Italy, Switzerland, New Recording News, and More . . .

Karrin’s Road Words - March 2009

Hello and thank you for checking in. At the start of the year I was summoned for jury duty here in NYC, something I could no longer put off. It lasted for two weeks! It was really very interesting and I enjoyed my fellow jurors.
Then, the inauguration of President Obama!! A friend kindly invited me to join her to see this at the Apollo Theatre here in Harlem NY. That was exciting to say the least. And what about Aretha's hat? I also loved Yo Yo Ma's quartet performance. They all deserve medals for playing in that cold! I was glued to the television for the rest of that momentous day.

Then to Colorado for two performances: Telluride and Montrose. The folks were great to us and what a beautiful area. (No invitation from Calvin Klein to visit his ranch though - ha!)

I had some welcome time with my family in between that and going to the Grammy's in LA. The Grammy’s was as usual, an exciting event. We stayed at the Biltmore and hung out with good friends. Big congratulations to Cassandra Wilson! I have always admired her work as well as the other lovely nominees. Also big congratulations to Charles Bruffy - Kansas City Chorale conductor and his groups!

I got to attend a classical concert in Bloomington Indiana with Bill McG, who conducted a wonderful program, including one of his compositions. What a wonderful Valentine's gift.

We then left for Europe, a one week tour in Italy and the rest in Bern, Switzerland.
Among the fond memories there: Driving along the west coast down to Sicily, taking the ferry over - such a beautiful country.

One night, we had a heated, late night foozball tournament with the owner in a hotel where we were the only guests. We also had to check ourselves out in the morning because there was no one to be found! (We think we kept him up too late) We, of course, ate wonderful meals there, even on the road, driving. One can eat like royalty in Italy! Their 'truck stops' are stocked with wine, hams, cheese, olives to purchase along the way as well as wonderful freshly prepared food. What a concept!

The audiences were lovely to us. We took a train through the Alps from Italy to Switzerland. Unfortunately it was dark! We passed the time by playing Mad Libs. Needless to say by the end of that week the band (not me :) got pretty 'creative' with those.

Marian's club in Bern was welcome, especially to stay in one place for a week. It’s a sweet and intimate club on a 'hill' surrounded by the Alps. The audiences were wonderful to us there, as were the staff.

Our latest CD due out in early summer is a "Best of Karrin Allyson" project. We've been busy choosing material and sequencing it and getting the artwork ready. Since we have 11 cd's out there, there was a lot to choose from. But it’s fun to go back and listen. Of course I have very fond memories of making those CD's with all of those wonderful players. It's a project I've been wanting to do for awhile. We will probably go into the studio again later in the summer for the next 'new thing.'

Also heard some great music out & about: Joe Locke's band at Dizzy's with singer Kenny Washington - what a wonderful night of music. And another great night of music with Ann Hampton Callaway at Dizzy's with her wonderful band. I was invited to sit in - she and have a great time singing together. The Camerata Orchestra in Bloomington with fabulous pianist Chris O'Reilly and Bill McGlaughlin conducting. The pianist, Mike Longo at Small's. Also am reading a book called "On This Day" by Nathaniel Bellows, a new acquaintance I met in the amazing Ms Phoebe's Pilates class.

Meanwhile, Spring has finally knocked on the door here in NYC. I am more than ready to let her in! I look forward to seeing you all soon out there somewhere. I hope these times are finding you mostly filled with hope and as much joy as possible.
Thanks for checking in.
Karrin

Brazil, Europe, NYC and a few other wonderful places . . .

Hello -

Last I wrote it was just before our trip to Brazil in September. We started out at the new Mistura Fina in Rio. One of our hosts and friends (Christian) met us and took us to a wonderful Chorascaria restaurant where we ate way too much delicious food! Mistura Fina is now situated right on Ipanema, a very beautifully distracting view! I was honored that the lovely Joyce and her husband came by for a set. I'm a huge fan of their music.

We went onto Ouro Preto, far up in the hills north of Rio. Traveling on a very deluxe bus, we got to see a lot of the country which is so welcoming after being on so many airplanes. This was the maiden voyage of this new festival in Ouro Preto in what was once a grand old casino. They had a great and enthusiastic crowd. We got to hear several other Brazilian acts which is always a pleasure.

Onto Sao Paulo to Bourbon Street and another wonderful crowd. Our hosts at Bourbon Street always takes very good care of us. Freddie Cole and his band were in the audience too, and he sat in with us - a true legend!

Back to the US with a quick stop in Kansas City at the Blue Room. It was great to see a packed house with so many friends. The Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, and her husband Gary were in the audience. It’s always a great honor to see her at my gigs.

Next was another quick trip overseas to a festival in Holland - The Hoorn Jazz Festival at a beautiful (and COLD) place! Our hosts took very good care of us and it's so gratifying to see jazz flourishing in places all over the world. This festival had about 6 or more acts and the crowd could not get enough.

I had a little time off between travels abroad and heard some good music while at home in NYC (see below)

Back to Europe again. First was the Blue Note in Milan; then to Ferrara, a sweet performance space that was once an old fort. What an amazing crowd we had there.

Next was in Bratislava, Slovakia for the Jazz Days Festival, another example of jazz thriving. It is a huge festival, packed with very hungry jazz fans and they were wonderful to us. Then, to Vienna to one of the oldest jazz clubs there. It was my second time there and it's always a pleasure.

