When Carrie Wicks steps onto the stage, her shy, demure manner gives you the impression that she just came from her day job as a librarian. Then she counts her band off, closes her eyes, and proceeds to mellifluously swing her butt off, unassumingly drawing the audience in all the while. Her tone puts to mind the perfect glass of earthy, red wine coupled with the most luxurious piece of dark chocolate at the end of a long day. At ease and unhurried, she meanders in and out of a medium swing, taking notice of every detail, seemingly to lag a mile behind the beat to examine the intricacies of an embellished chord, only to magically appear right in time without missing a step.

During her first vocal jazz workshop, almost a decade ago, Ms. Wicks had a lightbulb-above-the-head moment and has continued to pursue the study of vocal jazz since then with the finest jazz musicians from Seattle and beyond. She improvises with a group called Vocal Bliss and has performed at Café Campagne, Lottie’s Lounge, Egan’s, Sip wine restaurant, Lucid, as well as Tula’s and Columbia City Theater (and for many a wedding). From April 2007 to August 2008, she hosted the weekly vocal jazz jam at Egan’s. Also, please keep an ear open for the new vocal quartet, Venus d'Bop, of which she is a member.