NANCY KING June 15, 1940 to August 5, 2025.

The Jazz Society of Oregon would like you to remember this jazz legend. Celebration of life will be at the Nite Hawk Cafe and Lounge, Saturday October 25, 2025. 2:00 to 5:00 pm. See our jazz calendar for details.

Here is an excerpt from a Jazzscene article that was first posted in March 2001

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Nancy King: Scats her way into JSO's Hall of Fame

By Kyle O'Brien (JSO' JazzScene - March 2001)

Jazz musicians, on the whole, lead a tough life. Save for a select handful, few would call the profession glamorous. It is art, played and sung by a dedicated troupe of individualists who trade glitz and money for the chance to truly express themselves in a style they love.

Sure, that might be taking the concept of "struggling jazz artist" to the predictable max, but that's a way of life for some.

It's always been a way of life for Nancy King. Artistry, thankfully, will never be dead in her vocal chords. For decades, she's been treating Portland and Eugene audiences to her amazingly fluid vocals and inspired scat singing.

Her meaningful phrasing and highly skilled improvisations make her a gem of the Oregon jazz world, so it's fitting that the Jazz Society of Oregon is paying tribute to her by making her the first female and the first vocalist (if you count Dave Frishberg as more of a songwriter/pianist than vocalist) to be inducted into JSO's Hall of Fame.

Nancy King now will rub shoulders in the "hall" with the late, great bassist Leroy Vinnegar, the vibrant drummer Mel Brown and the fantastic Frishberg.

Getting back to struggling for art's sake, King has been caught by the lack of financial support given to jazz. She recently had to find a new home because the rent on the last place she lived -- a home in Northeast Portland that she rented for years, was raised past a comfortable level. That, combined with income lost because of a canceled tour with Ray Brown, led to a heartfelt "rent party" thrown by local friends and peers at Atwater's last year.

Humbled by the outpouring of affection, King was able to get into a new place with the help of the benefit and some additional help from Music Care's foundation, all thanks to saxophonist Patrick Lamb, who alerted them to her predicament.

"They paid my rent for four months," said King graciously. "(The rent party) was so sweet of everybody .. .I'm so grateful for the help.

"King and her loving batch of cats (felines, not hip players) now have a home, but she'll be the first to admit that her dedication to her art could well keep her at the poverty level for the rest of her career. "I've lived this life. I chose this life. I've never made any money, and that's OK. I do it because I love it so. I'd still rather be me."

While King may not have financial stability, she is finally getting the national recognition she has long deserved. Aside from touring with Brown and appearing on his albums "Christmas Songs" and "My Best Friends Are Singers," King was also featured on saxophonist Roy Nathanson's all-star-studded theme disc. 

"The Fire at Keaton's Bar & Grill." King's distinctive voice can be heard as Cookie, the "queen of barstool paradise.

"The album also features rock veterans Elvis Costello, Deborah Harry and the Psychedelic Furs' Richard Butler. In addition, Nancy has been playing with keyboardist-arranger-composer Steve Christofferson for 23 years.

"Steve and I are married musically," she said. "He's amazing, he can do it all."

King is being honored by JSO not just for her vocal talents, but also for taking risks - a concept in jazz that may not always be popular, but one that, if it hits, can change the face of music.

Bebop and free jazz are two examples. King hasn't yet changed the musical world on a broad scale, but she keeps experimenting with new concepts, settings and artists while staying true to her voice.

She is versatile enough to have done albums with Oregon bass master - and her University of Oregon compadre -- Glen Moore during her career, including "Impending Bloom," "Potato Radio," and "Cliff Dance," where the liner notes describe her contributions as: "vocals and whinnies"

Not many singers would be brave enough to put that in print. But she also more recently has put her voice over a backdrop of strings with the Netherlands' Metropole Orchestra on her Christofferson's album, "Straight Into Your Heart." Though Portland remains her home, King is now known internationally and the European audiences truly appreciate her artistry.

