​​Writing original Canadian lyrics and music that combines the sensibilities of bebop, vintage movie musicals, and the Great American songbook, jazz vocalist Angela Verbrugge has emerged as one of Western Canada’s busiest performers. Since winning the JazzTimes’ Magazine poll for Best Female Vocalist in 2020, the charismatic musician has toured her romantic, humorous and inventive songwriting to top venues for jazz in Japan, the UK, Germany, Luxembourg and Turkey. She released her debut album, recorded in NYC in 2019, and followed it up proving her skills as a lyricist and composer with an all-original project in 2022. Positive reviews from top international publications in jazz singled out her projects as “head and shoulders above the usual barrage of vocal jazz albums” (JazzLives). 

Angela's third album, Somewhere, is coming out in May 2024 on Origin Records (Seattle, USA). Both Angela’s albums were included in LA Jazz Journal/Downbeat critic Scott Yanow’s top albums of the year list, and he predicts that her songs may become standards in the future.

Angela is primarily influenced by the swing era, vintage musicals, and bebop. WSJ-writer Will Friedwald describes her unique instrument as “a vocal sound that's full of depth and nuance - welcoming the light without denying the darkness”. She has appeared at the festivals and jazz clubs in Canada, and top jazz clubs internationally in London, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Luxembourg, Tokyo, and across Japan. 

Verbrugge  has performed with Grammy-winning/nominated, Juno-winning/nominated and/or Order of Canada recipients. Her ensembles have included Neil Swainson Reg Schwager, Terry Clarke, Lauren Falls, Jodi Proznick, Buff Allen, Miles Black, renowned NYC musicians Ray Gallon, Cameron Brown, and she has shared the stage with top international musicians including Thomas Stabenow, Xaver Hellemeir, Hiroko Mase, Akane Matsumoto and Takashi Sugawara. 

Angela was one of the youngest graduates from Toronto’s George Brown College School of Performing Arts in Theatre Studies after a youth spent in Kingston, Ontario. She relocated permanently to Vancouver in 1997, and has resided on Vancouver Island since 2019. Angela is a mother to three teens. Verbrugge began intensive jazz studies in 2012 after she had three brushes with death including being diagnosed with cancer in 2010. She began her professional career with the release of her 2019 debut album.

Ray Gallon Angela Verbrugge Pizza Express London Jazz

A recent performance at Pizza Express, Soho, London, England with NYC pianist Ray Gallon

“Angela has good humor, good sense, and good taste, a rare combination. She is a hilariously pungent comedian / social critic / swing psychologist and a born storyteller. Angela has a remarkably winning voice. She is a pleasure to listen to, sometimes lemony, sometimes warm and embracing. She is the sole composer of three of the dozen songs on her most recent album, and the funny, playful lyricist for the other nine. Her work is head and shoulders above the usual flood of vocal jazz albums.”

— JazzLives

Very (Very!) Short Bio  

Victoria, BC-based Angela Verbrugge caught listeners’ ears with her 2019 debut album recorded in New York City and she won the 2020 JazzTimes Readers’ Poll in the female jazz vocalist category. The magazine’s review of her album describes that Angela, who takes inspiration from vintage musicals, the swing era, blues, and bebop, has “conspicuously good taste”. She has been played on CBC, and was at the top of the National Earshot jazz charts for multiple weeks. Her song-writing collaborations have been featured in notable international publications. Angela made the top 30 recordings of the year list by Downbeat/LA Jazz Journal writer Scott Yanow for both albums. JazzWeekly describes the former actress as “fun and quirky, hip and a hoot, wispy and romantic; she slithers and oozes, and cleverly swings.”

Full Length Bio 

​​Since winning the prestigious JazzTimes’ Magazine poll for Best Female Vocalist in 2020, vocalist Angela Verbrugge has toured her romantic, humorous, and inventive jazz standards-style songwriting and interpretations of standards to top venues for jazz in Japan, the UK, Germany, Luxembourg, Türkiye and across Canada. Verbrugge pens original Canadian lyrics and music that combine the sensibilities of bebop, vintage movie musicals, and the Great American songbook. The charismatic musician has emerged since the pandemic as one of Canada’s busiest vocal jazz performers.

In 2019, Verbrugge released her debut album, The Night We Couldn’t Say Good Night, recorded in New York City, and followed it up in 2022 with Love for Connoisseurs, additionally proving her skills as a lyricist and composer, with an all-original project recorded in British Columbia. Positive reviews from top international publications in jazz have singled out her albums as “head and shoulders above the usual barrage of vocal jazz albums” (JazzLives) Her recordings received positive coverage from JazzWise UK, Couleurs Jazz France, Jersey Jazz USA, JazzTimes, JAZZIZ, Midwest Record, Syncopated Times, Whole Note Magazine Canada, and others in Japan, Denmark, UK etc. Angela's third album, Somewhere, is coming out in May 2024 on Downbeat Poll-recognized top jazz label Origin Records (Seattle, USA). Both Angela’s albums were included in LA Jazz Journal/Downbeat critic Scott Yanow’s top albums of the year list, and he predicts that her songs may become standards in the future. Leading author/journalist/expert on vocal jazz Will Friedwald wrote the liner notes for Angela’s debut album in support of the project. 

