Jeremy Monteiro

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Jeremy Monteiro (born June 20, 1960, Singapore), is a Jazz Pianist, Singer, Composer and Music Educator. He has performed and won critical acclaim in many parts of the world, in addition to numerous occasions at home in Singapore, where he has been dubbed "Singapore's King Of Swing" by the local press.

In November 2006, he became a Fellow of the London College of Music which is part of the Thames Valley University in the UK.

On 15 September 2006, Jeremy Monteiro was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures & Commerce in the UK (the RSA). Current Fellows of the RSA include Nelson Mandela and Stephen Hawking. Past Fellows of the RSA include Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickens, Gugliemo Marconi and Yehudi Menuhin.

On 1 September 2006, he was appointed a Board Member of the National Arts Council of Singapore. The NAC is a Statutory Board of the Government of Singapore and comes under the auspices of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA).

On 29 May 2006, Jeremy Monteiro was appointed Professor & Visiting Chair of Jazz, School of Music, Faculty of Performing Arts & Integrated Studies, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts. He is the first Singaporean to be appointed Professor at the Institution since Brother Joseph McNally founded it in 1984.

Also on 29 May 2006, Jeremy released his first album of all original compositions. The album, which is the latest in his discography of more than 20 albums, is entitled Homecoming, was recorded in Los Angeles and is released in HDCD format on the Jazznote label. The recording was funded by the National Arts Council’s Cultural Medallion grant.

On 8 October 2002, Jeremy was conferred the Cultural Medallion, Singapore's pinnacle award in arts achievement.

On 28 November 2003, Jeremy was conferred the "Lifting Up The World With A Oneness-Heart" lifetime achievement Award by Sri Chinmoy, who is the leader of the interfaith Peace Meditation at the UN (since 1970) and also the leader of the International Peace Centre. Previous recipients of this humanitarian award include, His Holiness Pope John Paul II, the Blessed Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, scientist Dr. Jane Goodall, sportsmen Muhammad Ali & Carl Lewis, musicians Ravi Shankar, Roberta Flack, Sting, Quincy Jones and Keith Jarrett.

In 1988, Swing Magazine of Switzerland called him "one of the best exponents of Jazz Piano". That year, he performed with his all-star band, Monteiro, Young & Holt at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival.

Jeremy has been mentioned in more than 400 press articles in publications around the world, including Billboard magazine and The Washington Post. He has a total of 21 albums to his credit. He has performed and/or recorded with the likes of James Moody, Michael Brecker, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Mann, Paulinho DaCosta, Ernie Watts, Charlie Haden and Simon & Garfunkel to name a few.

On June 18 & 19th 2003, Jeremy performed with legendary harmonica player, Toots Thielemans, together with the members of his NYC Trio, bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Adam Nussbaum at the Victoria Concert Hall as part of the Singapore Arts Festival.

On March 11, 2005, as part of the inaugural Mosaic Music Festival, he performed at the Esplanade - Theatres by the Bay in Singapore, with his international trio of Shawn Kelley and Belinda Moody, Singaporean singers Claressa Monteiro, Jacintha Abisheganaden, Anne Weerapass and Rani Singam together with Jazz legend James Moody, in a concert to commemorate James Moody's 80th birthday.

With another of his own bands, Asiana, he has performed at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.

In late 1992, he produced the Ernie Watts album Stand Up, joining the list of Ernie Watts's producers: Quincy Jones, Creed Taylor, Don Grusin and Gilberto Gil.

In March of 1990, at the same time as Natalie Cole, he was admitted as an active voting member of the National Academy Of Recording Arts & Sciences (Los Angeles Chapter), and has voted at the Grammy Awards from 1991 through 2005.

As a composer, Jeremy has been awarded a Silver Medal at the 1991 International Radio Festival of New York, as well as finalist awards at the 1990 and 1991 London International Advertising Awards for best original music score (radio, TV and Cinema). He has composed or produced over 700 pieces of music and is listed in the year 2000 edition of Who's Who of The World.

Jeremy, who is also a vocalist, has been singing more and more often in his recent performances. The Sept/Oct 2005 issue of the Chicago Jazz Magazine has this to say about Jeremy's singing, "Jeremy has an appealing and expressive voice....you don't expect such a technically dazzling pianist to have such an intimate and wistful vocal sound...Jeremy is a consistently excellent vocalist."

His latest album release in the summer of 2005 is a duet album with top Chicago Saxophonist, Greg Fishman called, "Only Trust Your Heart" an album of mostly ballads on the Jazznote label.

He served as Artistic Director of the Singapore International Jazz Festival 2001, an event which featured 52 bands and more than 150 musicians from Singapore and overseas.