Westmont High grad to perform at Chicago Jazz Festival

Chicago-based jazz vocalist Alyssa Allgood has been described by jazz historian Scott Yanow as "one of the top up-and-coming jazz singers around today." She graduated from Westmont High School in 2010, and completed her bachelor of arts in jazz studies from North Central College in Naperville, where she won the coveted Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for Best Collegiate Vocal Jazz Soloist in 2014.

She is performing with the Alyssa Allgood Quintet at the Chicago Jazz Festival at 1:10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, in the Von Freeman Pavilion. For a schedule and map, visit jazzinchicago.org.

Allgood is program coordinator for the choral and jazz programs at Midwest Young Artists Conservatory in Highwood, IL. Chris Madsen, who plays saxophone in the Allgood Quintet is a Jazz Director at MYAC.

Allgood was recently named a 2016 Jazz Fellow through the Luminarts Cultural Organization in Chicago and was the second place winner in the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Voice Competition. She also placed as a top ten semifinalist in the 2015 Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition, where she competed live in Switzerland for a jury presided by jazz legend Al Jarreau. Allgood's debut EP "Lady Bird" was named a Best Release of 2015 on All About Jazz and it was hailed as "the most refined offering in the genre yet." Chicago Jazz Magazine highly recommends this debut recording and described it as "a wonderful exploration of the lost art of bebop vocalese." She was applauded for the "delightful arrangements," "command" and "superbly delivered approach" that was showcased on the recording. Allgood is working on her first full-length album, which is set to release in the fall of 2016.