Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
Please Subscribe and press the Alert Bell! Thank you for your generosity and support of our livestream broadcasts at Venmo/JAXhideaway.
APRIL VARNER Live at Campus JAX is a JAXblast Network production and part of our Steamers Jazz at JAX series every Thursday Night at Campus JAX in Newport Beach hosted by Terence Love and Tony Guerrero.
April Varner vocals
Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman piano
Aaron Matson guitar
Eytan Schillinger-Hyman bass
Max Marsillo drums
Winner of the 2023 International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, April Varner arrives at Campus JAX as one of the most compelling young voices in modern jazz: a vocalist praised by DownBeat for her “impressive range,” recognized among its Rising Star Jazz Vocalists, and described as both a bebop technician and a contemporary storyteller.
Her connection to Ella Fitzgerald is more than a credential — it is a living artistic conversation. On her newest album, Ella, released via Cellar Music Group and produced by Ulysses Owens, Jr., Varner reimagines the First Lady of Song’s repertoire with fresh arrangements for both big band and intimate ensemble, bringing “emotional precision and ungoverned spontaneity” to songs forever associated with one of jazz’s most beloved voices.
But April Varner is not an imitator. She is a modern artist with deep roots. Her music lives where the American Songbook, vocalese, hard bop, swing, and contemporary storytelling meet. Online, she has drawn a large following by working through her own vocal transcriptions of iconic solos from artists like Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan — translating the language of great instrumental improvisers into her own voice with intelligence, humor, and fearless musicality.
A Toledo-born New Yorker, Varner has headlined at many of New York’s essential jazz rooms, including Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, Mezzrow, Birdland, Minton’s Playhouse, The Django, Zinc Bar, and 55 Bar, while also appearing at major venues across the country and internationally in Paris. She has collaborated with a remarkable roster that includes Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, John Pizzarelli, Ulysses Owens, Jr., Theo Bleckmann, Benny Benack III, Nicole Zuraitis, Dayna Stephens, Reuben Rogers, and the late Russell Malone.
Please Subscribe and press the Alert Bell! Thank you for your generosity and support of our livestream broadcasts at Venmo/JAXhideaway.
APRIL VARNER Live at Campus JAX is a JAXblast Network production and part of our Steamers Jazz at JAX series every Thursday Night at Campus JAX in Newport Beach hosted by Terence Love and Tony Guerrero.
April Varner vocals
Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman piano
Aaron Matson guitar
Eytan Schillinger-Hyman bass
Max Marsillo drums
Winner of the 2023 International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, April Varner arrives at Campus JAX as one of the most compelling young voices in modern jazz: a vocalist praised by DownBeat for her “impressive range,” recognized among its Rising Star Jazz Vocalists, and described as both a bebop technician and a contemporary storyteller.
Her connection to Ella Fitzgerald is more than a credential — it is a living artistic conversation. On her newest album, Ella, released via Cellar Music Group and produced by Ulysses Owens, Jr., Varner reimagines the First Lady of Song’s repertoire with fresh arrangements for both big band and intimate ensemble, bringing “emotional precision and ungoverned spontaneity” to songs forever associated with one of jazz’s most beloved voices.
But April Varner is not an imitator. She is a modern artist with deep roots. Her music lives where the American Songbook, vocalese, hard bop, swing, and contemporary storytelling meet. Online, she has drawn a large following by working through her own vocal transcriptions of iconic solos from artists like Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan — translating the language of great instrumental improvisers into her own voice with intelligence, humor, and fearless musicality.
A Toledo-born New Yorker, Varner has headlined at many of New York’s essential jazz rooms, including Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, Mezzrow, Birdland, Minton’s Playhouse, The Django, Zinc Bar, and 55 Bar, while also appearing at major venues across the country and internationally in Paris. She has collaborated with a remarkable roster that includes Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, John Pizzarelli, Ulysses Owens, Jr., Theo Bleckmann, Benny Benack III, Nicole Zuraitis, Dayna Stephens, Reuben Rogers, and the late Russell Malone.
