In 2011 when Sarah Vaughan's 'Broken Hearted Melody' was released with Graziëlla Hunsel Rivero, little did Hunsel know that she would be hailed as the 'First Lady of Jazz' from Amsterdam-Southeast'. With a repertoire of an enchanting blend of jazz standards and soulful renditions, Hunsel's performances often feature tributes to jazz legends like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald apart from her compositions.

Excerpts from the interview:

You’re known as the “First Lady of Jazz”. Can you tell us how your musical journey began?

Before I became the First Lady of Jazz, I was a little girl who only liked to dance and sing because my mother was a famous singer in Suriname, (that's a country in the South of America) and all over the world. So my love for music came naturally and I started developing as a singer, songwriter, and also in the musical business. I was doing productions and I did a lot of genres before I found my musical love that was in 2011 when I heard the song Broken Hearted Melody by Sarah Vaughan on the Dutch radio and that moment was life-changing for me.

I started my journey in jazz and the first thing I did was produce a musical theatre show that was about the Grand Ladies of Jazz Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan and we've toured with that show for three seasons. In those three seasons, I started my jazz brand Set Oh Jazz, ZOJazz Lounge in Amsterdam, in my part of Amsterdam which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

I've been collaborating with a lot of different musicians in Holland and also outside of Holland and I have my band which I'm the director of. Within those 10 years, I also started the development of a new jazz and world stage with a rehearsal house in Amsterdam that goes by the name of the Zo Jazz Stage which will open the great concert hall this year or the beginning of 2026.

And that’s how I am developing myself or I have developed myself from being a little girl loving to sing and dance to being a cultural entrepreneur and also a lady entertainer on stage so I am in both worlds.

Your music weaves together jazz, soul, Latin, and Afro-Caribbean sounds. Who are some artists or traditions that have influenced your sound?

Mariah Carey has inspired me. And also the old soul singers like Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, and even gospel music by Mahalia Jackson. So it's a wide range of women all over the world that inspired my hearing, my voice, and my head. But initially, it was my Mother who inspired me to be the artist I am today.

Well, as a little girl, to be honest, the first singer that caught my eye was Chaka Khan. Her power, her way of singing, her way of putting her signature on music struck me as a little girl. And up to today, she's one of my favourite singers.

And I also like Celia Cruz. I like singers that have a good stage presence, and that know how to get the audience. And when I started singing jazz, I was really, really, really caught by Sarah Vaughan. And after that, I started to listen a lot to Ella Fitzgerald. But I was born in the 70s and I'm an 80s kid. So Whitney Houston, of course, also inspired me.

Your shows like The Grand Ladies of Jazz and The Jazz in Me pay tribute to legends while showcasing your artistry. Which of the “Grand Ladies” (Ella, Billie, Sarah, Nina) do you feel most connected to, and why?

Like I already said, the Grand Ladies of Jazz changed my life entirely. It changed my way of living, thinking, even the way of doing business, the way of putting other artists on the stage. Everything they present in their songs and the journey that they have gone through has inspired me so much because it's a story about women artists who had to fight hard to find their way and inspire other people.

And if you talk about Billie Holiday, her pain, I've never felt that. I never lived that lifestyle. But I can relate to what other people live and the pain they add to the way of singing. Also, Nina, because she was a fighter. And you can hear it in every song she sings. She was out there to make the people aware. So actually, these women have different ingredients that really motivate me to do what I do nowadays. Not only as a singer or as a cultural entrepreneur but also as someone wanting to connect people to jazz. So there are so many elements. So actually, I feel a connection with all the grand ladies of jazz.

I really relate a lot to Ella because she was somebody who took life lightly, worked hard, went out there and with her flair caught the people. But I also relate very much to Sarah Vaughan because every song she turned into another song with the way she sang it. Her interpretation was that nobody else could do it.

What inspired you to launch the ZOJazz Lounge, and how has it become a staple in the Amsterdam music scene?

