meet lori
Alto-mezzo jazz singer Lori Colombo performs live at restaurants and nightclubs, and at private parties and corporate events, on Cape Cod and throughout Southern New England. A devotee of the classic songs collectively known as the "American Songbook," Lori often performs with many of the region's most talented musicians including: Dave Zinno, Gary Johnson, Chris Taylor, Dennis Cook and Teddy Casher.
In the past, Lori has performed with her father, nationally-renowned jazz trumpeter Lou Colombo, clarinetist Dick Johnson, who headed the Artie Shaw Orchestra, and world-renowned pianist Dave McKenna. While living in Italy in the '70s, she sang with several notable Italian ensembles and recorded with producer Franco Migliacci, best known for his hit "Volare," and while living in California, Lori sang with Billie Holiday's West Coast Band and opened for Windham Hill artist George Winston.
Since moving back to the East Coast in 2006, she has been the opening performer for the prestigious Pops by the Sea, featuring the Boston Pops, in both 2006 and 2012. Lori has also performed at the critically-acclaimed Summer Jazz Series at Wequassett Resort in Chatham.
Lori is appearing every every 1st Sunday of every month at the West End’s Sunday Jazz Brunch where guests can partake in an extravagant buffet while dining to her trio. Click here to view Lori’s full performance schedule.
quick tidbits
Lori is Available for: Restaurant & Nightclub Performances, Private Parties, Corporate Events, Weddings, Commercial Work including Jingles and Animation
Languages: In addition to English, Lori is fluent in Italian and adept at singing in Spanish and Portuguese.
Influenced By: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and more contemporary artists such as Diana Krall, Tierney Sutton and Norah Jones
the beginning
Jazz singer Lori Colombo has been performing in front of live audiences since she sang "When You Wish Upon a Star" accompanied by an orchestra while in grammar school in West Bridgewater, MA. Her next notable performance was with her father, jazz trumpeter Lou Colombo, at the Crestwood Motor Lodge in North Conway, NH, when she was 12. Lori describes the gig as one of her "most unpleasant experiences."
"I was wearing a dress that was too small, standing in a smoky lounge pulling at my sleeves and around my neck trying to get enough air. All I could see was smoky profiles," she says of the experience where she performed "Hello, Dolly!" "Cabaret" and Petula Clark's "Downtown."
Despite her inauspicious beginning, Lori continued to sing, in no small part because of her father's influence. "He saw something in me. He pushed me," she says of her father, adding "He was really able to recognize talent, especially in kids."
What began as a way "...to please her father; it made him so happy" evolved into a personal passion, something to which Lori has devoted her life. "All I need is just a few good listeners, people who want to be there because they love jazz, and it frees me up to be more in the moment; lighter and more buoyant," she says of performing.