About this user
In addition to being a founding and current touring member of Bobby McFerrin's renowned vocal ensemble " Voicestra", Bearde has clearly carved out his own style as a solo artist. A seasoned showman on stage, Bearde is a powerful music force, well versed in diverse styles of rhythm and jazz, and is masterful at drawing audiences into his performances. His dynamic show contains original music and jazz and blues standards, and he has thrilled audiences around the world, from San Francisco to Tokyo, and London to Russia with his soulful interpretations.
With a voice like Lou Rawls and a repertoire like Barry White, Nicolas is the definitive jazz romantic. Combining originals with tunes by Burt Bacharach, John Coltrane and Donny Hathaway, he brings a tenderness and delicacy to his songs that deftly avoid maudlin interpretations, and his earnestness elevates his music beyond the trite.
Nicolas has performed, toured or recorded with Patti Austin, Janis Siegal, the Manhattan Transfer, Michael Bolton, Holly Near, Linda Tillery, SoVoSo among others, and keeps a busy sideline as an actor of film and TV.
"Bearde is the definitive jazz romantic...he brings a tenderness and delicacy to his songs that deftly avoids maudlin interpretations"
Ron Saranach - Cosmic Debris
"His gorgeously sung takes on late night dim-the- lights romancing are fresh and unpretentious"
Derk Richardson - Bay Guardian
"Bearde teases the listener with his aural foreplay and romantic verse"
Soukie West - The London Journel
"Sophisticated jazzy soul that sends the hardcore into a state of pronounced delirium"
Dean Johnson - Soulvation Magazine
"Bay Area singer Nicolas Bearde, an alumnus of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra, sounds like a soul-drenched Mark Murphy with a dash of Sinatra swagger. In other words, there's little similarity between Bearde and butterscotch-smooth baritone Lou Rawls. But tribute albums, or at least the better among the persistently popular genre, are less about mimicry than they are about capturing the essence of the honoree and the zeitgeist of the musical era in which he flourished. On both counts, Bearde does admirably, if not entirely, well. Bearde effectively channels the younger Rawls' ability to blur the lines between jazz, soul and blues. The songs—"The Girl From Ipanema,","The Shadow of Your Smile," "God Bless the Child," "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water"—are more strongly associated with other singers, but Rawls made each his own, and Bearde ably demonstrates how. Of the iconic Rawls hits, only one, the buttery "Lady Love," gets full-length treatment. "
Christopher Loudon - Jazz Times
23 videos
Play all(23)
