Ann Belmont is a versatile musician who lives and works in New York City. As a guitarist, vocalist and bassist, she’s busy performing in clubs, concert halls, hospitals, schools, cruises, and at special events. She is currently resident musician with Big Apple Playback, an improvisational theater troupe which travels everywhere from battered women’s shelters to corporate retreats. In other recent theatrical work, Ann was guitarist for “Serenade the World”, a tribute to the music of Oscar Brown Jr. which played at the National Black Theater of Harlem and elsewhere in Manhattan, and “A Pure Gospel America”, a vocal revue for which she was the bassist, seen in Westchester and New Jersey. She’s also a part of “Musical Magic Carpet Ride”, a school show designed to use music to foster curiosity about reading, and has appeared as guest musician for the New York Pops music in the schools program. In 2006 she became the music director and choir director of Montclair Unity Church in Montclair, N.J.
A long-time member of the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop, Ann has received two nominations for the BMI Charlie Parker Award for jazz orchestral writing. In 2003, she was awarded a Meet the Composer grant to present a performance in Hartford, Conn., of “Kansas”, a piece for jazz orchestra plus strings. She has to her credit an album of original solo guitar pieces for Valentino Music, which are used on radio and TV both here and overseas. As an arranger, she’s contributed to big bands such as Swing Fever and smaller units like Gary Lovett’s Hall of Fame, ranging stylistically from swing to Brazilian to R & B.
“Smooth, cool, hooky jazz...with driving Latin rhythms and smart yet innocent lyrics” is how Ann’s songwriting is described by Songwriters’ Guild past president Claudia Koal. With her quintet, Belmont Drive, she has played such venues as St. Peter’s Church and been featured in special events including the annual Many Colors of a Woman jazzfest in Hartford. The band recorded a CD, “Dream World”, produced by Kimerica Music, and a second album is underway. Ann is also featured on Latin-jazz great Bobby Paunetto’s album “Composer in Public”,
Before coming to New York City, Ann grew up in the Catskill area. Her earliest professional gigs were in Catskill resort hotels and ski resorts. Ann went back to school and completed an undergraduate degree from CUNY/BAC at City College in 2005, with a combined major in music composition, theory, and performance.
Musical Biography
