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Kendra Shank Quartet at the Green Mill, June 15-16 Print E-mail
Written by Don Berryman   
Saturday, 02 June 2007
"Kendra Shank is an original; a singer with a sound." - Abbey Lincoln
Image
Kendra Shank © John Abbot

Music lovers in Chicago are in for a rare treat as the critically-acclaimed singer Kendra Shank brings her stellar band on a short tour in June. Those in the Second City will have a chance to hear what a growing group of the savviest New Yorke jazz fans have learned to treasure, a jazz singer with talent and imagination who illuminates rarely covered songs with subtlety and grace. Like the intelligent, musically-complex songs of jazz legend Abbey Lincoln, which are featured on Kendra's new release A Spirit Free: Abbey Lincoln Songbook [Click here to read a Jazz Police review]. If you enjoy the music of Abbey Lincoln, Sheila Jordan, Edith Piaf and Shirley Horn, my guess is that you will like Kendra Shank. Because, like them, she has a way of owning whatever song she is singing.

Kendra Shank's touring group, also her working group of 8 years and featured on her Reflections and A Spirit Free CD's, includes the extraordinary pianist Frank Kimbrough, bassist Dean Johnson, and drummer Tony Moreno. In their Midwest appearances, the Kendra Shank Quartet promises to showcase selections from A Spirit Free, as well as fresh arrangements of standards and originals from previous releases. Kendra and her band are known for their exciting improvisational group interplay, often with vocals in the role of a horn. Their genre-transcending music often reveals Shank's folk music roots as well as country and world music influences. On Tuesday, June 5th they will perform at University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE. On Thursday, June 7th they play the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis, MN. And on Friday, June 15th and Saturday, June 16th they hit the Green Mill Jazz Club in Chicago.
Image
Kendra Shank © John Abbot

Kendra Shank was originally a folk singer/guitarist based in Seattle, but during a 1988 residency in Paris, the influence of jazz artists, especially Billie Holiday inspired her to find a new path. Her study with jazz vocalist Jay Clayton in Seattle and 'paying dues' performing in clubs payed off. In 1994 Shirley Horn co-produced Shank's debut compact disc, Afterglow, featuring pianist Larry Willis and saxophonist Gary Bartz, and invited Kendra to perform as her guest at the Village Vanguard in New York. Kendra Shank relocated to New York and has lived there for the last ten years.

In addition to her recordings as a leader, Shank was guest guitarist on Abbey Lincoln's CD Over The Years (Verve), sang vocalise lines on Peter Leitch's Blues On the Corner CD (Reservoir), and has performed live with Jay Clayton. She has been featured on National Public Radio's JazzSet and Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland, and was recognized among "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" in the 1999 Down Beat International Critics Poll.

Kendra Shank has headlined at clubs and festivals internationally, including: Blue Note, Birdland, Iridium, Jazz Standard, JVC Jazz Festival (New York); Blues Alley (Washington, D.C.); Scullers, Regatta Bar (Boston); Jazz Bakery (Los Angeles); Kimball's East (Emeryville, CA - Bay Area); Jazz Alley (Seattle); The Green Mill (Chicago); The Dakota (Minneapolis); Body & Soul (Tokyo); Duc des Lombards, Jazz in Marciac Festival, Jazz à Vienne Festival (France); and the Edmonton and Calgary Jazz Festivals in Canada. She has taught clinics at Jazz in Marciac Festival, University of North Carolina-Asheville, The New School (New York City), and Brooklyn/Queens Conservatory of Music (New York City).

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Frank Kimbrough
Pianist/composer Frank Kimbrough has been active on New York’s jazz scene for nearly twenty-five years. He is a founding member and composer-in-residence of the Jazz Composers Collective (est. 1992). His work has been cited by the Downbeat Critics Poll each year since 2001, and he has appeared on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz and NPR’s All Things Considered. Frank has released over a dozen recordings as a leader, and has appeared on nearly forty more as a sideman. His most recent CD, Lullabluebye (Palmetto) spent 8 weeks at #2 on the CMJ Jazz Charts in 2004. He has toured extensively, with appearances in the US, and around the world. Frank’s work has received funding from Meet the Composer, The National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America’s Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project. Along with Ben Allison, he co-leads the Collective’s Herbie Nichols Project. As a sideman, he has been a member of the Grammy-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra since 1993, and has also toured and recorded with saxophonists Dewey Redman and Lee Konitz, and with fellow JCC composers-in-residence Ben Allison, Ted Nash, Michael Blake, and Ron Horton, among others. Play, a new CD featuring drummer Paul Motian and bassist Masa Kamaguchi was released in May 2006 on Palmetto.

Kendra Shank Quartet Tour Dates:

Tuesday, June 5
University of Nebraska - Lincoln, NE
"Jazz in June" - Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery & Sculpture Garden
12th & "R" Streets / www.jazzinjune.com
7 PM to 9 PM / Free Admission, outdoor concert

Thursday, June 7
Dakota Jazz Club - Minneapolis, MN
1010 Nicollet Avenue S. / 612-332-1010
www.dakotacooks.com
7 PM & 9 PM Sets / Tickets: $15 & $12

Friday, June 15 & Saturday, June 16
Green Mill Jazz Club - Chicago, IL
4802 N. Broadway / 773-878-5552
www.greenmilljazz.com
Fri. 9 PM to 1 AM / Sat. 8 PM to Midnight / $12 cover

Biographical information was adapted from kendrashank.com and frankkimbrough.com.
 
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