Jazz Singer Cyrille Aimée to enchant Des Moines this Valentine’s Day

(Des Moines, IA) — Cyrille Aimee will enchant Central Iowa audiences with the sound of her unique and enthralling voice this Valentine’s season. The highly acclaimed jazz vocalist performs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 16 at Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium.

Aimée was born in Fontainebleau, France, and her introduction to jazz was the result of the fortuitous location of her upbringing. Her village of Samois-sur-Seine was also the hometown of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Each year, gypsies would venture through for the annual Django Reinhardt Festival. She immediately fell in love with the gypsy way of life and performing.

After attending school in New York and traveling around the world, Aimée entered the Montreux Jazz Voice Competition and won; the prize included the financing of her first full-length recording, “Cyrille Aimée & The Surreal Band.” Her future endeavors caught the attention of Stephen Sondheim, who cast her in an Encores Special Presentation starring Bernadette Peters at New York City’s City Center in November 2013. Holding her own as an actress, the New York Daily News exclaimed, “Aimée is the revelation.”

In more recent years, The New York Times referred to Aimée’s major label release “It’s a Good Day” as “a bravura turn, presented with a smile.” Featuring originals as well as covers of classics, the album is the result of Aimee’s unique musical vision: bass, drums and three guitars (Brazilian, gypsy and jazz). Aimée’s hybrid of influences has resulted in a sound that’s at once both fresh and enlivening, which is to say nothing of her singular voice —destined to enthrall audiences for decades to come.

Tickets for the February 16 concert are on sale now! Visit midwestix.com or call Civic Music Association at 515-280-4020. Tickets will also be available at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. on February 16.