LaVerne Butler
Not to be confused with R&B great LaVern Baker, LaVerne Butler is a superb but underexposed jazz singer whose main influences include Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan. Butler is originally from Shreveport, LA, where she grew up listening to jazz and R&B extensively with a lot of encouragement from her father, saxophonist Scott Butler. After leaving Shreveport, she moved to New Orleans, where she studied music at the University of New Orleans and become a fixture in the city's Dixieland and bebop venues. Butler worked with such distinguished locals as Alvin Batiste, Ellis Marsalis, Henry Butler (no relation), and James Black before deciding to move to the New York area in 1984. Butler studied with Jon Hendricks after arriving in New York and later earned her living as an English teacher while tackling the Manhattan club world. The early to mid-'90s found Butler signed to Chesky, for which she provided her bop-oriented debut album, No Looking Back (1992), and her lighter, more relaxed sophomore release, Day Dreamin' (1994). After leaving Chesky, Butler planned to record an album for Herbie Mann's Kokopelli label in 1997, but her plans fell through when the company experienced financial problems. 1999 saw the release of her third album, Blues in the City.
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Discography
5 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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A Foolish Thing to Do
Vocal Jazz - Released by MAXJAZZ on 1 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Lost and Found Again
Vocal Jazz - Released by HighNote Records on 9 Oct 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blues in the City
Vocal Jazz - Released by MAXJAZZ on 1 Jul 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Love the Lion
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Dearth & Plethora Records on 25 Jan 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Check Your Dreams at the Door
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Dearth & Plethora Records on 13 Dec 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo