Wé McDonald was a contestant on Season 11 of The Voice. Her blind audition of the Nina Simone song “Feeling Good” turned all four chairs, and her career has been going full blast ever since, including shows at New York’s Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Apollo Theater.

Last night she gave a sold-out concert at the Napa Valley Opera House as part of the Festival Napa Valley. Gregg Field, who has played with Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others, produced the show. My role with Brian Benison was to transcribe the chosen songs and arrange them for the specific live instrumentation they had in the show. It’s always a pleasure to arrange for such powerhouse talent! I did the music copyist work also.

McDonald has shows coming up at the Iridium Jazz Club and the Gramercy Theatre in New York, where I presume she will continue to use much of the repertoire we just worked on together.