Rosana Eckert

Vocalist, Arranger, Composer, & Educator

Bio

Rosana can do anything. She is that beautiful combination of real musician and superb vocalist, with completely equal amounts of both.

Praised as a world-class artist, and with an international reputation in several facets of the music industry, Rosana Eckert wears many hats as a versatile live and studio vocalist, a dynamic improviser, a creative songwriter and arranger, and a masterful educator of jazz and voice. As a solo artist, her shows are an effortless blend of tradition and originality, sincerity and virtuosity, humor and heart. With strong and ever-present jazz roots, she bounces from genre to genre, creating special featured moments for her band mates and taking listeners on a musical adventure such that they feel included, entertained, and inspired.  She has performed and recorded with many jazz luminaries, including Christian McBride, Bobby McFerrin, Kenny Wheeler, Marvin Stamm, and the New York Voices, and recently, she was one of the three vocalists on the Grammy Award-winning composition “Eberhard,” released posthumously by legendary jazz pianist Lyle Mays in August 2021.

Performing regularly with her own bands and projects, Rosana released her critically acclaimed 3rd full-band album Sailing Home in 2019. Produced by singer/pianist Peter Eldridge, the album was praised as “bright and innovative” (AllAboutJazz) and “alluring” (Jazz Weekly). In 2021, her Brazilian jazz fusion band, Brasuka, released their highly acclaimed debut album of original songs titled A Vida Com Paixão. Lauded as “addictively joyful” (Exclusive Magazine), “positively infectious” (The Big Takeaway), and “entirely engaging and entertaining”(Phil’s Picks), the album received 4 stars in Downbeat Magazine and All About Jazz.com, was featured in Jazz Times Magazine, and it made several “Best of 2021” music lists. She is also a member of the Mike Steinel Quintet, utilizing her French horn background to function more as the tenor sax of the group, delivering horn lines and instrumental improvisation with her voice. The group released their second album of original music, Saving Charlie Parker, in September 2022. The album is the companion to a historical fiction/time-travel novel of the same name written by Mike Steinel.

A renowned educator, Rosana is Principal Lecturer of jazz voice at the University of North Texas.  She has helped build the thriving UNT vocal jazz department since 1999, teaching private jazz voice lessons and performance techniques, and creating new courses in songwriting and vocal pedagogy. Additionally, she has been a visiting teacher and lecturer for many institutions and programs, including the Centro Cientifico da Voz in São Paulo, Brazil, the Golden Jazz Music Camp in Zhuhai, China, The Speech Level Singing Summer Program in Hollywood, CA, and the online Jazz Harmony Retreat.

Rosana is also in demand as a commissioned choral composer/arranger, guest conductor, and author. Her many published vocal ensemble arrangements, for all levels of singer, have been performed worldwide, and she has conducted 14 All-State jazz choirs around the country. Her book, Singing with Expression has been praised as an unparalleled resource for contemporary singers, and she was a contributing author for The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook, which features “recipes” from 50 renowned voice teachers from around the country. From co-writing a jazz musical for kids with author/educator Sharon Burch to co-creating the Vocal Jazz Improv Boot Camps with Darmon Meader to developing the Expressive Singing video class for MusicHabit.com, Rosana regularly creates resources for all ages and levels of singer.

In addition to her extensive live performing, writing, and teaching, Rosana works regularly as a studio vocalist, producer, and voice-over actor in Dallas, TX.  As a VO actor, she has spoken on many commercials and industrial spots for such clients as AT&T, Petsmart, Direct Energy, Comcast, and EA Games, and she is the in-house announcer for KERA TV, Dallas’s award-winning PBS station. As a studio producer, she has worked on a wide array of musical projects in many genres, recently producing vocal sessions for popular Gospel jazz quartet Kings Return. As a studio vocalist, she has sung on hundreds of commercials, album projects, publishing demos, and radio IDs heard around the world. Recent collaborations include guest appearances on albums by Kings Return, jazz vocalist/saxophonist Darmon Meader, pianist/songwriter Sean Giddings, Indian singer/writer Arjun Chandy, and vocal group Groove for Thought.