Named the Chicago Tribune’s 2020 person of the Year in Jazz, Tammy McCann is an internationally recognized Jazz Vocalist and is currently Artist in Residence for the Music Institute of Chicago. Her powerful, sultry, and emotionally charged voice paints pictures and tells stories by merging Classical vocal technique and Gospel esthetic with Jazz to create a sound that is completely her own.

Chicago Tribune’s Arts Critic, Howard Reich says McCann has, “A voice that soars in all registers, at all tempos, on all occasions... a voice that inspires wonder!” Alyce Claerbaut, President of Strayhorn Songs Publishing, Inc. and mentor to McCann says, “Tammy is a star with a one-of-a-kind voice.” Tammy is a storyteller who draws emotion from and makes connections with here audiences world- wide. Her warm delivery allows her audience to go on the musical journey with her and her engaging personality imprints the memory of her performance on their hearts. Inside Jazz Magazine Music Critic, Nora McCarthy says “She came bearing natural gifts and with raw talent in hand, she stepped up to the mic and into the hearts of everyone in the room.”

As an educator, Tammy believes singing is a part of every human community; bringing us together and helping us to interact with one another. There is a pedagogy to Jazz vocal instruction which requires an approach that can combine the "classroom and the bandstand" in a seamless way. Her teaching style meets the vocal student where they are and all instruction has a classical foundation with a focus on Jazz. All lessons help to develop a natural technique and allow the student to progress at their own pace. Through which the students gain the confidence they need to audition and perform.

McCann has performed with such luminaries Chicago’s own Ramsey Lewis & NEA Jazz Master Von Freeman, John Clayton, Branford Marsalis, Joe Locke, Charles McPherson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen Bradford and toured as a ‘Raelette’ with the great Ray Charles. McCann has thrilled audiences in festivals and clubs world-wide from Bangkok, Thailand to the Harrods Atticus in Greece. As well as the nation’s premier concert and jazz venues, Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, The Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola and Chicago's own Jazz Showcase.

Cultural & Jazz Critic Stanley Crouch says, “Her pitch is superb…clear on the top and startling at the bottom, while all of the steps in between are polished with swing. " Her shows are not to be missed.