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Kate McGarry

Singer Kate McGarry grew up in Hyannis, Mass., as one of 10 children in a musical family that spent many nights singing together.

At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she earned a degree in African-American music and jazz; she began developing her organic vocal style through early training in jazz performance with iconic saxophonist Archie Shepp, and her experiences studying at a meditation ashram and exploring Celtic, Brazilian and Indian music also contributed to her widescreen vision as a vocalist and composer. After years in Los Angeles, McGarry moved to New York in the late ‘90s; her independently produced sophomore album, Show Me, was picked up by Palmetto Records, making her the first vocalist on the label’s roster. Jazziz magazine declared about McGarry upon that first Palmetto release, “With this near-flawless album, she has arrived.”

In 2005, McGarry’s Mercy Streets album—which ranged characteristically from the Peter Gabriel title track to songs by Björk, Joni Mitchell and Irving Berlin—was called “one of the most important vocal albums of the year” by All About Jazz. Featuring originals alongside tunes by Sting and Bill Evans/Miles Davis, her album The Target was named one of the best jazz vocal albums of 2007 by Downbeat. The Downbeat reviewer called the recording “a milestone of maturity,” adding: “No matter how many liberties she takes with meter and interpretation, she exercises a fidelity to the meaning of the song. McGarry has the pure untrammeled voice of an ingénue who finds wonder in the simplest of things.” Her 2008 album, If Less Is More, Nothing Is Everything, was nominated for a Grammy Award, with The Wall Street Journal calling it “an exceptionally appealing blend of folk and jazz” for its mix of originals, standards, Brazilian tunes and songs by the likes of Bob Dylan. National Public Radio said: “Kate McGarry is called a jazz vocalist, but she's hard to pin down. She draws on the music of her youth to inspire her—from the Irish tunes of her family's roots to musical theater to pop songs.”

McGarry has performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, from Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Birdland to the Berlin Jazz Fest, San Sebastian Jazz Fest and Jazz Baltica. The singer has recorded and toured with such jazz luminaries as Hank Jones, Fred Hersch, Kurt Elling and Maria Schneider. And she has toured Eastern Europe, South America and recently returned from a month long tour of China and Mongolia on behalf of the U.S.

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Album Review

Kate McGarry + Keith Ganz Ensemble: What to Wear in the Dark

Read "What to Wear in the Dark" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Being taken for granted is the greatest tribute and worst slight to any artist. Kate McGarry has made music that brilliantly colors outside the lines since her release, Show Me (Palmetto Records) in 2003 (there was a 1992 standards release, Easy To Love (Vital Records) that is out-of-print). Her career has provided five provocatively thoughtful and inventive recordings between that release and 2018's The Subject Tonight Is Love (Binxtown Records). Listeners have come to expect something a little different from ...

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Album Review

Kate McGarry + Keith Ganz Ensemble: What to Wear in the Dark

Read "What to Wear in the Dark" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Let us start with a nod to Steely Dan, the rock/jazz group headed up by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, a pair of tunesmiths who hit a career zenith in the early 1970s with albums like Can't Buy A Thrill (1972), Countdown To Ecstasy (1973), Pretzel Logic (1974) and Aja (1974), all on ABC Records. The group drew in top jazz artists to help craft their albums—saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Tom Scott, guitarists Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour, drummers Steve ...

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Album Review

John Hollenbeck: Songs You Like a Lot

Read "Songs You Like a Lot" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Con questo disco John Hollenbeck conclude la trilogia iniziata otto anni fa sulla reinterpretazione di famosi brani della popular music (Songs I Like A Lot, Sunnyside 2013) e proseguita due anni dopo con Songs We Like a Lot per la stessa etichetta. Nel primo album la scelta dei temi era strettamente personale, nel secondo fu condivisa con alcuni partner (i cantanti Theo Bleckmann e Kate McGarry) ed ora nasce dalla selezione di proposte giunte all'arrangiatore dal suo ...

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Album Review

John Hollenbeck: Songs You Like A Lot

Read "Songs You Like A Lot" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Every ending a beginning, each conclusion an act of creation. If multi-hyphenate John Hollenbeck's Songs You Like A Lot doesn't slot within that sentiment, nothing really does. This collection marks the completion of a lauded trilogy that's stretched out across the better part of a decade, but it also signals the start of something new--the Flexatonic Arts non-profit, which will serve as an umbrella for Hollenbeck's arts and education initiatives, and the record label it houses, acting as a home ...

