“There’s nothing better than hearing what you’ve written interpreted by a voice that understands and improves every word.” –Chris Caswell

Karrin Allyson

Born in Kansas and raised in Omaha and San Francisco, Karrin Allyson studied classical piano before being turned on to jazz (and the songs of Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald) as a college student. After graduating from the University of Nebraska with a degree in piano, she spent her early professional career in Minneapolis, then moved to Kansas City to work at her uncle’s club, The Phoenix.

Karrin Allyson

In the past decade, Karrin Allyson has made ten recordings for Concord reflecting classic American jazz roots as well as French and Brazilian influences. In fact her minor in college was French (her major was music), and her love of both French and Portuguese seeps into her live performances as well as recordings, most notably on From Paris to Rio. Her 2001 CD, Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane, was nominated for a Grammy (best female vocalist). Wild for You (2005), a tribute to the popular songs of her youth, garnered another Grammy nomination "These are the songs I grew up with," she said, "the songs that made me want to sing in the first place. Before I got into jazz, I studied classical piano. But when I became a teenager, I heard these songs, and they piqued my interest. I got the sheet music and learned to play them and pretty soon thought, 'I'd like to do this for a living.’ ”

Footprints, released this summer on Concord, brings Allyson back to the classic jazz literature. Working with lyricist Chris Caswell, classic jazz works by Nat Adderley, Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane and more are transformed into modern songs, along with contributions from Oscar Brown, Jr. and Jon Hendricks. Guest vocalists Hendricks and Nancy King join Allyson along with a smokin’ trio of Bruce Barth, Peter Washington and Todd Strait. “As a singer, I feel very influenced by instrumentalists and by many classic instrumental songs,” says Allyson. “It’s tricky to put lyrics to the great, iconic tunes, because you want to do them justice.” Justice is well served. [click here for jazz police review]

Nancy King © Andea Canter

The great guitarist Herb Ellis labeled Nancy King “the greatest living jazz singer.” Arriving in San Francisco from Springfield, OR in the 1960s, she met future husband Sonny King at the Jazz Workshop and joined his band. In addition to performing for the next two years at the Workshop, she worked with Vince Guaraldi, John Handy, Sonny Donaldson, and Flip Nunez in San Francisco, and studied with Jon Hendricks. After moving to Las Vegas and then back to Oregon to raise her sons, King recorded her first album and made some appearances in New York before starting a collaboration with pianist/composer Steve Christofferson, with whom she has performed on the west coast since the 1980s. She released Straight Into Your Heart (Mons, 1997) with Christopherson and the Dutch Metropole Orchestra and appeared with Ray Brown on his Some Of My Best Friends Are Singers (Telarc, 1998), touring with Brown and his trio during the next year. Recent collaborations include performances with Karrin Allyson and Elvis Costello, continued recordings with Steve Christofferson, and an acclaimed MaxJazz release in 2006 featuring duets with Fred Hersch. Notes vocalist Mark Murphy, “Her singing flies between our ears with a certainty of inevitable rightness that is at least... simply thrilling.”