Fay Victor

New Yorker Fay Victor is a vocalist, composer, lyricist, and educator whose work spans jazz, blues, opera, free improvisation, avant-garde, and modern classical. Born in 1965, Victor began her career as a jazz singer in Japan in 1991, performing with pianist Bertha Hope. After moving to Amsterdam in 1996, she developed a close working relationship with pianist Misha Mengelberg and others in the thriving Dutch improv scene. Together they developed an improvisatory style she called freesong, with the whole band, including herself, switching back and forth between composed music and free improvisation. Victor returned to New York in 2003 and became active in the city's music scene. Beginning with 1998's In My Own Room, she recorded 14 albums including 2001's Darker than Blue, 2009's The Freesong Suite, and 2020's We've Had Enough. Her album Life Is Funny That Way, the first with her ensemble Herbie Nichols SUNG, arrived in 2024.