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Catch Alex's radio show "Swing Set" Every Saturday at 7pm EDT on @JAZZ.FM91

Next online concert is October 5th after a great summer of live shows & meeting fans!

Although Alex Pangman grew up a couple of generations late to have sung with Teddy Wilson, the vibrant vocalist is proud to be known as Canada's Sweetheart of Swing. With pipes aplenty, Juno nominee Pangman possesses the requisite taste, talent and the historical knowledge of an avid record collector to breathe new life into the sturdy standards of the classic jazz era. She's also a broadcaster on JAZZ.FM91 on her program Swing Set, where she shares the records and stories of the swinging music that began to take shape in the 1920s, hit its stride in the ’30s and ’40s, and continues to be played by artists today.

A superb song stylist with growing compositional chops, the gifted Toronto scenemaker and singer has built a loyal fanbase amongst jazz listeners and dancers alike through her critically acclaimed work with her stacked Alleycats in the studio, nightclubs and concert halls across Canada including three stellar showcases at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. (Her Alleycats band includes Peter Hill on piano, Glenn Anderson on drums, Chris Banks on bass, and John Macleod & Brigham Phillips on cornet/trumpet, Ross Wooldridge on clarinet & sax, and/or Drew Jurecka on violin and reeds, with Jesse Barksdale on guitar.)

Alex's dedication to her music goes far beyond was might be called a passionate pursuit – it's more like a life-long obsession which began in her teens upon first discovering Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden along with amazing singers like Mildred Bailey, Julia Lee and Maxine Sullivan. "An exciting new world with this immense songbook opened up to me."

Alex quickly began delving deeper into the sophisticated shellac of the 20s and 30s which eventually led to a fortuitous connection with guitar great Jeff Healey who knew a rare talent when he heard it. In very short order, Healey produced her impressive 1999 debut They Say (Sensation Records) as well as the 2001 follow-up, You Can't Stop Me From Dreaming. While facets of Ella Fitzgerald, Connie Boswell and Ruth Etting could be discerned in Alex's zesty delivery, that crisp clear voice was unequivocally her own.

After getting a Songwriter of the Year nomination from the National Jazz Awards for her tune Melancholy Lullaby for the 2001 film Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story, Alex received two more nominations in the Vocalist Of The Year category and then a Ken Whiteley number she sang over the opening scene of the 2003 feature film Falling Angels won a Genie for Best Original Song.

While the gorgeously filmed videos for the aforementioned Melancholy Lullaby and One Night In Monte Carlo shot to the top of the Bravo! Countdown, Alex was busily scheduling collaborations with everyone from Grammy-nominated trumpeter Kevin Clark and the dashing Denzal Sinclaire to pianist Tyler Yarema and even Jim Galloway's All-Stars. But Alex was never keen on being anyone's "chick singer" and to underscore that point, she selected the repertoire, assembled her band and co-produced 2005's Live In Montreal (Real Gone Gal) album which stands among her finest recorded performances.

The blessing of more frequent bookings would also prove to be a curse. Smoke-filled venues were definitely not the place for someone battling lung disease and Alex reluctantly slowed down to recoup. All the while, her interest in singing and playing music never waned. In fact, it was during her self-imposed exile that she stumbled onto the city's bluegrass and string-band underground. Alex fit right in with the scrappy Cameron House crowd who shared her excitement for the enriching sound of a bygone era when the lines between jazz, blues and country were still blurry enough to ignore. 

A hook-up with the Backstabbers' frontman Colonel Tom Parker gave rise to the rollicking roots country combo Lickin’ Good Fried. But following the release of the group's Say Uncle! debut, Alex's physical condition worsened and a double-lung transplant was deemed essential. Fortunately a donor was found and the surgery was a complete success. 

Alex roared back with a new recording project, 33 for the prestigious Montreal jazz label Justin Time. Released in April 2011 to wide critical acclaim, the title "33" refers both to Pangman’s age at the time of recording as well as to the fact that the carefully selected repertoire was popular in North America during 1933. Pangman's cross-Canada tour which followed in the summer of 2011 – with support from the Canada Council for the Arts – helped to broaden her reach beyond the traditional jazz audience. Along the way, she has made the most of her heightened profile to be a strong advocate for organ and tissue donation. 

As soon as Pangman returned home to Toronto, she was back at work on her next recording adventure: a session pairing her well-drilled Alleycats backing group with jazz guitar great Bucky Pizzarelli who famously traded fours with Les Paul and Stephane Grappelli. The fabulous Have A Little Fun album, issued in 2013, beautifully showcases Pangman's impeccable taste in material and impressive growth as an interpretive stylist. 

Just as word came that she would be sharing a Toronto Jazz Festival bill with Willie Nelson at Massey Hall, the state of Pangman's health began to decline. A double-lung re-transplant was required and thankfully another donor was found. Good news from the surgeon is that it was an excellent match this time. While making a remarkably quick recovery, Pangman dreamed up her most ambitious project to date. Rather than play it safe, she decided to use those newly-acquired lungs to cut an album of entirely fresh material, with a cast of musicians she'd never met, at a studio she'd never seen in that wild 'n' wonderful city of New Orleans where jazz was born. 

