Bio: Cait Jones
Born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Cait embodies the artistic wealth of her native city where she was singing, drawing, dressing up and dancing along to Ella’s Verve recordings in her room. Her parents placed her in the New York Children’s Chorus in elementary school where she had the great fortune to sing at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall and most notably for George Harrison’s Rainforest Benefit Concert in 2001 alongside Elton John, Patti LaBelle and Sting, to name a few. Convinced she was meant for musical theater, she moved on to private lessons and had the great fortune to study with retired opera singer and brilliant vocal coach, Claudia Catania.
Cait was filling sketchbooks with drawings, a passion that landed her a spot in the visual art department of LaGuardia High School. Her impressive portfolio of watercolors warranted several scholarships at Skidmore College where she received a BA in Fine Art. Here and through a plethora of travel, including a four month study abroad program in Florence, Cait invented her surrealistic Experience Map project.
After college, Cait fell in love with swing dancing—a space where dressing up and singing along to Ella was the norm! It was through dancing that she met swing musicians and realized that yes, people can do this for a living. A friend took her to the Mona’s Tuesday night jam session. It was the scariest and most rewarding feeling to sing with a live band. She was hooked and went nearly every week for a year.
Flash forward to now. Cait’s swing dance band Cait and the Critters is a household name in New York City. She has sung to packed rooms of delighted faces all over the world with performances in Montreal, Quebec; Paris, France; Brussels & Ghent, Belgium; Singapore; Bangkok, Thailand; Hoi An, Vietnam; Seoul, South Korea; Melbourne & Adelaide, Australia. She has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Mezzrow, BB Kings and maintained a 6 year residency at Fine & Rare and The Flatiron Room.
Cait is a storyteller and a melting pot of artistic practice. Her presence in a room is magnetic, charismatic and full of joy. With a depth of range and vocal control that is at times soft and full of explosive energy, she is always swinging and singing with her full heart.
photo credit: Aidan Grant