Cyrille Aimee

French vocalist Cyrille Aimée is an adept, award-winning performer whose jazz-based music touches upon an eclectic mix of Gypsy swing, Brazilian bossa nova, and Latin rhythms. Born in Fontainebleau, France in 1984 and raised in nearby Samois-sur-Seine by a French father and Dominican mother, Aimée first became interested in performing music while attending the local Django Reinhardt festival. After high school, Aimée moved to the United States to study at the conservatory of jazz at SUNY Purchase. While there, she was hired to play a weekly gig at a club in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. This led to other gigs and soon Aimée was deeply embedded in the New York jazz scene. After graduating SUNY Purchase in 2007, the budding jazz star took first prize in the Montreux Jazz Festival Competition. Two years later, she released her debut album, Cyrille Aimée & the Surreal Band, as well as the album Smile with Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo. In 2010, she received even wider recognition after reaching the finals of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition. That same year, Aimée teamed again with Figueiredo for the album Just the Two of Us and released the live album Live at Smalls, featuring trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Another concert album, Live at Birdland, followed in 2013. In 2014, Aimée released her Mack Avenue label debut, It's a Good Day, which featured collaborations with guitarists Michael Valeanu, Adrien Moignard, and Guilherme Monteiro.