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Karrin Allyson

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One of jazz’s great polyglot vocalists — she’s honed an extensive repertoire of songs in French and Portuguese — the New York City-based singer plunges back into the Brazilian songbook on her new album “A Kiss for Brazil” (Origin Records). It’s a musical journey she’s made before, most conspicuously on 1999’s alluring “From Paris to Rio” and 2008’s “Imagina: Songs of Brasil,” which were both released by Concord Records, the label that released her first dozen albums starting in 1993.

The five-time Grammy Award nominee didn’t really set out to make another Brazilian jazz project, “but my desire to sing with Rosa Passos spurred it,” she said, referring to the beloved vocalist and guitarist from Salvador da Bahia, the greatest living bossa nova artist. “I knew she was coming through New York to play with Kenny Barron and Ron Carter at Lincoln Center so I set it up.”

Allyson featured Passos on two tracks on “A Kiss For Brazil,” the album she’ll be drawing on June 30 at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, where she performs with an excellent Los Angeles combo featuring pianist Miro Sprague, bassist Karl McComas, and drummer Dan Schnelle. “They work together as a trio and are a very tight unit,” said Allyson, who also accompanies herself on piano on some pieces.

Sprague has been Allyson’s West Coast mainstay for most of the past decade, including several Bay Area runs. As one of the Southland’s leading accompanists he’s made forays north in recent years with artists like saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf and vocalist Sara Gazarek.

Passos won’t be at Bach on Sunday, but Allyson is collaborating with another superlative singer at Oakland’s Sound Room July 5-6, when Kenny Washington joins her for two nights of musical conversation. They’ve formed a solid mutual admiration society in recent years, catching each other’s shows and occasionally sitting in with each other. But the Sound Room engagement marks their first formal collaboration.

“I love the way Karrin is never pretentious about her vocals,” said Washington, who plays Keys Jazz Bistro June 28-29 with a trio led by pianist John R. Burr, a monthly residency that has contributed greatly to making the North Beach club one of the region’s leading jazz vocal showcases.

“I like her for her honesty and musicality, on piano and vocals. She just sings the songs as the legendary artists used to do. She’s not trying to dress it up in a non-musical way.”

Allyson connected with Karen Van Leuven, who founded and runs the Sound Room with her husband Robert Bradsby, at Dizzy’s Club when they both caught Washington’s show at Jazz at Lincoln Center venue a few years ago. Van Leuven and Bradsby have been major supporters of Washington since the New Orleans native arrived in San Francisco in 1995. They immediately took to the idea of presenting him in a different context with Allyson.

“We’ll be doing duet-y things, and some things apart,” Allyson said. “It’s billed as a musical conversation, and that’s what we have. One of our favorites to sing together in ‘The Shadow of Your Smile.’”

As a jazz vocalist who doesn’t perform with elaborate charts, Washington likes to let the music unfold on stage, a situation many singers aren’t equipped to navigate. He’s done a few memorable gigs sharing the stage with Kim Nalley, “where it feels more like having a horn player on the stage,” he said. “Most important with another singer is that you’re encouraging and feeling each other. With Kim and definitely with Karrin we get up there without a lot preparation, and most of the time it just works.”

Allyson’s shows aren’t really a homecoming, but she does have some deep Bay Area ties that preceded Carl Jefferson signing her to Concord, which was known as a singer’s label. She grew up in Omaha, but after her parents split up her mother moved to the Bay Area, and frequent visits led to her moving out west to finish high school.

“I spent my senior year in the Oakland Hills at Holy Names High School,” she said. “I dabbled with theater in Hayward and did a couple of plays there,” before matriculating to the University of Nebraska Omaha where she majored in classical piano and minored in French.

Some three decades after Concord’s release of her debut album, 1992’s “I Didn’t Know About You,” Allyson continues to expand on the promise of that eclectic program. She’s proceeding with style, in the company of fellow musical masters.

Contact Andrew Gilbert at [email protected].

