How did a feisty redhead from Manitoba become Ottawa's best Jazz vocalist?

She took a trip.

Bianca Pittoors, a French Canadian from Winnipeg, spent her childhood packing for a trip that would rely on a rich variety of music, culture and art. With a mother who is an avid pianist, Bianca was exposed from a young age to music in many forms. She remembers listening to Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald and thinking that she should have been born 40 years earlier. Lucky for us she wasn't.

Bianca traveled east and brought a rich and dynamic approach to jazz that incorporated her love of the traditional with modern influences such as Joe Jackson and Lyle Lovett. Her passion and dedication to exploring, extending and creating fantastic new sounds cannot be underestimated. She credits her mentor Ranee Lee with insights that guide her as she ventures into new regions of the jazz world.

Captivated by her beauty and beguiled by her smile, audiences follow Bianca Pittoors to places where they are engulfed by her magical tones. "There is a reason why Bianca was voted best Jazz Band in the area," says Robert Fontaine, music and film critic for CBC Radio and Radio Canada. "Audiences love her. They love her incredible sound and they love how she makes them feel. It is that simple." Bianca won the title of Best Jazz Band in Ottawa last summer in a competition tour sponsored by Carlsberg Breweries.

Her studies at the Banff Centre for Performing Arts with the legendary Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton, and with other esteemed mentors such as Micheline Scott, add to Bianca's depth of experience and exposure. Bianca's first recording, Influences, is a wonderful combination of standards that have served as inspiration for her singing style. Her latest CD, JazzVoyage, offers a new component, à la française, to her jazz repertoire that reflects her bilingual background and includes a rich cultural heritage within her music.