"Imaginative and daring." -Steve Futterman, THE NEW YORKER

Kendra Shank Trio at Jazz at Kitano on August 22

Kendra Shank - voice   Frank Kimbrough - piano   Dean Johnson - bass

Thursday, August 22

8 & 10 PM shows

Jazz at Kitano

 66 Park Ave. (at 38th St.), NYC

Reservations Advised: 212-885-7119

$18 cover, $20 food-drink minimum. kitano.com

Trains: 4,5,6,7,S to Grand Central

On Thursday, August 22^nd vocalist Kendra Shank returns to Jazz at Kitano in an intimate trio setting with her longtime collaborators. Her association with pianist Frank Kimbrough began in 1992 when jazz legend Shirley Horn presented them at the Village Vanguard. Since then they've collaborated on four CDs, three of which also feature bassist Dean Johnson who joined Shank's quartet in 1999, performing multiple club and festival dates nationwide. With a concept that embraces organic fluidity and conversational group interplay, Kendra Shank combines modern jazz, re-imagined standards, world, French, folk, and open improvisation in an adventurous, genre-bending style that inspired Gary Giddins to call her "one of New York's most original performers" (Jazz Times).  Videos: youtube.com/kendrashank  Website: kendrashank.com

"She knows how to extract the maximum drama from a lyric with precisely calibrated phrasing

and a rich, polychromatic tone, at turns ebullient and vulnerable."
-Ted Panken, DOWN BEAT

"She takes the old folkie "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" and gradually whips it into a Coltrane-esque emotional frenzy."
-Will Friedwald, VILLAGE VOICE

MUSICIAN BIOS

    Vocalist Kendra Shank's seven CDs have received numerous “Best of the Year” citations, a New York Times "Critics' Choice," and DownBeat poll recognition, with accolades for her "delectable voice" (Time magazine) and "breathtakingly original concept" (Boston Globe). Since her 1992 debut at the Village Vanguard with Shirley Horn, Shank has become a mainstay on New York's jazz scene appearing at Birdland, The Blue Note, Jazz Standard, Iridium, and holding an 18-year residency at The 55 Bar. She has headlined at top venues and festivals in Europe, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and across the U.S. and has been featured on NPR's JazzSet and Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. Shank was guest guitarist on Abbey Lincoln's Over The Years CD, and has performed and/or recorded as a vocalist with Frank Kimbrough, Geoffrey Keezer, Fred Hersch, Larry Willis, Joe Locke, Jay Clayton, Bob Dorough, Ben Monder, John Stowell, Gary Bartz, Steve Wilson, Victor Lewis, Matt Wilson, and many more. (Time quote by Terry Teachout; Boston Globe by Andrew Gilbert)  kendrashank.com

    Pianist Frank Kimbrough has been active on the New York jazz scene for 35 years. He has recorded as a leader for Pirouet, Newvelle, Palmetto, OmniTone, Soul Note, Igmod, and Mapleshade. In addition to leading his own trio with bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Jeff Hirshfield, he has played with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Dewey Redman, Ben Allison, Joe Locke, Ted Nash and numerous others. Frank was a founding member and composer-in-residence of the Jazz Composers Collective (1992 - 2005) and played in nearly 20 of its associated groups. He has been included in the Downbeat Critics Poll each year since 2001 and his recordings are often included in jazz critics' year's-end top-ten lists. Frank's work has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and from Chamber Music America's Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, and he is on the faculty at Juilliard.  frankkimbrough.com

    Since arriving in New York in 1980, bassist Dean Johnson has performed with a wide variety of artists including Bob Brookmeyer, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Phil Woods, Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Lee Konitz, Jane Ira Bloom, Nguyen Le, Steve Kuhn, Wynton Marsalis, Art Farmer, Bill Frisell, Art Lande, The New York Voices, Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Helen Merrill, Kendra Shank, and a 10 year association with Gerry Mulligan. Dean has appeared on over 50 recordings with a variety of artists and has traveled extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, and Israel. His debut recording as a leader titled "Triology," featuring four different trios, was released in 2016.  deanjohnsonbassist.com

CONTACT:

Kendra Shank Music

info@kendrashank.com

Videos: youtube.com/kendrashank

Website: kendrashank.com