KARRIN ALLYSON

With trio: :30 p.m. June 30; Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay; $45-$55 (livestream $10); bachddsoc.org

With Kenny Washington:  7:30 p.m. July 5-6; The Sound Room, Oakland; $42.50-$50; www.soundroom.org

Kenny Washington: 7 and 9 p.m. June 28-29; Keys Jazz Bistro, San Francisco; $35; keysjazzbistro.com

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Home » Jazz Musicians » Karrin Allyson

Karrin Allyson

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"If there's a choir in heaven, someday the exquisite vocalist Karrin Allyson will lead it. She's such an otherworldly talent that the creator probably already has her on heavy rotation." —The Houston Press

Well, no worries, mate, Karrin Allyson will be part of this earthly choir for a very long time. But she is moving on, after a jam-packed career with Concord Jazz—thirteen albums, four Grammy nominations, and a recent self-produced holiday album, Yuletide Hideaway that won four stars from Downbeat.

In May of 2015, as part of a new agreement with Motéma Music, Karrin headed back into the recording studio for a very intimate look at the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, accompanied only by a rare and distinctive pairing of Kenny Barron on piano and John Patitucci on bass. Many a New Day (Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein) will be released on 18 September 2015. For Karrin, who once played Nelly Forbush in a production of South Pacific as a teenager, this album is a return to source. “I've been all around the world musically, from bop and bossa and chanson to blues and singer- songwriters. And now, I feel like coming home. I find myself powerfully drawn to the world of Rodgers and Hammerstein.”

“Why? Well, the tunes for starters – gorgeous melodies, near perfect lyrics, music that begs to be sung. Their music is filled with innocence, optimism, a confident can-do response to any problem, an appealing wise-guy humor, a sense that we all belong together on this wonderful planet.” So, Allyson chose to explore Rodgers & Hammerstein in a very spare, honest setting — just a singer, telling the story with two masterful partners, underlining and extending.

Karrin lives in New York City, following a childhood in the Midwest, schooling in the Bay Area, a degree in classical piano performance and important stints in Minneapolis and Kansas City, where she began her recording career with Concord Jazz. Karrin currently spends two days out of three on tour, playing the major jazz festivals, concert venues and clubs of the U.S. and making repeated tours overseas — to Brazil, Japan, Australia and the great cities of Europe. Throughout 2014 Allyson was featured as solo vocalist in the 'Newport—Now 60' Tour which played in thirty cities across the US and Canada before concluding the 2014 Newport Festival.

Among musicians, Karrin is known as a great bandleader and one of the deep pleasures of the current scene is listening to her highly developed interplay with her bandmates—it sounds so effortless—but it conceals a deep musical sophistication. It’s one of Allyson’s great achievements—the result of working over the years with an ensemble of fearless and powerfully committed jazz virtuosi. Karrin has also developed a unique relationship with the multi-talented L.A. composer Chris Caswell and the two have collaborated for nearly ten years as composers and performers in a very spirited ensemble featuring Caswell on Hammond B-3 organ. In fact, Karrin has been doing a lot of writing of late and promises an album of original songs in the near future.

It's no surprise that music lovers and critics around the world have been singing Allyson’s name from the roof tops, marveling at the range of this extraordinary musician, who moves with such ease and authority from the Great American Songbook of Gershwin and Porter to the Great American Jazz Songbook of Duke and Thelonious and Miles and Dizzy, jet-setting to Rio and Paris and swinging back home to pick up Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell and Jimmy Webb, not to mention her mean facility for singing down home Kansas City blues. What unites this wide world of music — brings it together and makes sense of it all—is Karrin's warmth and depth. She’s not just singing a lyric; she’s telling you her story. And then that becomes your story. You hear the music from the inside out.

Listen to the legendary jazz critic Gary Giddins in The Village Voice: "Allyson coolly stakes her claim. She brings a timbre that is part ice and part grain — incisive, original, and emotionally convincing."

