QUIANA LYNELL
Genres: RnB, Pop, Art Song, Folk • United States

Music has always been Lynell’s calling, but her path to jazz was far from standard. “I grew up in a very religious home,” she says. “My parents loathed secular music, so there was not a lot of push to do anything outside of gospel.” Still, Lynell’s talent was apparent from the start. “In Abilene, [Texas], we’d have all the holiday programs and we’d vie for the solo, and it came to the point where ‘We know Quiana’s gonna get the solo,’” she says. She made the all-state choir in high school and won a scholarship to LSU. But even in college, jazz was never on her musical horizon. “I’m pre–the [Popular and Commercial Music] and pre–the Jazz Studies programs that are at a lot of schools now,” she explains. “For vocal majors, it was strictly classical voice.” Lynell’s parents weren’t thrilled to see their daughter dabbling in secular music, but they read more...