JazzHouston Editor

Background

Celebrating two decades of an accomplished music career, Kristine Mills continues to impress international audiences, music authorities and the press with her songwriting, extensive repertoire, and polished, sophisticated vocals.  Kristine is the winner of the Houston Press Music 2010 “Best Songwriter” and the 2009 “Best Female Vocalist,” Awards. Kristine, known as the "bold, blonde entertainer outta the old school" was named by Houston Modern Luxury Magazine the “Hottest Female Jazz Vocalist” on The 2007 Lust List.

“Every once in a while you see a live performance so good it sends shivers up your spine. Be ready for some shiver action when jazz singer Kristine Mills steps onstage.”     Houston Press

PERFORMANCES

Kristine will make her New York City debut on February 17th, 2012 at the legendary Metropolitan Room with Mr. Tommy “TJ” James, the pianist, conductor, and arranger of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Over the years Tommy has performed, recorded and arranged for an eclectic group of artists in many musical genres including: Lionel Hampton, Eartha Kitt, Maureen McGovern, Cleo Laine/John Dankworth, Nell Carter, The Spinners, and the Temptations. Kristine met Mr. James when she performed as guest vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in the 2007 Brazilian International Jazz Festival tour in Brazil. She also performed with the Duke Ellington “small” Orchestra for the 50th Jubilee Celebration of the Mies van der Rohe Society in Chicago. Kristine and Tommy led Kristine’s Houston-based jazz combo in a 2008 benefit concert in honor of the late, great Rocky White veteran drummer for the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Ms. Mills performed for the 2011 American Cancer Society Palm Beach Chapter Gala for Mr. Donald Trump and was featured in three showcases for the 2010 Miami Music Festival. August 2009 Kristine headlined the Brazilian International Jazz Festival with her Rio-based, bossanovafied band to sold-out theaters in Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. She has performed at iconic jazz clubs including New Orleans’ famed Snug Harbor, Bourbon Street in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cezanne’s, and The House of Blues.  Mills was the longest running Artist-In-Residence for Hotel ZaZa Houston.

DISCOGRAPHY

This August, Kristine wrote, recorded, performed and produced nine original songs for the soundtrack of Michel Muelle’s documentary film about Houston visual artists and their collectors. Kristine asked Tommy “TJ” James pianist, arranger and conductor of the Duke Ellington Orchestra to join her along with other accomplished Houston-based classical and jazz musicians to record the works. The film and companion soundtrack are slated for a Spring 2012 release.

Kristine’s fourth cd, As Yet Untitled, is currently being recorded. It is her second cd comprised of all her original compositions, and is scheduled for a May 2012 release. She exclusively wrote the music; however, while Kristine writes the majority of the song’s lyrics, the lyrics for several songs were co-written with other artists.

Her third album, bossanovafied released May 2009. All songs were composed by Mills, then arranged in the classic style of bossa nova and recorded in Rio de Janeiro. bossanovafied received not only national, but international attention through traditional and Internet radio play. bossanovafied debuted at #46 on the World Music Album Chart - JazzWeek - February 22, 2010, and short-listed for the 52nd Grammy nomination consideration in the "Best Jazz Album with Vocals" category. Several songs from bossanovafied were broadcast on the in-flight radio of domestic and international carriers including Continental Airlines in 2010. 

“Where else can Mills go after achieving perfection? The winner of the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards for “Best Female Vocalist,” Kristine Mills is the complete package graced with beauty, sensitivity, and a magnetic voice. She makes every song have the effect of an aphrodisiac on the senses.”

 “Kristine Mills Turns Up The Heat With Bossanovafied” www.jazzinsidemagazine.com / April 19, 2010

Kristine Mills, Playing with the Big Boys LIVE!, Kristine’s second cd, was recorded during a live, hometown performance at Cezanne with the two veteran members of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Kristine’s first release, Kristine Mills MUSIC also has received radio play and steady Internet sales in the US, Europe and Japan.

QUOTES

"Kristine Mills' pure jazz has become part of the soundtrack of Houston, which makes perfect sense. Like the city itself, her music combines an elemental strength at its core with an almost brazen sex appeal you have to experience to understand. This woman has mad skills."

Jeff Gremillion, Editor-in-chief, HOUSTON MAGAZINE / MODERN LUXURY

"Mills' lyrical approach is to soak the words and phrases in the emotion of their poetry. Her sense of tone is sharp, and she can make subtle changes in inflection to alter the color of the song, with minute changes in breath or dallying over end-words or phrases to create just the effect she wants."

-Raul d'Gama Rose  /  www.allaboutjazz.com  /  December 2009

“So Ms. Mills’ vocal ability is more than ‘a way with a lyric,’ it’s an immersion into material that she owns, not something someone else built. This is her intimate familiarity with lyrics that become almost instantly familiar inside your head. This isn’t mouthing words...This is considerable vocal talent.”

www.girlsingers.org  l  Bossanovafied: Kristine Mills
February 13th, 2010 by dwboynton | Posted in Review

“From the first note of her jazzy rendition of "I Love Paris," I was instantly immersed into the music. Listening to her voice, which ranges from throaty and soulful to soft and sensual, you forget about everything else. It's just you, Kristine and her 4-piece band...and of course the other 100 people sitting with you in the room.”

“A little bit of sultry jazz is good for the soul”  Michelle Ponto, Girl About Town May 03, 2009 | www.KHOU.com  |

“Beautiful, bold, and blessed with a set of killer vocal cord…songbird Kristine Mills has the whole package. Her latest album, Bossanovafied…represents a culmination of her astonishing singing and songwriting talents. Crooning soulful lyrics with a sassy, old-school flavor, Mills embraces the classic style of Bossa Nova through this intimate collection of songs."

Brilliant Magazine – blog  |   “Bossa – Babe”  May 1, 2009 | By Sam | Category: bRILLIANT Blog  /  By Courtney Cavender

Location

Houston

Occupation

vocalist

Music That Inspires Me

Films I'll Watch More Than Once