Karrin Allyson: A Kiss for Brazil

by Katchie Cartwright May 10, 2024

A Kiss for Brazil is Kansas-bred Grammy-nominated singer Karrin Allyson's third release to feature Brazilian music (From Paris to Rio, Concord, 1999; Imagina, Concord, 2008), and her first to showcase Brazilian musicians: Vitor Gonçalves on piano and accordion, Rafael Barata at the drums, plus the acclaimed singer-guitarist and songwriter Rosa Passos. First-call New York-based guitarist Yotam Silberstein and bassist Harvie S complete the group. The album sprang into being spontaneously, in response to a concert Passos had scheduled in New ...

Deeds Not Words

by Patrick Burnette March 12, 2020

Try as he might, Pat can't escape Mike's jones for jazz mixed with politics, so he submits, and the boys look at examples of art-music and political rhetoric in jazz by musicians alienated by the last few years of political events. Do the bastards pontificate more than the music they're criticizing? You be the judge. Cutting edge acts such as Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and the Go-Go's give Pop Matters that contemporary vibe it so desperately needs. Playlist ...

Karrin Allyson: Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson sings Rodgers and Hammerstein

by C. Michael Bailey October 12, 2015

Karrin Allyson projects always have all five points of the creative star pinned down: theme, repertoire, arrangement, sequencing, and support. Her recordings Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane (Concord, 2001), In Blue (Concord, 2002), Footprints (Concord, 2006), and 'Round Midnight (Concord, 2011) are all evidence of her unsurpassed musicianship and creative heart. Karrin Allyson's worst recording is still outstanding. Artistically fearless, Allyson again spins golden lace from her talent arsenal. Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson sings Rodgers and ...

Cindy Scott: Historia

by C. Michael Bailey February 28, 2014

Stating the obvious right off, vocalist Cindy Scott is from New Orleans. This fact thoroughly and three-dimensionally informs the twelve selections on Historia, Scott's follow-up to Let The Devil Take Tomorrow (Catahoula Records, 2009), without making a burden of it. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the aural aroma of the Crescent City appears like an essence, that hyperdistillation that leaves neither finger nor footprint but exists as an indelible mark on the music readily recognised. This mark is made audible ...

Karrin Allyson: 'Round Midnight

by C. Michael Bailey May 15, 2011

Karrin Allyson is a jazz singer's jazz singer. As such she is well-studied in jazz outside of the vocal realm. This particular tool in her considerable skill set is responsible for her command of even demanding material as evidenced on her near perfect Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane (Concord Records, 2001) and Footprints (Concord Records, 2006). These recordings were nominally concept projects, the first dedicated to John Coltrane's seminal Ballads (Impulse!, 1963),and the second addressing the vocalese of modern jazz compositions. ...

Karrin Allyson: Has Jazz, Will Travel

by Marcia Hillman August 18, 2009

Karrin Allyson is one of the busiest jazz vocalists on the domestic and international scene these days. Starting her musical journey studying classical piano, Allyson discovered jazz and jazz singing in college and thus claimed her future.Over the years, Allyson has honed her singing, songwriting and piano skills and has recorded twelve CDs, all on the Concord Record label; the longtime association considered a major feat in the recording industry. This has led to three Grammy nominations in ...

Karrin Allyson: Imagina

by Marcia Hillman November 12, 2008

Karrin Allyson has crafted a delightful and loving salute to songs of Brazil on Imagina. As stated in the liner notes, she wanted to “sing songs I love with players that I love." And that she has done. Accompanied by Gil Goldstein (piano and accordion), Rod Fleeman (acoustic guitar), David Finck (acoustic bass), Todd Strait (drums), Michael Spiro (percussion) and Steve Nelson (vibraphone and marimba), Allyson sails through 14 selections singing in both Portuguese and English. The material has been ...

