BIO

Vocalist/Keyboardist/Songwriter Sharman Duran is a musician whose main impetus is always to get inside the music, whether it be bop, Brazilian jazz, funk, Afro Cuban jazz, R &B, or (her favorite) "uncategorizable". Her voice is soulful, her phrasing makes astute use of rhythm, her delivery witty, poignant or playful as called for by the composer (be it Cole Porter, Chick Corea, Fran Landesman, George Duke, Stevie Wonder). Her piano voicings provide the perfect setting for her voice and a complement for the other instruments in the ensemble, and her jazz B3 playing exhibits a mean left hand bass.

Born and raised in San Francisco by jazz musicians guitarist Eddie Duran and vocalist/pianist Arlene Hart Duran, she spent her formative years in a milieu of  the Bay Area's finest musicians, as well as visual and literary artists.   Her house was always full of the sounds of such jazz icons as Bill Evans, Miles Davis and Stan Getz, and early on she was instilled with high artistic standards. After a piano performance major in college she went on to play clubs and festivals in Europe and Asia as well as in her home town, at such venues as the St. Francis Hotel, Top o’ the Mark, Fillmore Jazz Festival, Russian River Jazz Festival, Club Deluxe, Yoshi’s, and many more.

In addition to playing other people’s music, Sharman Duran has written a fair amount of her own, which has been recorded by herself and others. Her original music can be heard on her CDs "Questioning Reality", “Future Echo”,  the EP “PostApocalyptic Subterranean Paradise”/"Brothers" and the compilation CD “Quintessentials” (all available on iTunes).

Sharman Duran is also a sought after teacher whose comfort level with and love for a spectrum of musical styles makes it easy for her to impart her enthusiasm to both young and mature students. A preschool teacher for 16 years, she developed programs for 3- to 5-year-olds kids through which they learned the rudiments of music theory by singing and playing the music of jazz greats such as John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. She has taught voice, piano and music theory for over 20 years at Blue Bear Music School in San Francisco's Fort Mason Center.  Her classes for adults enable them how to approach music theory without fear; and in her jazz performance classes they have the opportunity to sing their favorite standards.