Jazz Police - Maud Hixson, Live on the East Coast, January 20-22

She’s revitalized the Great American Songbook throughout the Twin Cities, sung on stage at the Guthrie Theater and created a solo cabaret show of the songs of Mickey Leonard for a gig in Manhattan. Now vocalist Maud Hixson will again take her talents east, appearing with trumpet star Warren Vaché at Shanghai Jazz in New Jersey (January 20) and as part of an all-star Mickey Leonard tribute at the Metropolitan Room in Manhattan (January 22).

Growing up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Maud Hixson “always enjoyed singing… listening to everything around me and making up words to songs I already knew.” Seeing on television the musical films of the 30s and 40s introduced her to such stars as Judy Garland, Doris Day, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. Eventually she fell in love with the music of the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hart. Although she did take a few formal voice lessons, Maud notes that “my education has mostly come from studying recordings and live performances.” Listening to Prairie Home Companion was one of those sources of inspiration, as was a performance by Jimmy Scott and her encounters and ultimate collaborations with Arne Fogel (whom she first heard on MPR’s Arne Fogel Presents) and Wolverines’ pianist Rick Carlson—who became her husband. The turning point for Maud, who had worked as a French interpreter for Northwest Airlines, came in 2003 when she was named Best New Voice at the Hot Summer Jazz Festival. Now one of the most active singers in the Twin Cities, Maud performs regularly with the Wolverines (big band and trio), in duo with Rick, guitarist Dave Singley and others, sings European-based standards with French 75, and is one of the favorites of the area swing dance community. She’s often on the bandstand at Hell’s Kitchen, Erte, Pardon My French, Aster Café and other urban and suburban venues.

Warren Vache

Maud’s first recordings include the demo Small Batch and the duo recording with Arne Fogel, Let’s Not Be Sensible. In late 2007, Maud and Rick Carlson released a CD of favorite and newly discovered tunes in the intimate context of just voice and piano, Love’s Refrain, which topped many area “best of the year” lists. In 2006, Maud was selected to participate in the famed Cabaret Conference at Yale University. This opened the door to a project funded through grants from the Minnesota Arts Board—a solo cabaret show, Mickey and Maud: The Songs of Michael (Mickey) Leonard, presented in December 2008 at New York City’s oldest cabaret, the Duplex. This was the first one-person show of Leonard’s music, bringing Maud to the attention of not only the New York cabaret community, but to the ears of Mickey Leonard himself.

2010 was a busy year for Maud: Last spring, she performed with Erin Schwab at the Guthrie Theater in Cowards’ Women, a salute to the life of Noel Coward; reprised her duo days with Arne Fogel as part of Jazz Night Out, the prelude to the Twin Cities Jazz Festival; appeared with Russ Peterson’s Big Band at the Old Log Theater; joined Lucia Newell and Arne Fogel in a salute to Rodgers and Hart at the Hopkins Center for the Arts; joined Lee Engele for the two-gal show, Chanteuse Diaries, at the Black Box Theater at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center; began a series of monthly duet performances as part of the Musique Mystique series at the Loring Pasta Bar.

And now 2011 is off to a roaring start with a short “tour” of the East Coast. She’ll start off at the famed Shanghai Jazz in Madison, NJ, joining the Warren Vaché Quartet on January 20th. Maud met the renowned trumpeter during her Mickey Leonard run at The Duplex in December 2008. In fact it was Leonard who introduced them. “About a week later we recorded a demo of Mickey's music together at Nola Studios in New York, with Tex Arnold at the piano,” recalls Maud. “I stood in the vocal booth watching and listening to him and kept being reminded of his playing on all those Bobby Short and Rosemary Clooney records I have that introduced me to his easily recognizable, yet inimitable sound. He suggested we work together at his favorite club in New Jersey, Shanghai Jazz. It will be an improvised program, meaning without written arrangements or thematic constraints. He's bringing along the musical partners from his weekly gig with singer Annie Ross--Tardo Hammer on piano and Lee Hudson on bass. I can't wait.”

Karen Oberlin

Two days later on January 22, Maud will be among the invited jazz and cabaret performers in a celebration of “Variations in Search of a Theme: The Music of Mickey Leonard,” organized by vocalist Karen Oberlin and music director/pianist Jon Weber. Other performers include Leonard, Warren Vaché, Barbara Fasano, Pamela Luss, Mark Murphy, Sandy Steward, and Rex Reed. Although a prolific writer and arranger, Leonard has largely flown below the radar screen, contributing songs to failed Broadway productions of The Yearling and Pousse-Café, the music to the long-running television series Happy Days, and arrangements for Nancy Sinatra and Dick Haymes. His most familiar songs include “Why Did I Choose You?” and “I’m All Smiles.”

Two years after her own New York revue of Leonard’s less familiar works, Maud is delighted to have the opportunity to be part of a larger production. “Karen and her husband, biographer David Hajdu (Lush Life: The Life of Billy Strayhorn), are friends of Mickey's; Jon Weber, who has been working with Karen on her recent Frank Loesser show, has become good friends with Mickey since moving to New York,” explained Maud. “Karen sang in a previous show of this type about ten years ago and has championed his music ever since.” And of course Maud delved deeply into the works of Mickey Leonard when creating her show at the Duplex. “A big part of the project involved working closely with Mickey to thoroughly research his entire catalog and, in the process, even rediscovered songs he had forgotten about. I look forward to revisiting the material and hearing what the other performers do with it.”

Maud performs with the Warren Vaché Quartet on January 20 (7 pm) at Shanghai Jazz--24 Main Street, Madison, NJ; (973) 822-2899.On January 22 (7 pm), she appears in “Variations in Search of a Theme:The Music of Mickey Leonard” at the Metropolitan Room –34 W. 22nd Street, New York City; (212) 206-0440. This show will be repeated, without Maud, on February 10th at 9:30 pm. More about Maud and her upcoming performances at www.maudhixson.com