Chiara Izzi, Italian singer, composer and pianist, was born May 22, 1985. She grew up in the city of
Campobasso, in
Molise,
Italy, where she studied classical piano for almost a decade before switching her focus to
jazz at age 17. She studied voice and piano at the Thelonious Monk School in her hometown, when she first heard
Ella Fitzgerald,
Anita O’Day,
Frank Sinatra, and
João Gilberto. From 2004 she started working professionally in her hometown's jazz scene, where her first band, BlueTime Quintet, was formed. With that group she released her first collaborative album,
Lite Blue, in 2008. Shortly thereafter she won several awards in her native Italy, winning in the group category at Barga Jazz 2009 and taking first place at the Lucca Jazz Donna Contest and third place at the Chicco Bettinardi Contest in 2010. Her international breakthrough came in 2011 when she won the
Montreux Jazz Festival Voice Competition.
Quincy Jones, president of the jury for that year’s competition, awarded her the first prize and urged her to make a move to the United States, advice she would take a few years later. In the meantime, she returned to the Montreux festival in 2012 to open for
Paco de Lucía, and in 2013 released her debut album as a leader,
Motifs, with the American label Dot Time Records. In 2014 Izzi moved to
New York City On March 11, 2019 she released the album
Across The Sea In 2020 she won the Independent Music Awards honor in the Jazz with Vocals category for her recording of her composition "Circles of the Mind" with pianist
Kevin Hays and featuring
Nir Felder. In 2022 she released the piano-and-voice album
Live in Bremen on Dot Time Records with pianist Andrea Rea. ==Critical reception==