Music has been a part of Jeannine’s life since she was born. Having a mother who was a Musical Director and a family that includes the Jones Brothers Hank, Thad, and Elvin formed the basis of exposure to music that began a career that started with Jeannine’s debut as a vocalist with the Detroit Symphony with American Youth Performs at age 12.
She has shared the stage with great musicians of every genre (especially jazz) who have served as mentors including Grover Washington Jr., Arthur Prysock, Kool and the Gang, Joe Chambers and Donald Byrd, Rudy Mwangozi, Saul Ruin, Stanley Banks bassist, Finnish Jazz composer Heikki Sarmanto and Vishnu Wood, bassist, and his band Safari East.
She has been a featured vocalist at many jazz festivals including the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, JazzMobile with Safari East, and the Universal Temple of the Arts yearly jazz festival and trombonist Art Baron and Friends. Jeannine has also appeared on Broadway in THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN’ at the Supper Club in the Edison Hotel with Larry Marshall and the Michael E Smith Big Band and the New York Big Band at Tavern on the Green.
She has toured extensively worldwide as a featured vocalist, in theater, and with her own ensemble. Anthony Tomassini of the New York Times labeled Jeannine a “show-stopper” in a review of a Downtown Music Production’s version of THE CRADLE WILL ROCK. As the STRAWBERRY WOMAN in Porgy and Bess, Jeannine toured extensively in Europe singing in many of the great opera houses in Europe including those in Rome, Cologne, Venice, and Modena—home of Luciano Pavorotti.
In 2018, Jeannine was the recipient of The Bishop’s Cross, which is the highest award for lay people by the Episcopal Church, for her musical contribution to the church as the music director of St Mark’s Church in the Bowery! Click here to view the convention’s videos.
Her recording MAGIC SONG with Heikki Sarmanto was re-released by The Warner Group worldwide. Selections from MAGIC SONG are included in over 12 compilations also released by The Warner Group in 2017/2018. She is proud to say that these recordings feature many of her sources of inspiration including Grover Washington, Al Jarreau, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and her own cousin Elvin Jones.
Compilation titles include: Women Singing Jazz, Orchestral Jazz, Jazz Para Correr, Jazz pela acordar, A Natureza No Jazz, Rainy Night Jazz and Four Seasons Jazz Summer/ Spring and more. These compilations are available worldwide including on Spotify, Deezer, and through Amazon.
Her “little” book THE GATHERING was made into a Musical Theater piece entitled WHO AM I, and debuted at The La MaMa Theater in 2014. She is an honors graduate of Wellesley College (BA) and of Emerson College (MA) and the Director of Music at Saint Marks Church, known for its progressive outreach programming through the arts.
Awards
- 2007 COAHSI
- 2010 Rural and Migrant Ministries
- 2009 Grieving Center.org
- Member of the Standing Commission for Music and Liturgy / National Episcopal Church /2006-2012
- Member of Church Publishing Board / 2009-2012
- 2011 William A Morris Humanitarian Award from the NAACP
(For the work on Documentary Profiles in Leadership: Staten Island Social Entrepreneurs) - 2012 Willie Award from the Staten Island Shakespeare Society for Doubt
- 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York City Council
Christine Quinn and Debi Rose - 2017 Staten Island Empowerment Zone
- 2017 Universal Temple Of The Arts Performer/Educator
- 2018 Bishop’s Cross