Award-winning jazz vocalist and pianist Jackie Yin Payne captivates audiences with her charismatic presence, warm timbre, and rare command of both voice and instrument.

A versatile artist with an impressive range, Jackie takes listeners on a journey through the Great American Songbook, Brazilian classics, and the popular hits of today. A master of improvisation, she uses her voice like an instrument — delivering compelling solos and exploring the harmonic possibilities of each piece. Her self-accompanied performances showcase an organic unity between her smooth vocals and skillful piano playing that few performers can claim.

Born in Beijing to parents of Chinese, Persian, and Korean heritage, Jackie began singing at two years old, studied violin under the Suzuki method at three, and began formal piano training at the Central Conservatory of Music — giving her first public performance at five. After discovering jazz in high school, she pursued it with the same rigor she had brought to classical training — teaching herself from recordings with a finely honed musical ear and absorbing worldwide musical influences in the cultural melting pot of Hong Kong, where she established herself as a working professional musician.

Jackie's multi-lingual repertoire — spanning English, Portuguese, French, Italian, Mandarin, and Cantonese — allows her to reach a truly global audience. Her original compositions blend lush harmonies with infectious grooves, creating a sound that is at once cool, sophisticated, and unmistakably her own.

As an arranger, Jackie specializes in small jazz ensemble writing and large vocal group adaptations, bringing vibrant color through reharmonization and rhythmic interplay — always in service of the lyric. She has a particular passion for the singer-pianist tradition — artists like Shirley Horn and Eliane Elias who command both instruments simultaneously — and an emerging interest in sacred jazz: hymns, jazz settings of the Mass, and devotional repertoire that sit at the intersection of her musical and spiritual life.

An equally devoted educator, Jackie teaches at the collegiate level and brings the same depth and curiosity to the classroom that she brings to the stage. Her teaching is rooted in the conviction that ear training — the ability to truly hear music before playing or singing it — is the foundation of all musicianship. She has a particular passion for jazz transcription, and her students benefit from her rare ability to bridge rigorous music theory with real-world performance. Jackie works with students of all ages and backgrounds, both locally and internationally.

Jackie holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas and is the winner of Jazz Quest 2010 Hong Kong–Shanghai, an inter-city competition for young jazz artists. After earning a degree in international journalism under a full scholarship to Hong Kong Baptist University — home to one of Asia's top-ranked journalism programs — she formalized her jazz studies through Berklee Online before completing her graduate work at UNT. She is based in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.