and Terry McElligott
2019, 2018, 2017 - Toronto Jazz Festival
2019 – Woodbine Race Track
2019 - TD Niagara Jazz Festival, backyard series
2018 – Christmas Market in The Distillery District
2018 – Alliance Francaise - Entire show is in French
2018, 2017 - Big City Small World with Erroll Nazareth on CBC Radio
2018 - Lambton Golf and Country Club
2017 – HotDocs Film Festival in Belleville - Headliner for the premier of Yo-Yo Ma's "Music of Strangers"
2017 - Canada Walk of Fame
2017 - Fresh Air, Live to Air for CBC RADIO
2017 – Harbourfront Hot & Spicy Food Festival
2017 - Merrickville Jazz Festival - Headliner
2017 - Sold out Tours in Ontario and Quebec
Upstairs Jazz Club - Montreal, Dieze Onze - Montreal
Denielle also regularly plays sold out shows in Toronto at local venues: The Jazz Bistro, Lula Lounge, Hugh's Room, The Old Mill, The Rex Hotel, Poetry Jazz Cafe, The Oud And The Fuzz, La Rev, Drom Taberna and is a regular performer for the prestigious top picks selected by Jaymz Bee from JAZZ.FM91's private donor parties called "One Stop Jazz Safaris".