# Fay Victor

Fay Victor (born July 26, 1965) is an American musician, composer, lyricist and educator. Originally a singer in the traditional jazz field, she has been working in jazz, blues, opera, free improvising, avant-garde, modern classical music, and occasional acting since re-settling in New York in 2003.

## Early life and career

Victor was born in Brooklyn, New York City. After spending her early childhood years in New York, Zambia, and Trinidad & Tobago, her mother settled in Long island, NY, where Victor spent her teenage years. After her mother's sudden death, Victor re-discovered music and singing, and after a 3-month stint at a club in Fukui City, Japan with pianist Bertha Hope, she decided to start a career as a jazz singer. In 1996, Victor settled in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and performed and toured through the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, the UK, Sweden, Russia, and India. While living in the Netherlands, Victor branched out into blues, songwriting, and forms of improvising outside the standard jazz canon. Victor has lived in NYC since 2003. She has worked with the likes of Randy Weston, Roswell Rudd, Anthony Braxton, Misha Mengelberg, Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey, Wadada Leo Smith, Nicole Mitchell, Marc Ribot, Martine Syms, Daniel Carter, William Parker, Darius Jones, Wolter Wierbos, Ab Baars, Joe Morris, Sam Newsome, Reggie Nicholson.
Victor's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Jazz Times, and Down Beat.

## Music

Victor has coined the term "freesong" to describe her vocal approach. In her jazz repertoire, Victor has specialized in the work of Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman and Herbie Nichols.

### Activism

Victor is co-director of the TalkRace forum and is a member of the "We Have Voice" collective.

## Discography
### As leader/co-leader

| Title | Artist | Year | Label |
| Life Is Funny That Way | Fay Victor's Herbie Nichols SUNG | 2024 | TAO Forms |
| Blackity Black Black is Beautiful | Fay Victor | 2023 | Northern Spy Records |
| We've Had Enough! | Fay Victor's SoundNoiseFUNK | 2020 | ESP Disk |
| Barn Songs | Fay Victor | 2019 | Northern Spy |
| In My Own Room | Fay Victor | 1998 | Timeless Records |
| Darker Than Blue | Fay Victor | 2001 | Timeless Records |
| Should We Do This Again? | Fay Victor | 1995 | Groovie Sound |
| Lazy Old Sun | Fay Victor | 2004 | Greene Ave Music |
| Wet Robots | Fay Victor's SoundNoiseFUNK | 2018 | ESP Disk |
| Kaiso Stories | Other Dimensions In Music with Fay Victor | 2010 | Silkheart |
| Absinthe & Vermouth | Fay Victor Ensemble | 2013 | Greene Ave Music |
| The FreeSong Suite | Fay Victor Ensemble | 2009 | Greene Ave Music |
| Cartwheels Through The Cosmos | Fay Victor Ensemble | 2007 | ArtistShare |
| Bare | The Exposed Blues Duo (with Anders Nilsson) | 2010 | Greene Ave Music |
| New York/Sankt Johann | ReDDeer (with Elisabeth Harnik & Dominic Lash) | 2017 | Evil Rabbit |

### As featured artist/sideperson

| Title | Artist | Year | Label |
| West Coast Blues | Gregor Hilden | 1998 | Acoustic Music Records |
| Aces of Swing: A Tribute to the Music of John Kirby & Charlie Shavers | Robert Veen Sextet | 1996 | Basta Basta |
| Trombone for Lovers | Roswell Rudd | 2013 | Sunnyside |
| Embrace | Roswell Rudd | 2017 | Rare Noise Records |
| The Invisible Blow | Ab Baars Trio + NY guests | 2014 | Stichting Wig |
| Trillium E | Anthony Braxton | 2011 | New Braxton House |
| Glorious Ravage | Liza Mezzacappa | 2017 | New World Records |
| The Jazz Lounge Trio Meets... | Jazz Lounge Trio | 2000 | Laika Records |
| Songs of Resistance - 1942-2018 | Marc Ribot | 2018 | |