Champian Fulton

interest in music at an early age. The presence of her fathers musician friends,

including Clark Terry and Major Holley, also served to stimulate her focus on music.

She began studying piano with her grandmother at the age of five, while she later took up singing, drums, and trumpet before eventually settling on piano and vocals. The family moved to Lemars, IA, in 1994 after Stephen Fulton became director of the Clark Terry Institute for Jazz Studies. Champian participated in the summer camp jazz program there, where she met other young jazz musicians from her area and formed

the Little Jazz Quintet. They would get together to perform a couple of times annually for the next few years, playing shows consisting exclusively of Terrys repertoire, including Terrys 75th birthday party. One of Fultons first vocal influences was Dinah Washington, especially her album For Those in Love, which she played repeatedly. She admired Nat King Cole (one of the earliest jazz artists to show equal chops on piano and vocals), while she devoured Art Tatum, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Bud Powell, Hampton Hawes, Sonny Clark, and Thelonious Monk. In 1999 Champian„s family relocated to Norman OK, where

Champian continued to play with her new band while attending high school, appearing

at a number of regional jazz festivals. After graduating as valedictorian of her high

school in 2003, Fulton moved to New York to pursue a degree in jazz piano

performance at SUNY Purchase Music Conservatory. One of her favorite professors

was trumpeter Jon Faddis, who taught with the wisdom of one who had been actively

involved in recording and touring for decades and tailored his instruction to his students

interests. Fulton graduated in 2006 and moved to New York City. Since then, Fulton has

performed in many New York City venues, including Birdland, Lincoln Center, Smalls,

Dizzy‟s Club Coca Cola, and Shanghai Jazz, while she has played with jazz masters

such as Jimmy Cobb, Frank Wess, Lou Donaldson, and Louis Hayes, among others.

She recorded her debut CD in 2007 with David Berger and the Sultans of Swing, an

opportunity that arose after Berger was introduced to her while she was playing at

Birdland. Her follow-up CD for Venus, “Sometimes Im Happy”, was issued in 2008,

featuring Fulton leading her trio with bassist Neal Miner and drummer Fukushi Tainaka.

Her third CD “the breeze and I” was released in 2010 with the same trio.

Champian has been involved in Jazz education from an early age, starting first with

assisting her father at Birch Creek Music Academy and then teaching private lessons of

her own. Since moving to New York Champian has been involved with LEAP NYC

(Learning through An Expanded Arts Program), teaching Jazz appreciation to New York

Public School students, and participates with Lincoln Center‟s Meet the Artist Program,

where she presents concerts and master classes to visiting schools. Champian strives

to perpetuate the language of Jazz with her teaching and through her performances. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.