April Varner: The Spirit of Ella

There are singers who perform jazz standards, and then there are singers who make the tradition feel alive in the room. April Varner belongs in the second category.

Winner of the 2023 International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, Varner arrives at Campus JAX as one of the most compelling young voices in modern jazz: a vocalist praised by DownBeat for her “impressive range,” recognized among its Rising Star Jazz Vocalists, and described as both a bebop technician and a contemporary storyteller. 

Her connection to Ella Fitzgerald is more than a credential — it is a living artistic conversation. On her newest album, Ella, released via Cellar Music Group and produced by Ulysses Owens, Jr., Varner reimagines the First Lady of Song’s repertoire with fresh arrangements for both big band and intimate ensemble, bringing “emotional precision and ungoverned spontaneity” to songs forever associated with one of jazz’s most beloved voices. 

But April Varner is not an imitator. She is a modern artist with deep roots. Her music lives where the American Songbook, vocalese, hard bop, swing, and contemporary storytelling meet. Online, she has drawn a large following by working through her own vocal transcriptions of iconic solos from artists like Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan — translating the language of great instrumental improvisers into her own voice with intelligence, humor, and fearless musicality. 

A Toledo-born New Yorker, Varner has headlined at many of New York’s essential jazz rooms, including Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, Mezzrow, Birdland, Minton’s Playhouse, The Django, Zinc Bar, and 55 Bar, while also appearing at major venues across the country and internationally in Paris. She has collaborated with a remarkable roster that includes Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, John Pizzarelli, Ulysses Owens, Jr., Theo Bleckmann, Benny Benack III, Nicole Zuraitis, Dayna Stephens, Reuben Rogers, and the late Russell Malone. 

For this special evening at Campus JAX, audiences can expect a vocalist who understands the tradition from the inside out: swinging standards, dazzling scat, nimble vocalese, warmth, wit, and the unmistakable joy that made Ella Fitzgerald timeless.

Thursday, July 23 at Campus JAX: April Varner brings the spirit of Ella, the fire of bebop, and the freshness of a new generation of jazz vocal artistry.