YvonneStroudPiano

Musicwoman Live!

Yvonne Faddis-Stroud was born in Oakland, California, into a musical family with her brother, jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis. She played piano since three. Yvonee has an incredible ear for music and, when she hears a song, it goes straight to her fingers. Her repertoire contains countless compositions, including jazz, blues, classical, Broadway, R & B, Motown, movie and TV themes, spirituals, and even video games. She majored in visual art, however, Yvonne performed regularly with the college jazz band and composed and performed original music for theatrical productions. She secured her first gigs improvising accompaniment to silent movies and leading her own jazz quartet in the Oakland area. In Northern California, she was a musical director at Oakland Ensemble Theater, played solo piano at country clubs, restaurants, and boutiques, and became the house pianist for Nordstrom’s in Walnut Creek. She collaborated in the studios of Fantasy Records with the chart-topping R&B group the Whispers, among other local groups. Since moving to Chicago, she has performed with Make Music Chicago and played for receptions for Orbert Davis’s Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. She has a television show, Yvonne’s Piano, which airs on Chicago’s WJYS TV 62. She produced 23 half-hour episodes, featuring her arrangements of jazz and popular tunes in solo and trio settings featuring bassist Larry Gray and drummer Joel Spencer. Also joining her were Sylvia De La Cerna, violin; Josh Ramos, bass; and Charles Heath, drums. Yvonnespiano.com www.wijsf.org