Leala Cyr

Instructor of Jazz Voice

Vocalist and trumpeter Leala Cyr is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. As a touring member of GRAMMY-winner Esperanza Spalding’s “Radio Music and Chamber Music Societies,” Leala has performed around the world, including at the Newport, Montreux, North Sea, and Monterey jazz festivals, and has appeared on The Late Show, The Tonight Show, The View, The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Austin City Limits, and more.

In 2019, Leala released her debut album, First Instinct. A blend of originals and standards, the album showcases her unique talent for vocal improvisation as well as her ingenuity as a songwriter and arranger.

Her collaborations range from membership in Jody Redhage Ferber’s group Rose and the Nightingale and Jen Allen’s group Heart Alchemy to frequent appearances with the New London Big Band, the Hartford Jazz Orchestra, and the Affinity Big Band.

Over the years, Leala has shared the stage with the likes of Milton Nascimento (in front of 100,000 people at “Rock in Rio”), Terri Lyne Carrington, Ivan Lins, Gretchen Parlato, Jamey Haddad, Jeff “Tain” Watts, James Genus, Paul Winter, Guinga, Tia Fuller, Darmon Meader, Nicole Zuraitis, and Ray Angry.

Highlights from Leala’s college and high school days include being named Down Beat Magazine’s 2005 “Best Jazz Vocalist” in the college division, receiving the World Tour Scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music, and performing with her high school jazz band at the prestigious Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center in NYC.

A native of Wisconsin, Leala spent over a decade in New York City before moving to the Hartford area, where she now resides.