It was well worth the risk. Suitably enough, the Juno Nominated album was called "New" (2014 Justin Time) and features a totally rejuvenated Pangman belting out Ella Fitzgerald and Annette Hanshaw gems with gusto accompanied by the sweetly swinging members of the New Orleans Cotton Mouth Kings. Everything flows together with such an easy grace, you'd think Pangman had been throwing down with those house-rockin' Crescent City cats for years. Her music video for "It's Never Enough" hit over 1000 views in the first tewelve hours.

Following this effort, the next logical step for the purist was to record direct to 78rpm acetate disc. On her 2017 EP for Justin Time "Alex Pangman's Hot Three", she went further backwards in time to discover why early jazz recordings have the special sound and energy that they do. In this artistic journey, and with 3 minutes to cut a tune while the groove was cut in real-time before the musician's eyes live, the singer came to understand both the inspiration behind the hot recordings of early jazz, and also some of the mindset of early recording pioneers, and the energy it produced. "There's no studio trickery, no safety net. Just three mintues to do your thing." It lead to "some of the most spontaneous experiences" Pangman has ever experienced in the recording studio.  

Pangman also spins this love of old jazz into radio gold on her JAZZ.FM91 radio program Swing Set, which airs Saturdays at 7pm ET on the popular Canadian radio station. Swing Set features music curated from the hot jazz era, as well as music by Alex's contemporary musicians in that style, in romp through 1920s and 30s songs, stories, and melodies.

Due to her ongoing immune suppression due to her lung transplant, the pandemic meant that Pangman has had to keep away from public performance longer than most. Her Sweet Hots trio, with violinist Drew Jurecka and guitarist Nathan Hiltz, adjusted quickly. They have performend regular monthly online concerts "First Saturdays" for over 24 months. This was a natural evolvement of the group, who formerly played at the Top of The Senator for two years, and enjoyed two #1 hits on the iTunes jazz chart. The song from the first single was given to Pangman by the family of Connie Boswell, the grandmother of jazz singing. "If I Don't Mean it" was a previously un-published tune written by Boswell, of the famous 1930s singing act the Boswell Sisters.

By the time you finish reading this, she'll already be hard at work on her next musical adventure!

Learn more about organ donation

2016 Juno Awards

Proudly known as ‘Canada’s Sweetheart of Swing’, Nominee Alex Pangman’s natural vocal abilities and deep appreciation for the classic jazz era have earned her a place in our nation’s heart 

The Globe and Mail's Robert Everett-Green

"Eloquence with every breath....(Her singing) reflects the style of that period: her tone is light and buoyant, her line is studded with little turns, and she often glides up to the peak of a phrase...”

CBC's Tim Tamashiro: Voted Top Swinger

"Her upbeat positive attitude make Pangman a perfect choice as Top Canadian swinger. She brings the songs of early jazz alive. She's a little old timey, but contemporary at the same time. Pangman is welcome as a regular spin on Tonic because of her friendly and approachable sound. She really is a sweetheart of swing!"

NOW Toronto: VOTED BEST FEMALE VOCALIST 2015 fan choice

"Call her the sweetheart of swing. Call her superb interpreter of the American Songbook. Call her jubilant jazzer with a penchant for music from the 1920s to 40s."

USA Today

"Ebullient....Pangman and Her Alleycats party like it's 1933."

Edmonton Journal, Fish Griwkowsky

"Alex Pangman sings vintage jazz with her own voice -- but with someone else's lungs. Her story is one of perseverance, life riding on a coin flip, but above all, on beautiful Depression-era music."

Toronto Star review by John Terauds

"It would be hard to find a box of musical bonbons more beguiling than this collection of post-Jazz Age treats...Her earnest vocals and sharp Alleycats band make each song sparkle."

Montreal Gazette

"In Alex Pangman's musical world, hot tunes flow like bathtub gin in a back-alley speakeasy. She roars through a repertoire of vintage swing and blues, possessed by the coltish spirit of a young Mildred Bailey or Ella Fitzgerald. There are champagne bubbles in Pangman's voice as she growls, sighs and wears her heart on her sleeve. There's a lot of nudging and winking with today's neo-trad jazz stylists. Not Pangman. She plays it straight and she plays for keeps."

Jazz Times Magazine, Christopher Louden

“As salutes to Depression-era swing go, it’s hard to imagine a more authentic, or more delightful, evocation...Unlike the vast majority of contemporary vocalists whose approach to such material sounds patently artificial, Pangman is startlingly authentic in her interpretations. In other words, she's not a poseur but a peer to Ruth Etting or the great Connie Boswell"

Sarah Greene, Now Magazine

"She channels the bygone era without affectation...the album has an intimate, warm sound that’s rare in modern jazz recordings. Pangman proves that music from the 30s still has relevance."

CKUA Radio's Tony King

"Lovely in one breath, brazen in the next!"

Halifax Chronicle Herald, Stephen Cooke

When you play the latest release by Ontario's supreme siren of jazz standards, Alex Pangman, you're listening to the sound of a dream come true.... the saucy and sparkling Pangman is back in action..."

Alex Pangman © 2024