Vocalist Karrin Allyson Revisits A Favorite Musical Destination With 'A Kiss For Brazil,' Releasing May 17 On Origin Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity April 19, 2024

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 ... read more

Dave Bass Hits #15 Jazz Week - All-Star Band with Ted Nash, Karrin Allyson, Carlos Henriquez & More!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations August 31, 2019

Dave Bass No Boundaries Whaling City Sound Hits #15 on JazzWeek charts! Everyone's got a story to tell, but chances are that few have one like Dave Bass. Just out of high school in jny: Cincinnati, Bass played in bands opening for Captain Beefheart and Alice Cooper. He went onto study piano with the legendary teacher Madame Chaloff (who taught Leonard Bernstein, Steve Kuhn, Kenny Werner and others) and then to touring the world as Brenda ... read more

Pianist, Composer, Arranger Dave Bass Releases No Boundaries, Featuring Ted Nash, Karrin Allyson, Carlos Henriquez, Jerome Jennings & More!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations June 21, 2019

Release date: August 2, 2019 The saying goes that everyone's got a story to tell. But chances are good that few, if any, have the kind of story Dave Bass has. Without resorting to detail, Bass's rebirth as a jazz musician after decades away from the art is nothing short of astonishing. Having retired from the Office of the Attorney General of California back in 2015, Bass is back at the piano, where he promises to keep the torch burning ... read more

Jazz this week: Karrin Allyson, Olivia Block, Eric Marienthal, Tommy Halloran, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman November 12, 2015

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis includes a typically varied assortment of sounds and styles, with a couple of notable touring performers in the middle of the week. So, without further delay, let's go to the highlights... Thursday, November 12 The Gaslight Cabaret Festival fall series continues with an encore performance from the duo Sleepy Kitty at the Gaslight Theater. Also on Thursday, the SIUE jazz faculty will feature saxophonist Jason Swagler in a concert ... read more

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Catching up with Karrin Allyson

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman November 7, 2015

This week, let's check out some videos featuring Karrin Allyson, who returns to St. Louis next week to perform on Wednesday, November 11 and Thursday, November 12 at Jazz at the Bistro. Allyson, a Kansas City native now based in NYC, was a favorite of Jazz at the Bistro founder Barbara Rose, and performed here a number of times in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Her visits grew somewhat less frequent once she moved east, and it's been more ... read more

Four-time Grammy Nominee Karrin Allyson Sets New U.S. Tour Dates, Including Multiple Nights In Los Angeles, San Francisco

Source: Seth Cohen PR August 14, 2012

Four-Time Grammy Nominee Karrin Allyson Sets New U.S. Tour Dates, Including Multiple Nights in Los Angeles, San Francisco NY Times’ Stephen Holden: “Her show, whose selections change with every set, is a celebration of a 13-album career that is one of the most stable in jazz. She has an easy mastery of bebop, bossa nova, chanson and soft rock, to name four of the many styles in which she is comfortable.” Four-time Grammy nominee Karrin Allyson has confirmed a series ... read more

Karrin Allyson is USA Today #1 CD of Year; Grammy Nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Album

Source: Seth Cohen PR January 5, 2012

GRAMMY NOMINATED FOR BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM USA TODAY's Elysa Gardner has chosen Karrin Allyson's 'Round Midnight as her #1 Album of 2011, in a Year-End Poll of USA TODAY's top critics. It's the latest accolade in a year of extraordinary acclaim for Allyson's stunning CD. 'Round Midnight has been nominated for a 2012 GRAMMY AWARD for Best Jazz Vocal Album, marking Allyson's fourth consecutive nomination in this major category. The Grammys take place on February 12, 2012, and Allyson ... read more

Karrin Allyson "Round Midnight" Tour Dates

Source: Seth Cohen PR May 25, 2011

Rapturous, Career-Defining Coverage Runs for Grammy-Nominated Vocalist Karrin Allyson's 'Round Midnight Concord Jazz CD Jumps From #23 to #5 on JazzWeek Charts Coming to Birdland 5/31-6/4 Grammy-nominated vocalist and pianist Karrin Allyson has received rapturous, career- defining coverage from some of the top journalists in America for her understated new album 'Round Midnight. In his lengthy Associated Press CD review, Charles Gans praised the music as “darkly beautiful and melancholic," and added, “Allyson is a consummate jazz singer whose harmonic ... read more

Karrin Allyson Earns Early Raves for 'Round Midnight' CD, out 5/3 on Concord Jazz

