Lisa Henry

A winner of the 1994 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, Lisa Henry participated in the Institute’s 1995 tour of Africa and performed with the Institute at the 1998 Summit of the Americas in Chile for 34 heads of state. Since then, she has been the featured vocalist for more than a dozen of the Institute’s national jazz education tours, including the Blues & Jazz and Peer-to-Peer tours.

Lisa Henry is a dynamic vocalist with a combination of swingin’ cool and down home class. A Kansas City native, she began by singing gospel music in the Baptist church, and by age 12 was singing the music of Billie Holiday and Miles Davis. Henry was a winner of the 1994 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and was later named an International Jazz Ambassador to Africa. She toured Chile, Argentina, and Peru with the Institute in 1998. In 2006 she participated in a U.S. State Department-sponsored tour of India, and in 2007 she performed for an esteemed presidential dinner at the White House celebrating the Institute’s 20th Anniversary. Over the past 15 years, Henry has toured the globe, sharing the stage with such artists as Kenny Barron, Kenny Garrett, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart, Ingrid Jensen, Kevin Mahogany, TS Monk, Lou Rawls, Wayne Shorter, Clark Terry, and Bobby Watson. Her latest recording, Live from 18th and Vine, has received critical acclaim.