The Vail Series presents Cyrille Aimée

Winner of both the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Vocal Competition and the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, Aimée explores a range of musical styles, eras, continents and moods on her album “It’s A Good Day,” with a singular voice on inventive arrangements.

Aimée’s musical outlook is reflected in an emphasis on the guitar, an instrument with an indigenous form in nearly every culture of the world—and it was the sound of the gypsy guitar that inspired Aimée to become a musician.

While growing up in Samois-sur-Seine, Aimée snuck out of her home to the nearby gypsy encampments and was mesmerized by the music of those who followed the spirit of Django Reinhardt, revered as one of the world’s most influential guitarists. Aimée—who as a child also lived in Paris, Cameroon, Singapore and the Dominican Republic—later became fascinated with Brazilian guitar, and her music reveals a thorough understanding of bossa nova and samba idioms. She has now settled in Brooklyn, where she continues to absorb the inner workings of American jazz and the culture of the music’s homeland.