November 1, 2013

Greetings!

We have news to share with you! My new Holiday CD “Yuletide Hideaway” is out and ready. We already got a nice review in USA Today; check it out here. You can buy it on my NEW website Karrin.com Also look out for reviews in Downbeat, Hothouse, and KC’s JAM magazine. We hope you like both the recording AND the new website– My team has worked hard and I am so grateful to them. Also have many new dates including Los Angeles at Catalina’s Nov 1-3. Chris Caswell will be joining us and we’ll do some of “Yuletide Hideaway” material, as well as some new originals and audience favorites.

In December we have THREE fun CD release concerts: Dec 14 in Northhampton MA, Unity Church, Dec 17, 18 & 19 at Birdland in NYC (late show each night only, following Michael Feinstein)and in Minneapolis at the Dakota Bar & Grill on December 22 and 23. Come share some Yuletide cheer with us!

Last I wrote, we were just about to go into the studio in LA…. what an experience! In doing this holiday project independently (“Yuletide Hideaway”) which I’m very proud of– there still are hoops to jump through. The initial studio we had booked was…. shall we say, not up to par– so there we were (Chris Caswell, Lee Sklar, Todd, Rod, myself and BIll McG) in the parking lot– trying to secure another LA studio THAT VERY DAY. Luckily, with Chris’ and Lee’s contacts, we found “Dave’s Room” (a great studio in Hollywood) We waited for a call back from Dave (a life-saver) to let us know that indeed, the client he had booked was a ‘no show’ (apparently this client was passed out in his hotel room and un-reachable) sorry, but lucky for us!

So, we went in that evening just to get set up and back early the next morning (not anyone’s ideal time to record- but we had LOTS to do in a SHORT amount of time) In fact, we ended up doing 19 songs in 1 & 1/2 days– that included about 1/3 of the songs on our new “Yuletide Hideaway” and more original material to be released next year– WHEW!! I cannot say enough about Chris, Lee, Todd, Rod, Bill and Dave– troopers ALL ~ We got it all ‘in the can’ ! I am always honored to be playing with my players…. and to add the amazing bassist Lee Sklar to this mix is a real blessing.

Moving ahead… back to NYC, had a fun rehearsal with the Newport Now60 group–great fun trying tunes with all these pros for our tour next year (Randy Brecker, Anat Cohen, Clarence Penn, Larry Grenadier, Mark Whitfield and Peter Martin) These concerts will be amazing! Was able to spend some delicious time in Pioneer Valley… had a great gig with the drummer Claire Aurelius’ trio- we had a blast, mostly just calling tunes, never had played all together until then– to a wonderful crowd at the Clarion in Northampton MA.

My sister Elisa and her son Paul were there too, we dropped him off at his first year of college in the area…Yay Paul!

Also while there, I had some great ‘down time’ (but we gotta all sometimes wonder, is there really such a thing…??) with friends Lois, and Stan & Barb Dunn– we had a lovely time. Next performance I had in that area was “Watermelon Wednesdays” with the wonderful musicians Dave Wertman and James Argiro at the most unique venue– a chapel in the midst of Whately MA– total pastoral beauty. We thank our wonderful hosts Paul and Claudia.
Off to Topeka KS, one of my ‘old haunts’ (in the best of ways) where the Jazz Society there brings in world-class talent (check out their schedule!)
Being a home-girl, I may be biased but their schedule isn’t — and Dave O hosts everyone magnificently. Got to play with my KC favorites:
Bob Bowman, Gerald Spaits, Paul Smith and of course Todd Strait and Rod Fleeman.
Back to Kansas City for two really unique events:

“12th Street Jump” (a wonderful comedy/radio/music hour– aired all over… check them out) and I was a presenter for TedxUMKC (with Rod)
… what a great experience!

Back to NYC– lower east side of Manhattan– where we (Bill McG and myself) mixed the new “Yuletide Hideaway” CD with wonderful engineer Todd Whitelock– I hope you get your copy TODAY and enjoy it– it could be one of your favorites in the holiday collection!
Off to the “Jersey Shore” to celebrate a wonderful birthday with Bill and his family… loved celebrating with all of those wonderful people!
Then back to the North West– Seattle/ Jazz Alley, one of our favorite places. Whenever you’re in that area, you must go there- great staff, great music, and wonderful food too– worth the trip. Also thanks to KPLU and Jeff Johnson !!

Back to NYC to another very favorite place (I do mean these ‘favorites’ 🙂 BIRDLAND!! What can I say? It’s the bomb! A great week with Bruce Barth, Ed Howard and Todd Strait– great crowds and the vibe there is the best.

And just got back from Miami, where I was a guest for “Festival Miami” at the University. I got to hear a great friend’s concert while there (Jose Sebrier- conductor) with the Costa Rica Symphony, also the wonderful Shelly Berg (Dean of Jazz Studies there) played Rhapsody in Blue with them (very cool!) … I worked with Jazz Vocal I Group for our concert (and their excellent director Kate Reid, and fabulous student rhythm section) it’s a whole different experience for me singing with a jazz choir– a real treat and they sound beautiful ! Not to mention the killer faculty rhythm section: Shelly Berg, Chuck Bergeron, Brian Lynch, and John — thank you!!

Last stop for now, to “MIM” in Phoenix. If you haven’t been to the “Musical Instrument Museum” yet, you MUST GO. It’s truly one-of-a-kind. And within it, they have a one-of-a-kind performance space… we had a ball.

Meanwhile my team and I are working hard to get all this out to you, along with a new website, (thank you Mary!!) and big thanks to Dean Hampton, who has been my webmaster for years, now handing it over to Mary–Dean has handled it all w/TLC and I thank him so much.

Thank you for listening, hope to see you out there somewhere, SOON.

Warmly, Karrin