Professional Bio
RSM Executive producer Rita Selby is a NJ-bred, NY-based vocalist, pianist, composer, lyricist and producer. A graduate of William Paterson University, where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Classical Piano and Voice Performance, Selby began classical piano study from age 5, competed in her first competition at age 7, and went on to post-grad jazz piano study with Jim McNeely and Kenny Werner, jazz voice with Ann Marie Moss, and classical piano with Peter Serkin.
Selby’s genre-bending style blends influences from jazz to classical, blues to latin, and bossa nova to contemporary - considering it all to be ‘world music’. She has performed at such New York venues as Birdland, 92nd St. Y, Cornelia Street Café, Sweet Rhythm, Symphony Space, and The DiMenna Center, to name a few, as well as in Europe. Selby performed as orchestral pianist with the Wayne Chamber Orchestra and with the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble under the baton of Pulitzer prize-winning composer and conductor Charles Wuorinen, on the way to coming “indelibly under the spell of [Ella] Fitzgerald and the jazz-vocal tradition she embodies.” (Kalbacher)
Founding Rita Selby Music (RSM) in 1995, Selby turned full-force to jazz singing and composing, and released her debut album Serenade to Bluish Grey that year, with its self-penned title track and liner notes by Hot House magazine founder/editor-in-chief Gene Kalbacher. She followed up with three subsequent RSM albums in 2005, 2017, and 2018. Her discography includes collaborations with an eclectic roster of world-class artists, leaders in their own right, such as Rufus Reid, Peter Bernstein, Bruce Barth, John DiMartino, Doug Weiss, Andy Eulau, Thierry Arpino, Rob Paparozzi, and Daniel Binelli, to name a few. Parallel to the launch of her early recording catalog, Selby served as a Contributing Editor for Hot House and freelance journalist, conducting definitive interviews with jazz legends and boundary-pushing innovators from Al DiMeola and Pat Martino to Jacques Loussier.
Alongside her musical career, Selby has maintained a parallel career in the legal field, supporting attorneys in intellectual property litigation and private equity finance. Concurrently, she earned a Master’s degree in Business Management and Leadership, combining her musical background with extensive professional experience in both business and management. Guided by the mentorship of the late Ann Ruckert, co-founder of the Jazz Foundation of America, Selby continues to push musical boundaries with her signature “highly listenable jazz songs.”
Always growing, Selby has pursued intensive institute-level study of psychoanalysis for the past four years, bringing music, business, and psychology together to explore and strengthen the human spirit.
On August 12, 2026, RSM released Tell Me: Songs of Peace & Love, Selby’s fifth studio album, featuring expansive horn arrangements. The album opens and closes with new versions of the title track from her 1995 debut album Serenade to Bluish Grey—an expanded horn arrangement and a duo version, respectively—with Peter Bernstein performing on all three versions. The new album has 9 entries across 7 categories for consideration at the 69th Annual GRAMMY® Awards. Drawing on her experience as a vocalist, pianist, composer, lyricist, and producer, Selby continues to develop her musical voice and identity. Tell Me: Songs of Peace & Love brings together Selby’s new music with performances and compositions by a distinguished circle of New York jazz luminaries. The album celebrates this musical journey while expressing Selby’s ongoing commitment to creating, producing and performing music on her own terms. Details and audio here.