Jenna Mammina
Jenna Mammina is a jazz and pop singer from Alabama. Biography. Mammina was born in Alabama, and began singing in church from the age of five and performing in school musicals. In her teens, Mammina learned to play piano and guitar, performing with local bands. She attended Central Michigan University, Michigan State University, and Laney College in Oakland, before settling in San Francisco. After session work with The Spinners and Narada Michael Walden, Mammina has gone on to record five albums, all released on her own label, Mamma Grace. Mammina, who performs as many as 250 times a  year, has performed with Bobby McFerrin, Bobby Watson, Nancy King, Andy Narell, and Steve Coleman. Derk Robertson, writing for the "San Francisco Chronicle", picked her debut album, "Under the Influence", as number nine in his top albums of 1999. Her second album, "Meant to Be", was nominated for a California Music Award in the Outstanding Jazz Album category. Mammina is also a music educator, presenting workshops titled "Scat for Cats" and "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star'" in schools and universities. Musical style. Mammina combines folk music, pop, and jazz, often performing with guitarist Andre Bush . She covers a wide range of music, including songs ranging from Abbey Lincoln (her idol) to Elvis Costello, U2, and Tom Waits, as well as original compositions. Her voice has been described as "sweet and flexible", "whisper-like" with "air-brushed phrasings and silky nuance", and less flatteringly, as "tiny, thinnish, high-pitched". Mammina says of her style: "I don't want to categorize the music. It's not that I don't know who I am. I don't sing classical, and I'm not a soul singer, or an R&B singer, but I have been influenced by that  stuff too. I can sing a Patsy Cline tune, a James Taylor tune, or a Led Zeppelin tune, but I do it with my own flair."