Source: Seth Cohen PR April 19, 2011

Grammy-Nominated Vocalist Karrin Allyson Earns Early Raves for Dreamy CD, 'Round Midnight, Out May 3rd on Concord Jazz USA TODAY: “Exquisite Voice and Elegant Delivery" On 'Round Midnight, Allyson weaves an elegant, understated dreamscape featuring 11 songs by some of the most storied writers in jazz, Broadway and pop music, from Duke Ellington to Stephen Sondheim to Paul Simon—a full track listing follows. The acclaimed release, the singer's thirteenth on Concord Jazz, marks the first time that Allyson plays all ... read more

Karrin Allyson Confirmed to Perform at Jazz for Japan Benefit Concert

Source: Seth Cohen PR April 6, 2011

Grammy-nominated vocalist/pianist Karrin Allyson is confirmed to participate in the JAZZ FOR JAPAN BENEFIT CONCERT, April 18, 2011 at the Highline Ballroom 100% of the ticket proceeds to be donated to the Japan Relief and Recovery Fund spearheaded by Direct Relief. In association with In Touch Entertainment Blue Note Jazz Benefit for Japan The Blue Note Jazz Benefit for Japan at the Highline Ballroom will feature a stellar group of international jazz musicians, including Madeleine Peyroux, Joe Lovano, Karrin Allyson, ... read more

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Karrin Allyson

Part of the folly jazz series.

Jazz Series subscription renewals are in the mail now! New subscriptions and single tickets go on sale July 1

The Folly Theater is excited to welcome hometown favorite, Karrin Allyson , back to Kansas City! Allyson’s performance will feature material and players from her newest release, A Kiss for Brazil . Join us on September 21 for the opening performance of the longest running Jazz Series in Kansas City!

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 , released on 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).

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 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 was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame on April 20, 2024 .

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Karrin Allyson

Karrin Allyson digs the late-night groove, even when it’s a little heartbreaking. After a dozen releases on Concord Jazz over the course of two decades – and three GRAMMY® nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album along the way – the versatile vocalist/pianist still believes that the emotional connection that takes place in a small, quiet club during the late hours is one of the best parts of the jazz experience.

She says it eloquently in the liner notes to her new CD,  ‘Round Midnight,  her thirteenth Concord recording : “Imagine yourself, in the city, walking late at night,” she writes. “It’s  ‘Round Midnight.  The wind is cold, but you hear some warm sounds and you follow your ear down into a small, dark club. There’s a woman at the piano singing these intimate ballads – one after the other. Maybe you’ve just recently suffered a heartache, or maybe the lyrics, melodies and harmonies evoke feelings you have somewhere deep down inside.”

That woman at the piano is Allyson – more so on this recording than any other in her discography – and creating that intimate connection was her prime directive throughout the project. “Every piano or keyboard part that you hear on this album is played by me,” she says. “I’ve played two or three tunes on previous recordings, but this is the first time in thirteen records that I’ve played them all. I’ve been doing that more and more in my live shows for the last three years, so it just seemed like the natural thing to do on this record.”

The eleven tracks on  ‘Round Midnight  come from a wide variety of sources, including Bill Evans, Paul Simon, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mandel, Thelonious Monk, Stephen Sondheim, even Charlie Chaplin. But regardless of who wrote the songs and when, Allyson ties them all together with the same melancholy thread with which they were originally spun. Her combination of rich yet understated vocals and subtle piano lines tell a timeless story that’s best understood in what another great singer used to call “the wee small hours of the morning.”

“They’re heartbreak songs,” says Allyson, “and one cathartic way to get over a heartbreak is to sing about it, or listen to someone else sing about it. Embracing the difficult emotions is part of the healing process.”

She’s able to tug at the heartstrings with the help of some talented players. Guitarist Rod Fleeman has been part of her crew – in the studio and onstage – for a span of more than 20 years and at least a few continents. L.A.-based saxophonist/flutist/clarinetist Bob Sheppard has been a recurring figure in Allyson’s West Coast dates. Harmonicist Randy Weinstein has been an occasional collaborator on past projects, all the way back to Allyson’s early days in Kansas City. Bassist Ed Howard, a top-notch New York-based player whose previous associations include Shirley Horn and Roy Haynes, has been a part of Allyson’s live show for five years, but  ‘Round Midnight  marks his debut appearance on one of her recordings.

