Carolyn Graye Biography

Carolyn studied piano as a child, and played and taught guitar as a singer/songwriter in high school.  She majored in classical piano and voice at Eastern Washington State College (now EWSU,) and played in rock and funk bands all over the western U.S.  She began teaching at the Cornish College of the Arts while studying and working with Julian Priester, Gary Peacock, Dave Holland, Joe Henderson, and James Knapp.   After completing a BFA, she earned an MA in musicology from the University of Washington, where she studied with Howard Becker and Chris Waterman. 

Carolyn remains active as a performer and has appeared at Jazz Alley, Earshot Art of Jazz Series, ACT theatre, Bumbershoot, and Bellevue Jazz Festival.  She lived and worked in Europe (Prague) and has been sponsored by the U.S. State Department for concerts and workshops in La Paz, Bolivia and the Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Macedonia.)  

Carolyn’s 1996 debut CD featured Julian Priester, Jay Thomas, and Jessica Williams in duo, quintet and sextet settings and was chosen as a top pick by the Seattle Weekly and Bob Parlocha.  Her duo recording with pianist Jessica Williams (“Songs,” 2003) also made Parlocha's top pick list.  Her third release, “Poems by Denise Levertov” (2005) is the result of a collaboration that took place with the extraordinary poet in the last year of Levertov's life.  It received very favorable reviews in both the Seattle Times and several poetry publications and was funded in part by grants from the Jack Straw Foundation, Montana Artists Refuge, and Artist Trust. 

Carolyn has taught at the Cornish College, University of Washington, Highline Community College, and as an artist-in-residence at several high schools.  She currently teaches privately in the Seattle area and enjoys working with students who are committed to developing an authentic sound and solid musicianship.  She offers individual instruction in voice and piano and group workshops in repertoire, improvisation, theory, and transcription.  She is particularly passionate about helping singers and songwriters develop the keyboard, theory, and arranging skills they need to reach their own musical goals.  

As a researcher, Carolyn is interested in the sociocultural roles and identities that jazz musicians maintain and build throughout the course of their careers.  She has presented papers at conferences for the Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM) and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) and is currently studying the influence of gender in jazz performance.  She has also contributed to All About Jazz and Earshot Jazz.