For those unaware, Flying High: Still Soaring is the second installment in the Jazz at the Ballroom / Songbook Ink partnership ongoing Flying High series, conceived and produced by Suzanne Waldowski, founder of the Songbook Ink jazz label and Executive Director of the Jazz at the Ballroom concert series.

Created and produced in close collaboration with pianist, vocalist, and musical director Champian Fulton, the album features guest vocal appearances by a formidable line-up of modern band leaders and vocalists including Bria Skonberg, Tahira Clayton, Carmen Bradford, and Nicole Zuraitis, and instrumental contributions from bassist Buster Williams, alto saxophonist and clarinetist Klas Lindquist, bassist Neal Miner, and drummers Fukushi Tainaka and Charles Ruggiero.

Coinciding with Women’s History Month, there will be six album release shows will be at Birdland from March 27th-29th 2026 featuring Champian Fulton, Tahira Clayton and Laura Anglade.

1. Sposin’ - featuring Bria Skonberg *
2. Good Morning Heartache - featuring Tahira Clayton **#
3. What a Little Moonlight - featuring Carmen Bradford **
4. Just for a Thrill - featuring Champian Fulton *
5. Swing it Brother Swing - featuring Tahira Clayton **#
6. It’s Been a Long Long Time - featuring Bria Skonberg *
7. Lullaby of the Leaves - featuring Carmen Bradford **
8. If Dreams Come True - featuring Champian Fulton and Klas Lindquist #
9. Do It Again - featuring Champian Fulton *#
10. Sentimental Journey - featuring Nicole Zuraitis **#

With the album’s repertoire drawing entirely from the Great American Songbook and swing-era canon, with each selection framed around the singer carrying it forward, Flying High: Still Soaring opens on the lushly spirited fare of Sposin’ (Bria Skonberg) and the lushly ornate Good Morning Heartache (Tahira Clayton), then comes the furtively funky What a Little Moonlight (Carmen Bradford), the ornately sculpted Just for a Thrill (Champian Fulton) and the emotively supple Swing it Brother Swing (Tahira Clayton).

Along next is the playfully flirtatious It’s Been a Long Long Time (Bria Skonberg) which is in turn backed seamlessly by an intoxicating Lullaby of the Leaves (Carmen Bradford), the finger-snapping delights of the impassioned If Dreams Come True (Champian Fulton & Klas Lindquist), the set rounding out on the resoundingly decadent, veritably resplendent Do It Again (Champian Fulton), coming to a close on the languishing beauty of Sentimental Journey (Nicole Zuraitis).

Conceived as a long-term program rather than a one-off release, Flying High reflects Jazz at the Ballroom’s commitment to presenting jazz history through working musicians and live performance. Timed to Women’s History Month, Still Soaring builds on 2024’s Flying High, returning to the women singers who came of age inside the swing and big band era, artists whose voices helped define American popular song while their working lives were shaped by conditions few audiences ever saw. Often the only woman in a traveling ensemble, they channeled repertoire, personality, and authority across the country night after night, while enduring circumstances that demanded both resilience and resolve.

“Women were there from the beginning of this period,” says Fulton. “They were integral to the music and to the entire cultural fabric of the twentieth century. But they made enormous sacrifices to do their jobs.” Singers spent close to fifty weeks a year on the road, traveling by bus or train with all-male bands, navigating racism, sexism, and physical exhaustion while being expected to project glamour and command onstage.

“Conditions were harsh,” Fulton points out. “There were no bathrooms on the bus, no air conditioning. You’re traveling with 18 men, playing one-nighters, and you’re still expected to get up every night dressed to the nines, singing songs that were going to lift people up.”

Personnel:
*Champian Fulton (piano), Charles Ruggiero (drums) and Buster Williams (bass)
**Champian Fulton (piano), Fukushi Tainaka (drums) and Neal Miner (bass)
#Klas Lindquist (alto sax and clarinet)

Official Purchase Link

Flying High @ Bandcamp