“Shank is supremely talented, innovative and at the same time readily accessible. There's no one else quite like her." -- Will Friedwald, Village Voice 

Kendra Shank©John Abbott

Most recently, Kendra has been on tour in support of her spring 2009 release, Mosaic, a masterpiece that prompted Donald Elfman (All About Jazz) to describe her as “an appealing and intelligent interpreter of known and unknown material, a startlingly inventive improviser and the possessor of a rich, darkish voice that draws in the listener with feelings both familiar and brand new.” Accolades have followed the release and her live performances all the way to Australia, where The Age reviewed her Wangaratta performance: “Shank was terrific: free of artifice, and equipped with rhythmic instincts that allowed her to stretch and contract phrases as adroitly as an instrumentalist."  

Such acclaim has been building slowly over the past decade, since Kendra Shank was voted “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” in the Downbeat International Critics Poll. With the 2007 release of her tribute to Abbey Lincoln, A Spirit Free, the elastic improviser has accumulated a pile of accolades as a performer with a “unique and immediately identifiable sound and style” (Don Heckman, LA Times), as “a singer with a sound” (Abbey Lincoln) who “phrases inventively, whether crisp and sizzling or sensuously smoky” (Patricia Meyers, Jazz Times).  

Shank’s flair for vocal drama comes naturally as the daughter of a playwright and actress. Growing up in southern California, she was acting at age five, playing guitar by thirteen, and working as a folk singer in Seattle after high school. She first fell under the spell of jazz listening to a professor’s recordings of Billie Holiday; the attraction was furthered as she spent time in Paris, listening and sitting in at jazz clubs. Back in Seattle she began studies with Jay Clayton, and later landed a gig with the great Bob Dorough as vocalist/guitarist/percussionist for his West Coast tour. It was Shirley Horn who took notice and co-produced Shank's critically-acclaimed debut, Afterglow (Mapleshade, 1994), and invited the young singer to sit in at the Village Vanguard in New York. Relocating to New York in 1997, Kendra released two recordings for Jazz Focus—Wish (1998) and Reflections (2000), the latter with pianist Frank Kimbrough, bassist Dean Johnson, and drummer Tony Moreno, who have been her regular bandmates ever since. Named to “best of 2007” lists by Down Beat, Jazz Times, All Music Guide and Jazz Police, A Spirit Free was described as "...a practically telepathic integration...these four people appear to have emerged from the same womb" (Lawrence Brazier, Jazz Now).  

If A Spirit Free revealed her sharp edges in reinterpreting Abbey Lincoln, then Kendra’s new Mosaic reveals the softer contours of a more personal, perhaps freer spirit. “I had explored my edgy side [on A Spirit Free] and that made me want to get back to something a little more lyrical, pretty, reaching back to that side of me..,” she said in a recent interview for JazzINK. “A Spirit Free brought out a certain thing in me because of the songs’ messages and how I felt about them.... That album was a departure for me in some ways and, by contrast, with Mosaic I found myself focused on a gentler emotional thing, and the coloristic thing... the need to connect more now with my more sensitive side―the natural yin and yang.” 

Kendra Shank Quartet with Billy Drewes©Gene Martin

“The acapella group is five singers, three women and two men. All of us were students of Rhiannon. We’ve been doing improvised music... finding our own identity, using elements of Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin, but it’s not a copycat group.  It’s really cool and magical.” That magic will debut in Manhattan as Intuit, a quintet including Shank, Ben Silver, Alison Wedding, Kate Richards and Nik Munson, creating spontaneous compositions that sometimes include in-the-moment poetry, storytelling, vocal percussion and other sounds on stage at The Local 269. 

The dance project involves not only the six dancers of the Mark Lamb Dance Company, but also vocal improviser Kyoko Kitamura, who will make a guest appearance with Kendra Friday night at 55 Bar. “We are singing melodic lines of music and making all kinds of sounds with our voices,” says Kendra. “They do this thing called ‘contact dancing,’ which is improvising with each other physically, very similarly to how we improvise vocally -- the parallels are striking.” 

Striking describes any Kendra Shank project. She will appear at 55 Bar on Friday, November 27th, with Mark Soskin on Fender Rhodes, Dean Johnson on bass and Tony Moreno on drums. She brings her working ensemble to The Kitano, January 8-9, with pianist Frank Kimbrough joining Johnson and Moreno, and special guest, saxophonist Billy Drewes. In between, check out her new acapella project Intuit at Local 269 on December 22nd.  

Kendra Shank at the 55 Bar (55 Christopher Street) on November 27, sets at 6 and 7:45 pm; www.55bar.com. Intuit at The Local 269 (269 E. Houston) on December 22, one set only at 8 pm; 212-228-9874. The Kendra Shank Quartet with Billy Drewes at The Kitano (66 Park Ave at 38th St) on January 8-9, sets at 8 and 10 pm; www.kitano.com. Click here for JazzINK interview with Kendra Shank. Visit Kendra’s website at www.kendrashank.com

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