Downbeat review
Aimee Nolte
More about Aimee
Performing with...

Downbeat Review - Aimee Nolte’s voice is beautiful, sonorous and reflective on her latest album Looking For The Answers, The singer arranged and produced every track on the album, lending a consistent aesthetic and laid-back vibe to most of the cuts here. What separates Nolte from other vocalists and composers is the poetry and storytelling quality of her compositions, with lyrics reminescent of Joni Mitchell - just minus Mitchell playfulness. “Save Me One Last Time” speaks to the bandleadeader’s seriousness as a lyricists when the theme of lost love is addressed: “If I keep on falling, I’ll be lost forever/ Save me one last time.” [ Read the full review here ]
Los Angeles musician, Aimee Nolte is a jazz pianist, vocalist and thriving YouTube creator, constantly pursuing new recording, performing, and educational projects. Though primarily a jazz player, she knows over a thousand songs and can play them at the drop of a hat. Aimee earned her jazz piano degree from Brigham Young University In 1998 and has been an active and passionate musician ever since; even as a wife and mother of four! She has released three full-length albums so far that have been reviewed as deeply personal, captivating pieces of art. Downbeat praised her 2019 release, Looking For The Answers, raving that “What separates Nolte from other vocalists and composers is the poetry and storytelling quality of her compositions, with lyrics reminescent of Joni Mitchell.” In 2016, Aimee started her YouTube channel, "Aimee Nolte Music" where she now has over 207K subscribers. She shares the music that is inside of her with the world in her videos, whether through captivating duets with John Clayton and Nicki Parrott or breaking down the tiniest nuances of a McCoy Tyner solo in a way that makes even the most advanced techniques understandable to beginning musicians. Teaching topics like harmony, arranging, advanced jazz piano techniques, and even beginning piano and vocal skills comes as second nature to Aimee, and she is frequently called upon to perform and appear as a guest clinician all over the country.
She continues to play and sing regularly all over Los Angeles County. January, 2006 marked the release of her first album, “Up Til Now”. She sings, plays piano and harmonica, and wrote and produced all of the tracks on the album.
In 2010, Aimee released her second album with her longtime guitarist, Hideaki Tokunaga, entitled, "Just Us". Aimee composed 7 of the CD's 11 tracks, and co-wrote 2.
Aimee has had the opportunity to perform in the past with greats such as John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Ken Peplowski, Frank Vignola, Lenny White, and most recently, the Aimee Nolte Trio (with Mike Scott and Roger Shew), and her duo, "Skirt & Suit (with Joshua Payne on guitar) with regular gigs around the LA area. Recently she performed with Nicki Parrott along with a new trio (Robert Taylor & Justin Varnes).

The Greatest Jazz Recording Of All Time

Carnegie Hall, 1952 - The Oscar Peterson Trio featuring Ray Brown and Barney Kessel absolutely blew the audience away with their rendition of Tenderly and changed the course of jazz forever.

37:00 of “Recorda Me”

Extended jazz piano and a little vocal improv practice over the Joe Henderson classic “Recorda Me.”

A Piano Arrangement For #TeamSeas

Learn to make your piano sound like the ocean, using an arrangement I made of Toad The Wet Sprocket's "Walk On The Ocean" using rising and falling arpeggios and contrasting motion between hands. Plus, take a listen to my cover of the song

Turning Difficult Chords Into Easy Ones

Don't let chords that are in difficult keys scare you! With just a little flip of a switch in your mind, you can think about these hard chords in a different way and turn them into easier, more manageable chords. Music theory is amazing!

The Insanely Great Pianist Behind The Mr Rogers Show

A look into the musican musician behind the Mr. Rogers show - namely - Jazz pianist, Johnny Costa

Raising A Musical Kid - An Interview With My Mom

Sign up for CuriosityStream and get my streaming service Nebula for a year at 26% off here: https://curiositystream.com/aimeenolte

Some Where Over The Rainbow - A Capella

Sometimes I try and see if I can sing a song with no accompaniment and cover all of the harmony myself. This idea follows the example of Bobby McFerrin on his famous “Blackbird” performances - those recordings changed me in many ways and I love the challenge.

Can You Hear These 2-5-1s?

Ok, so you think you know about 251s - but can you recognize them when they occur in songs? Can your ears tell the difference between a major 251 and a minor? It's time to practice with me. Let's go!