Music faculty member and private voice instructor Ellen Winters has been named Best Jazz Musician in Best of Milwaukee 2017 by Shepherd Express.

Winters previously won the award in 2004, 2005, and 2006, following the successes of her albums, 2003’s Pure Imagination and 2006’s Secret of Life. Recently, she’s worked “more in the Chicago area on some Ella Fitzgerald tributes” and has been bringing them to Milwaukee. 

Winters sings at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis.

Having taught at Columbia since 2007, Winters focuses on the vulnerability that performing offers her, allowing her to take truth into her teaching. “We as musicians just put our best work out there. We strive to be in the moment and let go of the outcome. So, this is a lovely honor,” she says. “The goal, for me, is to just treat each opportunity to perform as a gift and a chance to communicate my love of music to others. Whether it be through teaching or through performing, it’s all important. My teaching feeds my performing and my performing keeps me ‘honest’ as a teacher. I need both for my life to be in balance.” 

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