Verbrugge has performed with Grammy-winning/nominated, Deutsche Jazzpreis, Prix Django Reinhardt, Juno-winning and/or Order of Canada recipients. Her ensembles have included Neil Swainson, Reg Schwager, Terry Clarke, Lauren Falls, Jodi Proznick, Buff Allen, Miles Black, renowned NYC musicians Ray Gallon, Cameron Brown, Evan Sherman, and she has shared the stage with top international musicians including Thomas Stabenow, Caris Hermes, Hugo Lippi, Xaver Hellemeir, Hiroko Mase, Akane Matsumoto and Takashi Sugawara. 

Verbrugge grew up in Kingston, Ontario, where she played trombone and classical piano, and started acting professionally in her teen years. She moved to Toronto at 17 years old and at 21 became one of the youngest graduates of Toronto’s George Brown College School of Performing Arts intense three-year degree in Theatre Studies. She relocated permanently to Vancouver in 1997, and became a mother of three. She has resided on Vancouver Island since 2019. Verbrugge began intensive jazz studies in 2012 after she had three brushes with death including being diagnosed with cancer in 2010. Angela has sought out mentorship and lessons from many acclaimed vocalists and musicians, including, Miles Black, Karrin Allyson, Sheila Jordan, Caity Gyorgy, Lisa Popeil. She began her professional career with the release of her 2019 debut album. 

Verbrugge averages 11,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, with her top track, an original co-written with NYC saxophonist Nick Hempton, at half a million streams. The song is a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. Verbrugge has won competitive grants from Music BC, Creative BC, Canada Council and FACTOR for touring and recording.  Her albums have charted on JazzWeek, held numerous number one spots on the Canadian Earshot Jazz Chart. Her debut album debuted at number one in the jazz category on iTunes Canada. Wall Street Journal-writer and author/historian Will Friedwald writes in his liner notes of her debut project that Verbrugge possesses, "a vocal sound that's full of depth and nuance - welcoming the light without denying the existence of the darkness” and notes that she works with a “top-drawer arranging crew and cast of expert musicians”. Her record received critical acclaim from radio/podcast hosts across the globe, with airplay on CBC Saturday Night Jazz, Hot Air, NPR, popular jazz programs the U.S., South America, Europe and Asia. She has charted on both JazzWeek and EarShot, and the later chart selected her debut as a top 10 vocal jazz release in 2019, while seasoned critic Scott Yanow noted in his Top Most Memorable Listens of 2021. 

  • “No maybes; for Verbrugge, now is definitely the time.” - JazzTimes Magazine, Andrew Gilbert, 2022.
  • “A perfect album: she makes all of her chosen material sound magical. A gem of a vocalist.” Raul da Gama / Toronto Music Report/That Canadian Magazine
  • “An all-original set from a classic thrust that is sincere and doesn’t rely on iconography as a gimmick. Her whole presentation is a showstopper and you should be prepared accordingly. Playing like a dream come true, this lass with class is just going to bowl you over. Hot stuff throughout.” Chris Spector / Midwest Record
  • “Angela has a remarkably winning voice.  While ”good” is no longer a strong word in the vocabulary of praise, Angela has good humor, good sense, and good taste, a rare combination. Although she has a deep romantic streak, she is also a hilariously pungent comedian / social critic / swing psychologist.” Michael Steinman, JazzLives
  • “Many of today’s vocalists attempt to write lyrics, but very few of them do so with a consistency of quality that makes the listener sit up and feel that here is a person that sits above the crowd. Well, you can add Angela Verbrugge ro that select few. Verbrugge has penned lyrics that are intelligent and clever. She delivers them with a voice that is smooth and appealing.” Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz
  • "Angela Verbrugge possesses a winsome, brightly-burnished, pliable voice, with ample emotional intelligence, considerable song-writing skills, and conspicuously good taste.”JazzTimes Magazine, 2019.
  • “She is a witty songwriter, drawing on Cole Porter, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Johnny Mercer for inspiration and rapid-fire rhymes, occasionally resembling a less vinegary Dave Frishberg.” (JazzLives) 
  • "Angela is "fun and quirky, hip and a hoot, wispy and romantic; she slithers and oozes, and cleverly swings... in the Archie Comics of life, this lady is a bubbly Betty.” George Harris at Jazz Weekly.
  • “Verbrugge addresses each song with the breathtakingly, absolutely natural and unaffected purity of her voice… her material sounds magical. A rare perfect album <Night We Couldn't Say Good Night.”Toronto Music Report/Raul da Gama.