Music has always been important to Cindy Douglas. The “impressively voracious tastes” that Jazzwise magazine recognised in her first album, My New Jive, began to form in a small rural community on the west coast of Scotland where Cindy grew up surrounded by Gaelic and traditional Scottish music.
From an early age she sang in competitions and concerts and at high school she became involved in drama and musical theatre productions. Acting led her to Edinburgh where she spent a year at the Theatre Workshop learning stage craft and performing in a number of productions including over 50 performances of A Christmas Carol.
Having then pursued a successful career in human resources at the expense of singing and acting, and feeling that something was missing in her life, Cindy decided to re-explore her musical interests and particularly her love of jazz. She attended one of Scottish singer Fionna Duncan’s vocal jazz workshops where she encountered the exceptional Californian singer and mentor Madeline Eastman and after experiencing Eastman’s inspiring and very direct style of tuition and assessment, Cindy decided to concentrate on music.
Following the birth of her daughter, Cindy returned to work briefly before turning her back on the corporate world for good to concentrate on being a parent and a musician.
She has studied with some of the world’s leading jazz vocal educators, including Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Jay Clayton, Anita Wardell, and Liane Carroll, and her determination to strengthen her general musicianship has led to her developing percussion skills in Havana with members of Cuba’s world renowned Buena Vista Social Club and taking lessons in djembe and Middle Eastern singing with Palestinian Reem Kelani.
Cindy gigs regularly in Scotland and has developed a broad repertoire that ranges from swing to post-bop and encompasses everything in between! She is inspired by an ever expanding number of great musicians, including pianists Thelonious Monk, Bobby Timmons, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, Horace Silver, Brad Mehldau, Michel Petrucciani, and Abdullah Ibrahim, drummer Shelley Manne and singers Anita O’Day and Betty Carter. Wherever she finds inspiration, the constant factors in her musical taste are rhythm and emotion: the heart of jazz.
In 2012, Cindy released her first album, My New Jive, which was recorded in London with pianist Tim Richard’s trio. The album includes a composition by John Handy, A Little Quiet, with lyrics written by Cindy. This reflects a growing interest in putting words to music and she’s also written lyrics to works by Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Ron Carter, and Abdullah Ibrahim.
Always open to new musical experiences, Cindy listens avidly to music and is constantly working on ideas for songs. The journey that she began with My New Jive looks set to continue with regular stopovers to take in more inspiration for what Jazz Journal, in reviewing Cindy’s debut, acknowledged as her “creative … engaging … conversational” style.
“Jazz with a smile on its face” – The Musician
“Explores everything from bebop to swing to world music… the song arrangements are full of captivating detail.” Jazzwise
“Vocalist Cindy Douglas displays impressively voracious musical tastes…” Jazzwise
“Queen of be bop and swing … this album is laudably dynamic, balanced and up tempo. Singer led jazz with a smile on it’s face.” The Musician
“The extremely talented vocalist sings with all her heart and soul and her glamourous voice reflects that.” Jazz Beat, Voice of America
“Cindy’s light conversational style is robustly supported by the Tim Richards Trio … Standards are the order of the day in this tuneful, engaging session, but given creative twists. It goes to show there’s endless mileage in the old ones when they fall into creative hands.” Jazz Journal
“An arrangement that sets ‘Love for Sale’ in a Buenos Aires tango bar is among several imaginative twists on ‘My New Jive’.” Jazz UK