NICKI MATHIS

As a child, Nick remembers her mother Jewel singing around the house; Nick and her sister Josephine followed naturally and sang in Second Baptist Church, and Douglass High School choirs. It was after inadvertently over-extending herself into singing in her cousin’s Club Society talent show that Nick was recommended by Willie Corry of Brooklyn, NY to replace him in Tex Hammond’s Trio w/Bob Rutledge on bass at Copa City. By the time Nick joined, it was Jerry Sandifer’s Trio Plus 1; Pete Morris drums, Bill Nelson bass. They opened the first Pass of the North Jazz Festival featuring Dave Brubeck, Joe Morello, Eugene Wright; Chico Hamilton w/Eric Dolphy; Lambert, Hendricks & Ross; Chris Conner; Maynard Ferguson’s band w/Anne Marie Moss; emceed by Leonard Feather. When a reviewer heralded "Nicki" as the …coolest of them all… Her stage name became Nicki, and the rest is musical history. Arriving in Hartford, CT read more...