TUESDAYS, 6-8PM
ONLINE, 6 WEEKS
APRIL 14, 21, 28, MAY 5, 12, 19
$300
What do you want to say with your music, and how will you say it? In this 6-week advanced vocal workshop, students will deepen their lyric expression and harness greater command of their instrument. Students will work through guided listening, vocal exercises and self-reflection to gain a better understanding of how to use their instrument to communicate their musical point of view.
Note: Intermediate to advanced level of singing recommended, but all levels are welcome.
About the instructor:
Alyssa Allgood is a 2X DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll “Rising Star Female Vocalist” and 2X Chicago Reader Poll “Best Individual Jazz Musician” who has captured attention for her dynamic vocal command, sophisticated songwriting, and captivating performances. Her music showcases modern sensibilities, blending soulful storytelling and rich improvisational language through original compositions, captivating arrangements and a lyrical focus of self-love and human connection. DownBeat Magazine has praised her “boldness, swagger, and surefooted musicianship” while the New York City Jazz Record has recognized her “force, clarity and jazz integrity.”
A charismatic and engaging performer, Allgood regularly headlines the acclaimed Jazz Showcase, Green Mill and Winter’s Jazz Club in her Chicago homebase. She tours frequently, having appeared at such esteemed venues as Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, Birdland, Mezzrow in New York, Blues Alley in DC, Blue Llama in Ann Arbor, Jazz, TX in San Antonio, Rudy’s Jazz Room in Nashville, The Century Room in Tucson and many others.
Allgood has released six studio recordings, including 2 EPs and 4 full-length albums. Her 2026 release, Leap, received a 3.5 star review from DownBeat Magazine. Her 2024 release, From Here, is a powerful collection of original music recorded with internationally renowned musicians Geoffrey Keezer, John Patitucci, Kendrick Scott and Greg Ward. Two songs from the album were selected as finalists in the 2023 John Lennon Songwriting Contest and the 2023 International Songwriting Competition.
Her previous albums What Tomorrow Brings (2021), Exactly Like You (2018) and Out of the Blue (2016) garnered Allgood praise for her lyrical expression, instrumental approach and accomplished scat and vocalese singing.
Allgood was a semifinalist in the 2015 Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition, where jazz icon Al Jarreau led the jury, before winning the Inaugural Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Voice Competition (2017) and the David Baker Memorial Scholarship offered through the Jazz Education Network (2022). Closer to home, she was a 2016 Jazz Improvisation Fellow of the Luminarts Cultural Foundation in Chicago and was named Best Jazz Entertainer in the Chicago Music Awards (2019).
Allgood teaches in the Jazz Department at Loyola University. She is a highly sought-after clinician, ensemble director and adjudicator who uses her experience on the bandstand to empower students and nurture their artistic journey. Allgood holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from DePaul University, where she served as a graduate assistant. Her teaching work has appeared at the Jazz Education Network Conference, the University of North Texas’s Jazz Lecture Series, the Illinois Music Educators Association, the Iowa Choral Directors Association, Anchor Music’s Vocal Jazz Academy, jazzvoice.com, the University of Chicago and many other prestigious institutions.