Late night, wine drinking, Jazz vocals..

10 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Vocals, EASY LISTENING: Crooners/Vocals



Details:
Katie King


Acclaimed for her intricate storytelling and personal phrasing, Miss King earnestly moves the non-jazz appetite while at the same time fulfilling the hopes of the intellect. Those of us still hashing out the sea -- tales of Ella, Billie, Sarah, and Carmen become quiet with just a few notes from this new soul of post-Bop.
Katie is no traditionalist or a charlatan of any Bop. Her poignant and arresting style is instant proof of the characteristics she's mastered, the elements she braves, and the inner ground she seeks. A major root of her journey is the understanding of risk. Can there be freedom without it?


Review of Mostly Ballads by Dave Nathan

Katie King made her recording debut with Mostly Ballads, which showed her to be an expressive jazz singer with a sultry, bluesy delivery. As its title suggests, this CD emphasizes ballads but doesn't exclude comfortable medium tempos.
The Seattle-based vocalist was going for a dusky, torchy jazz-noir ambiance, and the well known standards she chooses (which include "You're My Thrill," "How Deep Is The Ocean," "Don't Explain" and "Baltimore Oriole") were quite appropriate for the mood of the session. "If I Should Lose You" is given a likable Afro-Cuban makeover, and equally appealing is King's sparse version of Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue." A satisfying... debut, Mostly Ballads indicated that King was an artist to keep an eye on.




Once upon a time â donât ask a singer when; she wonât tell you anyway â a wee little King named Katie made an impressive âdebutâ and the world soon discovered she had a unique voice. This happened in Northern California, where, thanks to her family, Katie heard lots of music at home: mostly symphonic. At age eight, the little princess wisely chose to follow how parents and siblings when they moved to Eugene, Oregon. There, at eleven (she remembers the moment with great clarity); Katie had an epiphany in a record store when she first heard the haunting voice of Billie Holiday. As Katie recalls, âI felt she was preaching to me and I was the only one in the congregation. All my friends were into rock then and they considered me some sort of freak.â From that moment on, Katie concentrated on a hipper set of âfriends:â jazz singers she worshipped on a first-name basis â Billie, Ella, Sarah and Carmen. They didnât know at the time, but they were the mentors who helped shaped Katie Kingâs careerâ¦and still do. To her everlasting credit, Katie is responsible for the instinctive way she became a distillation of those four giants. ...In 1985, Katie moved to Seattle, where her gradual acceptance into the local jazz scene accelerated her learning experiences personally and professionally. She was blessed by exposure to very different accompanists. âPianists Bob Nixon and Billy Wallace had very different personalities and approaches, but that kind of diversity so valuable to an up-and-coming singer. They taught me so much. Bob spurred me on to learn blues correctly; Billy had a thing about keeping tunes in a particular realm.â Jeff Johnson showed me how to be in the moment; his passion blows my mind. Talk about passion and soul: Iâll never forget how much Floyd Standifer (trumpet and tenor) taught me about versatility, and playing to a club. Those are just a few of the great Seattle musicians Iâve worked with, but Seattle is such a great jazz scene, Iâm afraid Iâll leave out many important players: pianist-arranger Bob Hammer; guitarist Veneet Davidson, Harry Holbert; instrumental gap fillers such as trumpeter Jay Thomas, saxophonist Rick Mandyck and Brian Kent, bassist Clipper Anderson, Chris Clark and Mike Barnett, Combo Craig ( The most creative Craig Flory, Ron Weinstein and Mike Stone) ; drummers Brian Kirk, Ken French, Reade Whitwell and Steven Bentley. By the way Steve came up with name Sophia for my daughter. My husband and I couldnât come up with one eight years ago. Watch out for that little ham. Sheâs always singing and dancing. And there are newcomers like Chris Symer, bass, and DâVonne Lewis drums.â Katie also realizes that the mechanics of her art are equally important. âMaestro David Kyle was my techniques teacher, and another wonderfully intense jazz instructor was Jerome Grey, who taught me phrasing and timing.â
Now, Katie is gaining a well-deserved reputation for her teaching skills. Her home in Renton a few miles south of Seattle contains a comfortable, high-ceilinged music room where she not only gives private piano lessons, but also presides over a semi-private group of aspiring local jazz singers. Katie also has classes at Seattle Central Community College, where for nearly a dozen years she has been sharing her on the job experiences with vocal students and emphasizing breathing, rhythm, intonation, how to begin and end a song, finding and remembering the right key for each tune, and above all, how to use your uniqueness as your strongest tool. Considering Kingâs growing consort and her expanding database of fans and students, Katie is strengthening her bonds and spreading her message throughout the Northwest venues. âI must have sung in 90 of the clubs in this area. Some that stand out include Dmitriouâs Jazz Alley, The Four Seasons, The Fairmont Olympic, The Sheraton, Pampas Club at El Gaucho (where I learned so much from Floyd), the KPLU Jazz Cruise, Bumbershoot, Serafinaâs, Tulaâs and so many intimate restaurants that I canât remember them all, and, naturally, all the weddings and private parties.
Looking ahead, Katie is gathering material for CD #5. Her first four â Mostly Ballads, Jazz Figures, One For My Baby and Side Trip â reveal quite a cross-section of material, back-up musicians and production values. So Katie can be relied on to take the necessary time to choose carefully and not repeat herself in any way, except quality; she has a reputation to maintain. She may surprise her followers and eventually issue an album that on her most desired goal: self accompaniment. If she succeeds it would require navigating the less traveled road taken by Diana Krall, Norah Jones and above all Katieâs idol, Shirley Horn. âEver notice how different they sounded, how personal their singing became, when they played for themselves?â
If Katie masters that, sheâll be a complete, self-sufficient: the usual array of colorful scarves and wigs, plus those knowing blue/green eyes; the smoky, sensuous voice, and of course the abilities to belt a jazz live or tell a story with her insightful command of lyrics. The constant that will most please her followers: a quality known as (if youâll pardon a dyslexic pun) the King of swing. Harvey Siders/Jazz Times