Her real claim to fame, though, is her scatting. Scatting can be risky for any vocalist. Pick the wrong sound or phrasing and you'll sound like an outcast from the Lawrence Welk show. Many singers stay away from scatting for that reason. But King is one of the few artists to make the form beautiful, along the lines of a Mel Torme, Louis Armstrong and mostly, Ella Fitzgerald, whose unique style on recordings helped her achieve a high standard.

Indeed, Nancy's inspired phrasing, flawless skills and emotive commitment to the material make her improvisations a joy to be heard. 

King was not always a singer by trade. She grew up in a musical family with a classically-trained pianist mother and father who had a vast record collection that included greats like Fats Waller and Art Tatum.

At UO, she played drums in a trio with Moore and Towner, before leaving for San Francisco and discovering her true calling. Then it was back to Portland, where she spent time at the Benson hotel during the early '70s, and many other gigs along the way.

King approaches music as a true musician, not just a singer. ''I'm sure that's one of the reasons I was chosen (by the JSO)," she said. "I'm like a hop,. player as well .. .I'm way up the musician chain." That approach made her learn melodies before improvising. "Melodies are the most important. The melody comes first," she emphasizes.

Then it was practice, practice, practice, she says.

She listened to Ella sing songs and then practiced them just like her for appropriate phrasing and tone. Ella eventually became her mentor in spirit - literally.

"I was so depressed at one point .. .I was asleep, and I dreamed about Ella. She talked to me. She told me 'I don't have a lot of time here ... but don't be down. You're my person. You just keep doing what you're doing. I'm with you and I love you ... Just do the music' "

That spiritual experience came only several months before Ella died. Incidentally, Ella passed away on King's birthday. But her dream with Ella motivated King to keep going. And she sees Ella as not only one of the best singers ever, but also as her musical savior.

King's vibrant spirit and talent has also made her a favorite of musicians, which is why so many people want to work with her and also why her lack of fame seems so unjust. But it's obvious by talking to her peers that she greatly deserves this latest honor.

"For us, it was a no-brainer," said JSO President Steve Kullowatz. "She's absolutely the biggest name player in the area not to be honored in this way. It pleases the heck out of us to honor her this way".

"She's my favorite living jazz singer," said Portland saxophonist Rob Scheps. "She's a consummate musician ... her improvising is on the highest quality level, like a horn player. She has better ears than most musicians I've met in my life." Scheps also added that the trio that he has, with Glen Moore and King, is "one of the most delicately shaded and musical of all the groups."

The trio most recently released a disc, "King on the Road," which deftly reworks some classic tunes into very original, jazz-flavored arrangements. The level of musicianship is indeed high and the three work as a solid unit, not as three separate voices.

Pianist/vocalist Robert Hicks agrees that King is a true musician and not just a singer. "She's got great phrasing, great pitch and unending musical ideas," he said.

"She's consistently inside the music. She can infuse deep emotion in a simple song, like 'Lazy River' ... when she sings that, she puts you right there, at the river ... " 

While Nancy King has given the jazz listening world much to enjoy over the years, she does an even greater service to budding jazz artists by teaching her artistry.

In the past, she has conducted clinics with Mary Kadderly and others, though now, she puts in time teaching private students around the area, including at Portland State University. "I've just wanted enough (money) to survive to help people, teaching and singing. I love the kids."

"Things are looking up as far as her performing front, too. She recently got good words about playing the Port Townsend Jazz Festival in Washington and the Stanford workshop in California later this year.

Upon entering the Jazz Society Hall of Fame, she says she feels truly blessed. "I feel honored that I get to be in the Hall of Fame with the illustrious Leroy Vinnegar, my dear friend Mel Brown and Mr. Frishberg, also a dear friend."

"There are a lot of other people I could name that maybe will be in the Hall of Fame in the near future, but it was nice of them to do me now and not wait until I'm dead," she says with a laugh.

So we'll hear Nancy King sing to us at First Jazzz with famed pianist George Cables, and Portland audiences will continue to be wowed by her musicality.

"I choose music, and music choose me. I do it because I want, because I have to. I'm married to this music."

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Be sure to join us at the Celebration of life at the Nite Hawk Cafe and Lounge, Saturday October 25, 2025. 2:00 to 5:00 pm