I was inspired by the fact that my part of Amsterdam, Southeast, it's a vibrant place with so many different nationalities. We have like 80 different nationalities and all the crossover children with so many different cultures. And all the nightlife was in or is in the city centre of Amsterdam. And jazz, you can go and listen to seven days a week in Amsterdam. But we, as a vibrant part of Amsterdam, didn't have that place anymore. Boy Edgar was a big band leader and director. He played with Duke Ellington, with Sarah Vaughan. And we also had a very special lady in our part of the neighbourhood.

 Her name was Anita Porcelijn. And she was a jazz club owner. And she brought national and international jazz musicians to our part of the city. But after she passed away, jazz was not that alive anymore. There were a lot of jazz events, but not at a place where you could go through.

The most important thing, opening up the doors for musicians and vocalists and having a stage for doing crossovers with musicians from other genres that never even tried jazz. And how did it become a staple in the Amsterdam music scene? Well, I've been working on the ZO Jazz Lounge for 10 years. I alone am doing the promotion, doing the programming, actually everything. So the driving force behind the ZOJazz Lounge has always been me.

So I said in 2015, I wanted to start something that would be a monthly show and people could come out of their houses, have a cotton club vibe, see live music, have dinner, have drinks, see good musicians and see good vocalists. And I started that in August of 2015. Because from my point of view, my part of Amsterdam just needed this addition of music, of nightlife, of people coming together, of people becoming a community, a jazz-loving community. As also for people that did not know jazz, to get to know jazz.

And from that point, I've been networking a lot, nationally and internationally, and doing crossovers with other stages. So you always are connected with the latest things. And you keep on developing yourself.

How do you see jazz evolving globally today, especially among younger audiences?

Jazz has been picked up by a lot of young people around the world and we see this, especially I see this. If I go and take a look at the Amsterdam Conservatory for instance, it's full of young people and international young students that want to become a jazz musician or a jazz vocalist. Even in my neighbourhood, you will see a lot of young people who make crossover out of jazz music, not even knowing that it is jazz music, but they add it to their style or their genre within the urban culture.

So you can think about Afro-jazz, you can think about Latin jazz, you can think about hip-hop jazz, you can think about all kinds of crossovers. And that's how jazz defines itself, it has a new code on, but young people are still listening to it. And because of these music schools and young musicians other youngsters are getting aware of Jazz music.

But don't forget, the world is a global village now and due to the internet, you see a lot of young people picking up the bass, playing the piano, making new compositions that are based on composers from the previous centuries, performing the jazz standards that the grand ladies of jazz sang. So it's something you can see like live around you, but you can also follow it online. And the younger audience, they are really loving it. So yeah, it's alive.

Have you explored any Indian music: classical, Bollywood or jazz?

Of course, it's a part of my life. My mother is from Suriname, and Suriname is a country in South America. Suriname is one of the countries where the Indian immigrants went to, stayed, and became a part of the community. The Amerindians and Africans, descendants of African people, Dutch people, Javanese people, Lebanese people, Chinese people, and Indian people came together and the Surinamese culture is a mix of these people.

So I know Bollywood. I know Helen and Nanda, I know Amitabh Bachchan, I know Shahrukh Khan and we know everything. Before Suriname, there were two cinemas, Paro and Yasodra, and all Surinamese people went to see these old Indian movies. In Suriname, you also have a lot of Indian radio stations and they play Classical music, and Bollywood music from India.

And don't forget the crossover in the genres in the Caribbean. We have the chutney Bacchanal, we have Baita Gana with Kawina, and Kawina is Afro-Surinamese music. We also have an Afro music song in Hindi or Sarnami. In Suriname, there is another version of an Indian language, and that's Sarnami. Sarnami is a combination of Dutch, Surinamese and Hindi, maybe a little Urdu but everything comes together in the Caribbean. So for me, Indian music has always been a part of my life. So it's like coming home musically, the people, the food, the things I read on the street. So thankful to be here.

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