Artist:Karrin Allyson
Song:Moanin'
Album:By Request: The Best of Karrin Allyson
Jazz singer Karrin Allyson has been around since the early 90s. She has been nominated for five Grammy awards. From 1993 to 2011 she recorded for Concord and those are the recordings you want to check out. She was born Karrin Allyson Schoonover July 27,1963 in Grand Bend, KS. but she grew up in Omaha. Her father was a Lutheran minister and her mother was a psychotherapist and a classical pianist. Karrin studied classical piano, sang in church and performed musical theater. She attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha on a classical piano scholarship. She led an all female rock band called Tomboy and got interested in jazz and performed in local clubs. After Karrin graduated in 1986, she moved to Minneapolis and then moved to Kansas City in 1990. And that's where her singing career started. After she self released the 1992 album I Didn't Know About You, Concord signed her and re-released the album in 1993. She recorded the album with local Kansas City musicians. After the album was positively reviewed in the Chicago Tribune, Karrin recorded for Concord until 2011. Moanin' is from the 2002 album In Blue. By this time, Karrin was recording in New York with big name jazz musicians. Of course Moanin' is a jazz standard written by pianist Bobby Timmons when he was in Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in 1959. Jon Hendricks wrote the lyrics and the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross version made Moanin' even more popular. The original recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. Karrin recorded standards on this album which were supposed to evoke a melancholy mood. The album was produced by veteran jazz producer Nick Phillips. Musicians are Steve Wilson on alto sax, Mulgrew Miller on piano, Danny Embrey on guitar, Peter Washington on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. Moanin' appears on this comp which is available as a digital download. Concord released it after Karrin left the label in 2011. Since then she has recorded for her own label. Her latest album A Kiss for Brazil was released in 2024 on Origin Records. Karrin still tours. But last month her husband and longtime manager Bill McGlauthlin died. They hosted a radio show together and first met in Kansas City in 1990. It makes me think that Karrin might retire. But I haven't seen anything indicating that though it wouldn't surprise me. Here's Karrin Allyson performing Moanin' at Montreux 2003.
No comments:
Post a Comment