We’ve had quite the two weeks! Started out in St Paul, MN with O’Shaughnessy’s Theater ‘Women of Substance’ Series (beautiful auditorium). Always good to be in the Twin Cities as I get to see my mom and sister. Ingrid Jensen on trumpet sounded wonderful. I loved her playing – very soulful & ‘modern.’ Hope to work with her again. Pianist Laura Caviani made some cool arrangements for us and she – as always sounded great. Had some ‘men of substance’ too 🙂 – Danny, Bob and Todd – who then went to Paris with me the next day. And many thanks to radio station KBEM-FM in Minneapolis!

Great to be in Paris again but too short! Played in a beautiful little theatre outside Paris in Corbeil to a great and enthusiastic crowd. Then back to the states the very next day to Lincoln, NE (via Chicago and Minneapolis) to play the Lied Center. ‘Jazz with Strings Attached’ with conductor Bill McGlaughlin’ leading his arrangements of such tunes as What’s New, Parisian Thouroughfare, Cinema Paradiso, among others. The 10-piece string ‘sinfonia’ was comprised of the best Lincoln and Omaha players. They sounded lovely. So did Rod Fleeman, Bob, Paul and Todd. Another very enthusiastic crowd of over 1000. What a thrill that is for me to play with strings. Bill’s arrangements are very special – they leave room for us ‘jazzers’ to stretch out, while having interesting stuff for the string players to play. Many thanks to Lincoln’s public radio station, Charles Bethea and the Berman Foundation for all of their support.

Next day onto Cedar Rapids IA to play with the Kirkwood College Big Band (with Laura Caviani). Great crowd and thanks very much to KCCK – a 24 hour (!) JAZZ station! Great station!! Then…onto Omaha, NE for a ‘Habitat for Humanity’ fundraiser. This was a very special evening. Over 1200 people showed up and we had to turn many away. We raised $13,000 that night for ‘Habitat’ – an ELECTRIC night! Rod, Paul, Gerald Spaits & Todd were wonderful. This was a Christmas present for my father, AND my Dear Grandmother came (she’s 94!)

I hope you are all safe and happy. So heartbreaking to hear about yet another plane tragedy in NYC. My thoughts are with those folks involved!

With Love & Peace,
Karrin