Nicki PARROTT en Quintet

Born in Newcastle, Australia, Nicki began her musical training at the age of four with the piano, followed shortly after by the flute. Nicki switched to the double bass at the age of 15.

After graduating from high school, she moved to Sydney to study jazz at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music, where she began playing with Australian musicians such as Mike Nock, Dale Barlow, Paul Grabowsky, Bernie McGann, and Ten Part Invention. She also toured Australia with Russian musicians Daniel Kramer and Alexander Fischer, and American trumpeters Bobby Shew and Chuck Findley. She continued her studies with various bassists, including guest artists Ray Brown and John Clayton.

Nicki received two awards: a scholarship to Pan Pacific Music Camps at the age of 16, and first place in the 1992 Jazz Action Society annual song competition for her composition "Come and Get It." She was also nominated for the Arts Council of Australia's annual Young Accompanists Award, which provided her with the funding to come to New York to study with Rufus Reid. Nicki arrived in New York in May 1994.

In June 2000, Nicki began performing Monday nights at the Iridium Jazz Club with the legendary guitarist and inventor, Les Paul. As part of the Les Paul Trio, Nicki worked alongside guitar greats from Paul McCartney, Slash, and Steve Miller to fellow Australian Tommy Emmanuel.

Since then, she has played with such remarkable musicians as Michel Legrand, Joe Wilder, Randy Brecker, Clark Terry, Jose Feliciano, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Patti Labelle and the New York Pops Orchestra, Harry Allen, Marlena Shaw, David Krakauer, Ken Peplowski, Ann Hampton Callaway, Bill Mays, Scott Hamilton, Lillian Boutte, Larry Carlton and Houston Person.

In 2007 and 2008, Nicki Minaj received Swing Journal's award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. In 2010, her album Black Coffee received the Swing Journal Gold Disc award. In 2012, Nicki Minaj headlined the Fujitsu Concorde Jazz Festival.

With 30 years of experience on the world's most prestigious stages – from New York to Japan and across Europe – Nicki will bring her unique warmth and musical talent to a program honoring such luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, and Dinah Washington. Accompanied by Sydney jazz stalwarts Peter Locke on piano and Andrew Dickeson on drums, Nicki Parrott will breathe new life into tunes that have inspired generations of listeners. From haunting ballads to swing standards, this concert promises to be a vibrant tribute to jazz's most iconic female voices, performed by one of Australia's most gifted musicians.