Toni Jannotta

Toni Jannotta, a native of Los Angeles, has been performing locally and abroad for the past 30 years.  She has three vocal jazz CDs to her credit: JUST JAZZ, JAZZ AT THE RANCH, and IS IT MAGIC?  

Toni’s first two albums were produced under her label Aerie Records and distributed worldwide by TCB Music, The Montreux Jazz Label, in Montreux, Switzerland, and her third CD, IS IT MAGIC?, is distributed online via CD Baby.  IS IT MAGIC? was partially funded by a Cultural Arts Fellowship Grant from the City of Ventura, where she now resides. You can listen to snippets of each album on Toni’s website.

Toni also created a jazz-inspired live performance piece, funded by an Artist in the Community Partnership Grant from the Ventura County Arts Council, entitled VOICES OF THE HOMELESS. This performance piece was created to bring awareness to the real face of homelessness. Toni then took that live performance and turned it into a documentary of the same name. You can view this documentary on Toni’s website via this link: https://www.tonijannotta.com/documentary

Toni’s next project was a children’s book accompanied by a jazz-inspired musical suite entitled MY LITTLE HEART, RUTHIE. Ruthie was created to help kids out of isolation after they’ve suffered trauma. You can find out more about Ruthie by following this link:

https://www.tonijannotta.com/ruthie 

More recently, Toni created a series on her YouTube channel entitled EVERYBODY SINGS! Its focus is on encouraging more non-professionals to sing without inviting the demeaning self-critic into the room. This series is free to the public. The inaugural episode can be found here:  

https://youtu.be/qFAMw3Kkb8A

Currently, Toni is rehearsing with a new vocal duo partner which has brought about a renewed romance with her first instrument, the violin.

Toni’s attraction to the performing arts came early.  She was dancing at age four, scratching out sounds on her violin at age nine, and performing in musical theater by the age of 15.  Her first acting role came at age 18 on the soap opera drama, DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Toni has studied music theory at Los Angeles Valley Jr. College, private voice lessons with Lee and Sally Sweetland, drama with Susan Batson, and has attended every known ballet and modern jazz dancing school in Los Angeles.  For most of her life, Toni has either been acting, singing or dancing in television, theater or jazz clubs.  She has taught both ballet and jazz dance, has conducted vocal improvisation workshops overseas at jazz festivals, and currently teaches private voice lessons online.

As a producer, Toni presented the Back to Blues & Jazz Festival in the Santa Monica Mountains as a benefit for the environment.  As a singer, she has also appeared vocally on the soundtrack of small films using her improvisational skills.

Toni has been seen in L.A. nightclubs such as the Baked Potato, Le Café, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and in our National Parks at the Peter Strauss Ranch in Malibu.  Internationally, Toni has played the Wigan Jazz Festival and Feast of Jazz in Preston, Northern England, the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival in Jamaica, and has toured the Netherlands, Southern Germany, Switzerland and Italy.