Drummer Matt Wilson is the newcomer, but one whom Allyson has known for several years. “I’ve always really admired his playing,” she says, “I wanted to create a lot of space in these songs, and I knew he was capable of doing that.”

‘Round Midnight  is latest example of Allyson’s life-long attraction to great songs by enduring songwriters. Born in Great Bend, Kansas, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska (save for a brief period in the San Francisco Bay area during her high school years), she started playing piano at five. Her mother was a classical pianist, while her father’s tastes ran more toward folk music. The singer-songwriters of the 1970s – Joni Mitchell, Carole King, James Taylor and the like – were among her first inspirations to become a singer.

During high school and college, her musical aspirations were all over the map – all-girl rock bands, funk bands, five-hour bar gigs playing solo piano, whatever felt comfortable and helped pay the bills. Her taste for jazz developed during her college years at University of Nebraska in Omaha, where she sang in a big band and shifted her focus away from the piano and more toward the microphone.

After college, she became a regular at a Kansas City nightclub before signing to Concord for the 1992 release of her debut album,  I Didn’t Know About You  – an album that landed her a spot in  Playboy ‘s Annual Reader’s Poll alongside jazz giants like Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Horn. The albums kept coming at a steady pace throughout the remainder of the decade and into the next.  Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane,  released in 2001, earned two GRAMMY® nominations, while  Footprints  (2006) and  Imagina: Songs of Brasil  (2008) both scored GRAMMY® nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Allyson has maintained a busy schedule outside the studio as well. In addition to her frequent club dates (she spends two days out of three on tour), she has performed at some of the top concert halls throughout the U.S., including Carnegie Hall for an all-star tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, and gigs with the Kansas City Symphony and the Omaha Symphony.

She left Kansas City in 2000 to make New York City her new home. It’s just the kind of town where you’re likely to wander into one of those small, late-night jazz clubs and hear someone just like her play and sing the kinds of songs that make  ‘Round Midnight  the heartbreaking yet fulfilling experience that it is.

The set opens with Bill Evans’s “Turn Out the Stars,” a song whose poignant lyrics by Gene Lees are made even more introspective by Allyson’s decision to slow down the tempo and stretch the time at certain points along the way. “Bob Sheppard plays every woodwind instrument on this album so beautifully,” she says. “His tenor saxophone solo here was the perfect, soulful addition.”

The followup track is a quiet reading of Paul Simon’s “April Come She Will” that examines the human heart through the prism of changing seasons. “Whenever nature is referenced with life and love, I feel even more connected with it all,” says Allyson. “Rod Fleeman plays a beautiful guitar solo.”

Further in, Allyson delivers a wistful rendition of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most,” the bittersweet standard by Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf, based on the classic T.S. Eliot line: “April is the cruelest month…” “I’ve sung this song for years and always wrestled with its long form and many lyrics,” says Allyson. “I wanted to make it swing, yet still have it convey the sadness of the story that’s told in the lyrics. ”

Her version of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” includes an intro and outro that harken back to her classical piano days. Her take on the song is consistent with Chaplin’s original lyrics. “I think I’m trying to talk myself into smiling when I certainly don’t feel like it, but maybe not buying that it really works,” she says. Randy Weinstein, who plays harmonica here, “always adds a lovely quality and mood to whatever he plays on.”

It doesn’t get much more poignant – indeed, almost tragic – than “Send in the Clowns,” Stephen Sondheim’s classic from  A Little Night Music.  “Rod’s lovely arrangement, with its subtle harmonic surprises and laid back groove, give it a new perspective,” says Allyson. “Life is interesting. We can make as many intentional decisions as we want, but it’s always full of surprises – good and bad.”