We took the overnight train which was an interesting and mostly good experience. We regretted not being able to SEE the Alps since it was at night. Then to Zurich - what a beautiful city that is! The small and upscale club there is a huge success. It’s like playing in someone's lovely living room packed with listeners. Last stop was Istanbul at JC's Jazz Club. Istanbul is an extremely bustling city and also full of jazz fans. The club is situated right on the Bosphorous, looking across to the Asian side of Istanbul. We saw many friends we had met on the trip before. It was nice to be back.

Back in NYC for election day. We had some friends over to celebrate. Then to Schenectady, NY at a very cool venue, "A Place for Jazz." with a great crowd. I also did a masterclass earlier that day with some singers which was great fun.

Then we headed West to Salt Lake City where we joined one of our favorite jazz promoters, Hank O'Neal. The series he has is very ambitious and it seems all of the concerts are sold out. He really knows how to present concerts and host the musicians. We love him for it!

Back to NYC at the Iridium for a week. I had never played this club before and really enjoyed it. They made us feel very much at home. Then we played another very cool series at St. Cecelia's (the Saint of music in Grand Rapids, MI. It had been almost 7 years since I had been there. It’s all run by women and they were fabulous to us.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Poland! (where else?) to a great festival in Kalisz. Our friends/hosts, Pawel and Yavuz, were great to us as was the crowd. And it was another example of hundreds of hungry jazz fans. Poland rocks!

One last performance of 2008 - hard to believe! Scullers was packed and we were thrilled to announce the Grammy Nomination for "Imagina". I plan on attending the Grammy's in LA in February. That’s always an amazing experience.

I heard some great music along the way over these past few months: I attended the “Jazz for Obama” at the 92nd St Y with my good friend Ann Hampton Callaway. Among them we heard Kurt Elling, Jeff Watts, Brad Meldau, Dianne Reeves, Christian McBride, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hank Jones.

Some of my listening along the way included: My friend and colleague, Chris Caswell, had a premier of a violin concerto at Carnegie Hall; Virginia Mahew's group at Dizzy's/Lincoln Center; the other acts in Ouro Preto; the Carlisle to hear my friend Ed Howard with Steve Tyrell; Dizzy's to hear Bucky Pizzarelli with Ken Peplowski; some wonderful chamber/classical music at a house concert on the upper west side.

And I’m reading a good book - Wendell Berry's "Jayber Crow.”

Thanks for checking in! Happy New Year and I look forward to seeing you 'out there' in the crowd very soon.
Karrin

Minnesota to Missouri, Europe to California & Seattle & More

Hello -
Welcome back to our site. I haven't written since April, so here goes!
The Dakota Bar and Grill in Minneapolis is always like going home to me. My Mom and sister live there, as well as many friends and I spent several good, formative years in the Twin Cities. Steve Nelson, Rod and Larry Kohut joined us along with drummer Phil Hey.

Next was Springfield, Missouri at the University there, a beautiful renovated theater, old friends and great musicians - Kim Park and Gerald Spaits joined us. Travel was challenging as I recall - barely making that gig due to flight troubles, but the audience was great.

Then to Jazz at the Bistro in St Louis, another great jazz supper club with lots of history - a big pleasure to be there.

In May we played the Hague Jazz Festival-- a huge and musically inclusive event! We had a great set with Rod, Todd and bassist John Goldsby. More flight trouble with lost luggage! So, we bought clothes, borrowed cymbals and microphones, copied music, then after a set to a tremendously enthusiastic crowd, we got back to the hotel. Lo and behold, there was our luggage! Such is life on the road :)

Off to the West Coast in June. First stop was in LA/Hollywood at Catalina's with Larry Koonse, Tom Warrington and Todd. Catalina's is a favorite - another great jazz supper club with an amazing history.

Then to another favorite: Jazz Alley in Seattle, which feels more like a concert setting than a club while still keeping it's very intimate and classy setting. We love it there!

Next was back to California in beautiful Santa Cruz to Kuumbwa Jazz Center. Amazing crowd! We were definitely seeing signs of the fires they were having there then. We wanted to stay but needed to move onto the new Yoshi's in San Francisco - what a beautiful club, and great crowd. We were able to stay in San Francisco for a few days for R&R before our performance at the Filoli Festival. It is an amazing outdoor concert in the beautiful Bay Area I was joined by Rod, Todd and bassist John Witala. If you're in that area and have a chance to attend one of these, it's a great afternoon.

In June we were off to Europe. The first stop was for the Estoril Jazz Fest in Portugal, a lovely outdoor setting ... with Rod, Ed Howard and drummer Anthony Penciotti. Next was Madrid to a funky little club there for a few nights. We met some lovely people there. Off to Poland in Gadansk for the “Ladies Jazz Festival.” We shared the stage with Toshiko Akioshi and several other women in jazz.

Our final stop in Europe was in San Javier, Spain for their festival - another cool, outdoor event with a wonderful crowd.

I had some much needed time off at home in NYC, then to Litchfield, Connecticut for their Jazz Camp. I really enjoyed teaching there. I was so proud of 'my' students at their concert! And also had a few fun musical moments of our own with other faculty members: Virginia Mahew, Dave Stryker, Steve Johns, Andy Jafee, Don Braden.

Returning to "Happy Valley" in North Hampton, MA we played at the Iron Horse in August - a very cool, funky music room and what a crowd we had there! Rod, Todd, Ed and I had a ball. Then onto Marblehead, MA to help end their summer jazz series which takes place in an old church with a packed, enthusiastic house. What a sweet town that is!

While I was in the area, I got to attend a concert at the Marlborough Music Festival: a wonderful classical music event with many luminaries. The music was very inspiring! Next tour is Brazil, which needless to say, we are looking forward to.
Please check in often and thank you for your support of the music!

Karrin