Piano Ma'am
"Piano Ma'am" is the piano bar alter ego of pianist/vocalist Brenda Earle Stokes. After 24 years of performing and recording in New York and touring around the world, Brenda is back in Southwestern Ontario to bring her high caliber, high ENERGY piano bar stylings. Not only does she know HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of songs, her winning personality and sense of humor make her a huge hit for audiences of any age or background.
Perfect for any venue or function - from a music club, to a restaurant to a private event, Brenda is the highest level of professional performer and a guaranteed win!
Watch the video below to see her in action...
Brenda's Story
Brenda Earle Stokes’ musical life started at age 4, when her parents enrolled her in classical piano lessons. Hearing Oscar Peterson for the first time at age fifteen prompted an immediate shift to jazz. After focusing on jazz piano at York University in Toronto, Brenda ventured to the Banff Center for the Arts for a month long jazz residency in the mountains. It was there that she first performed as a vocalist, a huge step for her as an artist.
“I really wanted to be taken seriously as a jazz pianist and I didn’t want anything to take away from that. When I stood up and sang for the first time at Banff, it felt so liberating to me that I knew there was no going back.”
After a few years of gigging around Toronto, Brenda sought adventure working in a singalong piano bar on cruise ships in the Caribbean. At age 23 Brenda was the youngest musician ever hired to perform in the piano bar on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Over the course of three years, she performed 6 nights a week as an entertainer taking requests and playing over 100 songs per night. She quickly became their top ranked entertainer, singing in 4 languages and entertaining a huge range of guests from all over the world.
“Taking requests 6 nights a week for several years was a deep education for me. Not only did I have to learn hundreds of songs, but I also had to learn how to hold an audience’s attention and really engage people.”
In 2002 Brenda ended up in New York City, establishing herself as a rising star jazz pianist, vocalist and composer, all the while performing endless gigs in the NYC area. She has toured the world as a bandleader and side musician with some international artists like Wycliffe Gordon, Ann Hampton Calloway, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra and Maurice Hines and has toured the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. She has released 7 critically acclaimed albums as a bandleader and has been played on radio stations all over the world.
Brenda has played hundreds events including intimate family parties, lavish country club weddings and top level fundraisers in ballrooms.
Some notable events include:
- The Ronald McDonald House charity fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria NYC (2000+ people in attendance)
- Carnegie Hall as a fundraiser for the NY Pops Orchestra’s Kids in the Balcony
- Feinstein’s at the Regency with Ann Hampton Calloway
- 54 Below in New York City
- Birthday party for Gwyneth Paltrow at Babbo in NYC
- 19 months as a top Piano Bar entertainer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Brenda Earle Stokes knows ALL the songs
Often referred to as the “human juke box” Brenda weaves together an extraordinary repertoire of jazz standards, Broadway hits, holiday songs, favorite songs of different nationalities and popular songs from the past century. One minute she will be crooning some Frank Sinatra, the next she will be playing 60s Motown or 90s grunge and then turn on a dime and play Ed Sheeran or Chappell Roan.
Stokes loves playing a range of events and venues and connecting with all of the guests. Whether it is playing a request for a wedding song, leading a singalong of holiday songs or getting all the kids at the party to dance and sing together, her bubbly personality and natural sense of humor make her a fantastic addition to any situation.
Whether it is playing instrumental background music for a quiet event or getting the whole room singing along, Stokes is the highest caliber performer.
Check out this small sample of her repertoire:
Brenda Earle Stokes has her own high quality, professional equipment including a full sized keyboard and PA system. She can take requests and even learn special songs by request.
Contact Brenda Earle Stokes: brenda@brendaearle.com
In addition to her life as performer and composer, Brenda is a well-known music educator and entrepreneur. She runs a busy private studio in New York City serving local students in person and virtually all around the globe. An early adopter of online courses, Brenda has served hundreds of people around the world with her bestselling courses. Her online membership The Versatile Musician contains 33 unique courses totaling over 1500 video tutorials and nearly 2000 pages of original print material content. Her YouTube channel Piano and Voice with Brenda boasts over 40,000 subscribers and 55,000 hours of viewers per month.
She has taught for the Midori and Friends Foundation, developed curricula for the New York Pops Orchestra, arranged music, and taught for the Grammy-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus. She is a frequent guest clinician, speaker, and adjudicator for music festivals and organizations.
Brenda Earle Stokes is active in outreach, having developed educational programming for the The New York Pops Kids in the Balcony program and holding a ten-year residency at the Ronald McDonald House in NYC. Brenda is passionate about activism and is a member of the Women in Jazz Organization (WIJO), helping to represent and empower women in the wider jazz community.
Additional Video Highlights
Press Highlights
“Stokes revs up on eclecticism, centering her jazz improvisation and pop-jazz adventures…shimmers with energetic scatting and cheery piano”
Downbeat Magazine
“This music speaks to artistic sophistication while addressing the quiet comforts of the medium.”
Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
“Absolutely stunning.”
One World Music (UK)
“The result is nothing short of outstanding with Brenda taking full control of her direction and creating a piece of contemporary jazz that is refined and seductive.”
The Jazz Music Blog
“When a recording is as fine as this, nothing is more welcome than seeing Volume 1 in the title.”
C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
“Here to play, not play around.”
Chris Spector, Midwest Record
“A stone joy from the opening notes to the close.”
Richard Kamins, Step Tempest
“Stokes is very much her own woman and stamps her individuality on both her singing and her piano playing.”
Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken Here
…a breezy delight.”
Time Out New York
“…the first to stand out was pianist-singer Brenda Earle, whose talent gracefully bridges jazz and pop.”
The Washington Post
“With a mix of originals and covers from Sinatra and Suzanne Vega to our own Finn brothers, Earle demonstrated her mastery of the urban ballad.”
The Press (New Zealand)
“Her keyboard work throughout embodies lyrical melody, deft harmonies and smart pacing…”
The Toronto Star
“She has her own way of writing music that meshes fine with modern jazz esthetics.”
JazzTimes
“…expressive voices and lively piano stylings.”
The Spill Magazine
“Brenda Earle has a well-trained, sweet-sounding, pure voice and piano and songwriting skills that are displayed ably…”
All About Jazz
“Earle is an incredibly gifted artist, whose creative instincts continue to bluer the lines between jazz, rock and pop music.
Riviting Riffs Magazine