Remembering Nancy King
June 15, 1940 – August 5, 2025
A tribute to the underrated but inventive jazz singer
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Nancy King passed away on Aug. 5, 2025 at the age of 85.
She was born on June 15, 1940 in Portland, Oregon.
Enrolling at the University of Oregon in 1959, she began performing with two future members of Oregon (guitarist Ralph Towner and bassist Glen Moore) but was asked to leave the college because of her involvement with the civil rights movement.
Ms. King worked in San Francisco in the 1960s, having opportunities to sit in with Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders, but spent of the 1970s in Oregon where, although she sang locally, she struggled and was obscure.
The release of her debut recording, appearing on six songs on saxophonist Steve Wolfe’s album First Date in 1978, helped her career a bit but she would always remain a jazz cult figure.
A brilliant scat singer who was dedicated to bebop and straight ahead jazz throughout most of her career, Nancy King was mostly known in the Pacific Northwest during the 1980s despite being called “the greatest living jazz singer” by guitarist Herb Ellis.
In the late 1980s, she began to gradually become discovered, performing in Europe, recording with Oregon, and in 1991 making her debut recording as a leader, Impending Bloom.
Often teaming up with bassist Glen Moore and later in the 1990s with pianist Steve Christofferson, she made several recordings in the 1990s including appearances on two albums with Ray Brown, and in the next decade she guested on recordings with Karrin Allyson and Janet Planet
Still, Nancy King, who recorded a duo album with pianist Fred Hersch and in Europe with the Metropole Orchestra, never gained much fame despite her talents, partly due to her decision to remain based in Oregon.
From Dec. 1990, here is Nancy King, pianist Dave Catney, bassist Tom Kennedy, and drummer Ed Soph performing “Cheek To Cheek.”
-Scott Yanow
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