Her African name “Tulivu” translates from Swahili loosely to “beautiful,” and her English name, “Donna Lynn” is derived from “Donna Lee,” the jazz piece made popular by Charlie Parker. Cumberbatch participated in church and school choirs, specifically the All City High School Chorus as a child, then studied formally at Herbert H. Lehman College. After training, she began her solo career, influenced by such artists as Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nancy Wilson. Eventually, she was joined by a band of three called “The Magnificent Trio,” which consisted of Mark Johnson, Donald Smith, and Rachiim Ausar-Sahu. In live performances, when not performing with her Trio, Cumberbatch has sung with Hannibal Peterson, Kimati Dinizulu and the Kotoko Society, the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Diedre Murray, the Kronos Quartet, Akyenee Baako and Drumsong Productions, The Hank Doughty/Ray Abrams Big Band and The Cliff Smalls Septet, among others. She has performed in the Caribbean, Europe and Canada, and frequently at jazz clubs and festivals in Brooklyn and New York. She gained additional recognition for work with composer Yoko Kanno on songs for her solo album Song to Fly, and her Cowboy Bebop soundtracks. Cumberbatch also recorded with another acclaimed composer, Yuki Kajiura, doing a jazz rendition of the Noir song Lullaby for Kajiura’s solo album Fiction. (This is the third time that Kajiura’s composition Lullaby has been recorded: the first time by Yuriko Kaida, and the second time by seiyuu TARAKO.) |
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