from myspace:
raised with jazz, motown and blues, alison cecile johns cherishes her roots, and it shows in her voice. but those musical influences include the clash, the pretenders, the beatles and seminal punk band X as well as ella fitzgerald and dinah washington. “what makes a singer great is honesty, the resonance between their outer voice and your inner one,” she says. “while you have to do the work to develop your own voice and be a good vocalist, the thing that takes you, as a performer, that one step higher is all in the spirit and the heart.”
coming from a musical family, alison began playing flute and saxophone in grade school, singing and performing in choir in high school, and moved to san francisco to be a street performer. she first played professionally with the “tokyo hot club band”, a django reinhart-style ensemble where she learned the jazz standards that remain near to her heart. she has played with groups ranging from gospel to punk, in a six-woman vocal jazz ensemble and with techno originator neil ollivierra of detroit escalator company.
most recently she can be heard singing background on bill jackson’s “hiphop/poetry” project, and is putting together a new band, inspired by TV on the Radio, Henry Threadgill, and other stuff.
feel free to contact cecile johns with gigs or project ideas.
sweet