Few American jazz singers have had as long and fruitful a
relationship with Brazilian music as Karrin
Allyson--her early albums included Jobim classics; her 1999
"From Paris to Rio" split the difference between songs from those
musical cities; 2008's "Imagina: Songs of Brasil" upped the ante on
Rio. Now Karrin delivers another all-Brazilian outing, "A Kiss for
Brazil," featuring the great
Bahian singer-guitarist Rosa Passos
on two songs.
RICHMOND, Calif., April 17,
2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Vocalist, pianist, and
composer Karrin Allyson writes the
long-awaited next chapter in her series of love letters to
Brazil on the aptly titled "A Kiss
for Brazil," to be released
May 17 by Origin Records. The sequel
to 1999's "From Paris to Rio" and 2008's "Imagina: Songs of Brasil"
adds a bold spice to the sauce: Brazilian singer, guitarist, and
national treasure Rosa Passos
appears on two songs alongside Allyson and all-star accompanists
Vitor Gonçalves (piano, Rhodes, accordion), Yotam Silberstein (guitar), Harvie S (bass), and
Rafael Barata (drums).
I didn't know what I was going to do with
the recordings [with Rosa Passos].
Maybe they would just be for posterity. I just knew I had to
document the music.
The collaboration with Passos was the seed from which the album
bloomed. Brazilian music is one of the through-lines in Allyson's
distinguished career, going all the way back to the rendition of
Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Insensatez"
on her 1993 debut "I Didn't Know About You." The two singers are
friends as well as mutual fans, and when Allyson learned that
Passos would be visiting New York
in March 2023, she arranged a
recording session for the two of them.
"I didn't know what I was going to do with the recordings," she
recalls. "Maybe they would just be for posterity. I just knew I had
to document the music."
What had originally been planned for just two songs stretched
into a full album when the band—all, save for Allyson and S,
Brazilian musicians—sounded too good to let go so quickly. Allyson
led them through eight more tunes, including works by such titans
as Djavan, Ivan Lins, and Luiz Bonfá
as well as Jobim.
As you might expect, the record quickly took on a life of its
own. There's no indication of an afterthought in "The Gift (Recado
Bossa Nova)," performed by all and sundry with terrific precision
and topped off with Allyson's effortless vocal nuance—or in
"Flor de Lis" and "Manhã de
Carnaval," both of which she sings in flawless Portuguese as well
as English. Her tender turn on Lins's "The Island" is similarly
impeccable, not to mention the beautifully intimate duo of Allyson
(who also plays piano) and S on Benny
Carter and Sammy Cahn's "Only
Trust Your Heart."
Still, her duets with Passos remain at the heart of "A Kiss for
Brazil." On Jobim's ballad "O
Grande Amor," the Brazilian singer handles the Portuguese lyrics in
her inimitable contralto, Allyson's velvet alto following her with
the English words. The vocalists' lively, co-written "Month of
March in Salvador (Dunas)" not only
lets each singer show off their rhythmic chops, but has them engage
with each other in delightful, traded scat phrases. Even with
Passos appearing only twice, the album ends up a triumph for her as
well as for Allyson.
A child of the American Heartland, Karrin Allyson was born July 27, 1962, in Great
Bend, Kansas; grew up in Omaha,
Nebraska; and began her career in Minneapolis and Kansas City. Her father was a Lutheran
minister, her mother a classical music teacher, and Karrin
accordingly began her musical journey playing classical piano and
singing in church.
She was a classical piano major at University of Nebraska Omaha, but by then her
soundscape had widened: She fronted an all-girl rock band called
Tomboy, played at a local piano bar, and sang in a jazz swing
choir. It was jazz that ultimately won her heart, and she pursued
it in Minneapolis and Kansas City. It was in the latter—the jazz
mecca that bequeathed Count Basie and Charlie Parker to the world—that she recorded
her first self-produced album, "I Didn't Know About You," in 1992
and, when it was picked up by Concord Records, saw it become a
surprise runaway success.
Though she recorded eight more albums in Kansas City, inevitably New York came calling. Her first recording in
the Apple, 2000's "Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane," placed her
alongside the likes of James Carter,
James Williams, John Patitucci, and Lewis Nash, for whom she proved more than a
match. Over the years she continued collaborating with
giants-cum-equals, including Mulgrew Miller, Jon Hendricks, Kenny
Barron, and Regina Carter
(who was featured on Karrin's all-original CD "Some of That
Sunshine" in 2018). Karrin continues to write, and she put out two
original singles—"Falling Up" and "Just
Passin' Through"—in 2024.
A longtime devotee of Brazilian music, Allyson recorded "From
Paris to Rio," her first album of Brazilian and French songs, while
still living in Kansas City in
1999. She followed it up nearly a decade later with "Imagina: Songs
of Brasil." "A Kiss for Brazil"
continues not only that tradition, but—in collaborating with Rosa
Passos—the one in which she holds her own with the greats of the
music.
Karrin Allyson was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate from University of Nebraska
at Omaha in 2023 and will be inducted into the Kansas Music
Hall of Fame on 4/20. Her upcoming concert schedule includes:
5/10-11 Green Mill, Chicago; 6/21
Twin Cities Jazz Festival, St. Paul,
MN; 6/25-26 Jazz Alley,
Seattle; 6/30 Bach Dancing &
Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay,
CA; 7/12-13 Catalina's, Los
Angeles; 9/21 Folly Theater, Kansas City, MO; 10/29-11/2 Birdland, NYC.
Media Contact
Terri Hinte, Terri Hinte Public
Relations, +15102348781,
hudba@sbcglobal.net, http://www.terrihinte.com
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SOURCE Karrin Allyson