By Adam Feibel
Lucy Wijnands is this year’s winner of the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, the Blues Alley Jazz Society announced on Friday.
The singer from Kansas City, Mo., was one of five finalists who competed virtually in the fourth annual event on April 24 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Wijnands recently graduated from SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Music, where she was named the college’s Ella Fitzgerald Scholar and received both a President’s Award for Achievement and a Downbeat Student Music Award for outstanding jazz vocal soloist.
She has completed a five-month residency with the Birdland Big Band and has performed with acclaimed musicians such as Joe Lovano and Kenny Washington.