Allyson closes with the title track, Monk’s iconic composition that puts the final touch on the jazz club vibe that has taken shape amid the preceding ten tracks. She’s especially fond of the minimal but effective arrangement. “Rod suggested recording it as a bass and voice duet,” she says. “Ed Howard has been working with us for several years now and always adds a solid, soulful touch.”

In the end, no matter what the arrangement or the voicing, it’s all about telling the story – even if the story is about heartbreak. Sometimes the best way to do it is to draw people into a quiet space in the late hours  ‘Round Midnight  – a time and place where their guard is down and they’re open to music that speaks the language of the heart.

“What I’m most interested in doing on this record – and on all my records – is reaching people and communicating with them,” says Allyson. “That’s the thing that inspires me more than anything else.”

Featured Albums

From Paris To Rio

I Didn’t Know About You

Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane

Sweet Home Cookin’

Wild For You

Imagina: Songs of Brasil

By Request: The Best of Karrin Allyson

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Karrin Allyson Tickets

Karrin Allyson Concert Tickets

Escape into the jazz-blues genre with Karrin Allyson tickets from TicketSmarter. Karrin Allyson is an American jazz singer described by the New York Times as having an "exceptionally keen eye for the smart, semi-obscure pop or jazz number that speaks directly to the moment". She has recorded 15 albums and performed internationally to great acclaim since her debut in 1992 with 'The Shape of You'. She has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Album for 'Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane' which went to number six on Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart in 2001, 'Footprints' (2006) which reached number 15, 'Imagina: Songs of Brasil' (2008) which got to number 16, ''Round Midnight' (2011) number 13 and 'Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein' (2015) with pianists Kenny Barron and John Patatucci.

Her 2002 release 'In Blue' reached number eleven on the chart and 'Wild for You' (2004) peaked at number 13.

Born in Kansas, she grew up in Omaha, Nebraska where she studied the piano. She studied music at the University of Nebraska and had a stint with an all-female rock band named Tomboy. She spent several years in Kansas City and in the early 1990s moved to New York where she performed regularly. In 2018 she announced the August release of an album titled 'Wrap Up Some of That Sunshine' with 13 of her own compositions.

Produced by Chris Caswell, the album featured Miro Sprague on piano, Jeff Johnson on bass, Rod Fleeman on guitar and Jerome Jennings on drums with guests Regina Carter on violin, Houston Person on tenor saxophone and Lee Sklar on bass. Buy Karrin Allyson tickets today and get lost in the music.

How much are Karrin Allyson tickets?

On a whole, Karrin Allyson ticket prices can be found starting from various ranges as determined by the venue and whether the artist is performing at a festival. Admission for a 1-4 day pass at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the New Orleans Fairgrounds can start from around $90 - $430 and VIP options can begin at about $1,950. Choose the level that’s right for you and buy from our site today.

When do Karrin Allyson tickets go on sale?

The date and time that Karrin Allyson concert tickets go on sale will vary. Once a tour is announced, you can typically buy admission from us right away. Very often, we have tickets available in advance of a public sale and a pre-sale code is not required.

Karrin Allyson Tour Dates & Concert Schedule

Don’t be surprised to find Karrin Allyson playing at intimate jazz clubs and appearing on the lineup of festivals such as the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in Louisiana. Other popular performance platforms include the Birdland Jazz Club in New York City and the Chicago Blues Festival in Illinois. Karrin Allyson tour dates will typically feature an array of gigs at a variety of venues and events.

Show after show, the artist brings a signature style and smooth vibe that sounds superior to any stage. The Karrin Allyson concert schedule generally boasts a plethora of options. So, make plans to be in the audience!

Songs from the Karrin Allyson Tour Setlist

Karrin Allyson's setlist while performing in Minneapolis , MN at “The Dakota” included the following songs:

• Flor de Lis (Upside Down)
• Desafinado (Slightly Out of Tune)
• Chovendo na Roseira (the rain is falling on the roses)
• Medo de Amar (Surrender the Soul)
• Estrada Branca (This Happy Madness)
• So Many Stars
• Recado Bossa Nova (The Gift)
• Manha De Carnaval

Source: Setlist.fm

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