Album Review

Kate McGarry: The Subject Tonight Is Love

Read "The Subject Tonight Is Love" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Il titolo di questo disco è preso da una poesia del 1300, scritta dal mistico sufi Hafiz e presenta un fascinoso percorso, che indaga i differenti aspetti dell'amore in un repertorio di undici brani. Protagonisti sono la cantante Kate McGarry, il chitarrista Keith Ganz (suo partner in altri album e nella vita) e il pianista Gary Versace che ha collaborato con entrambi in varie occasioni. I tre artisti incidono assieme per la prima volta e ospitano in un paio di ...

2
Album Review

Cathy Segal-Garcia: The Jazz Chamber

Read "The Jazz Chamber" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


On this album, Cathy Segal-Garcia, a vocalist and educator on the Los Angeles jazz scene, comes up with something special, working with a chamber orchestra and a group of jazz musicians to produce a wide-ranging program that veers from lush romanticism to complex jazz-funk. On much of the disc, Segal-Garcia's thick, classically formal voice, combined with a full string section, presents a lilting hybrid of jazz and light classical music. On first hearing it sounds a bit too ...

4
Album Review

Kate McGarry: The Subject Tonight Is Love

Read "The Subject Tonight Is Love" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


This is far from an ordinary collection of jazz-styled love songs. Vocalist Kate McGarry, guitarist Keith Ganz and pianist Gary Versace have put together a program that covers such varied aspects of love as romantic love, love for family, love for self, and love for mankind. They do this through mixing a lot of rock, folk and blues motifs with jazz in intimate arrangements that really put across the powerful emotions concerned in their songs. They sprinkle a ...

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Recording

Kate McGarry Will Release "Genevieve & Ferdinand" On February 4 On Sunnyside Records

Kate McGarry Will Release "Genevieve & Ferdinand" On February 4 On Sunnyside Records

Source: GoMedia PR

New CD Is a Dynamic Duet with Her Husband, Guitarist Keith Ganz Grammy-nominated vocalist Kate McGarry, whose most recent release (2012's Girl Talk) scored top honors on many of last year's Best Of lists, will take a slightly different tack on her first release for Sunnyside Records. Genevieve & Ferdinand, an intimate live set which features McGarry's soaring vocals bolstered by Keith Ganz's melodic acoustic guitar stylings, and which will be released on February 4, 2014, spans a dazzling stylistic ...

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Event

Kate McGarry, The Yellowjackets Headline Lawrence University's 33rd Jazz Celebration Weekend

Kate McGarry, The Yellowjackets Headline Lawrence University's 33rd Jazz Celebration Weekend

Source: Rick Peterson

APPLETON, WIS. — Both ends of the jazz spectrum will be represented Nov. 8-9 when Lawrence University hosts its 33rd Jazz Celebration Weekend. Grammy Award-nominated vocalist Kate McGarry, a four-time “Rising Star" honoree by Downbeat magazine, kicks off the weekend Friday while the legendary fusion quartet the Yellowjackets close the weekend Saturday evening. Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors and $17-15 for students, are available through the ...

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Contest

Enter the "Kate McGarry - Girl Talk" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Enter the "Kate McGarry - Girl Talk" Giveaway at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Palmetto Records “Kate McGarry - Girl Talk“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on June 19th. Click here to enter the contest (Following Kate McGarry at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at Palmetto Records About Girl Talk With Girl Talk, Grammy-nominated Kate McGarry pays homage to her role models among the great women of the jazz vocal ...

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Radio

Rockwired.com's All New Jazzed And Blue Podcast Presents Kate Mcgarry And Her New Cd 'girl Talk'!!!

Rockwired.com's All New Jazzed And Blue Podcast Presents Kate Mcgarry And Her New Cd 'girl Talk'!!!

Source: Rockwired Media LLC

The weekly online radio series Jazzed and Blue: Profiles in Blues and Jazz is back and is now available for download at Rockwired.com and features an exclusive interview with vocalist Kate McGarry regarding her latest release 'Girl Talk'. In the opening segment, McGarry discusses the inspiration behind the tracks of her new project and payign homage to jazz music's leading ladies. The second half of this edition of Jazzed and Blue will feature music from such jazz and blues artists ...

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Recording

Singer Kate McGarry Pays Tribute to Her Jazz Heroines With “Girl Talk,” Due From Palmetto Records April 10

Singer Kate McGarry Pays Tribute to Her Jazz Heroines With  “Girl Talk,” Due From Palmetto Records April 10

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

With the soul of a folk singer and the facility of a jazz instrumentalist, McGarry puts her own spin on an evergreen, ever-swinging tradition. “Kate McGarry's sense of musical authenticity is beautifully blended with her always-original musical vision." —The Los Angeles Times Kate McGarry, one of her generation's most individual and influential singers, has earned acclaim for blending her love of folk and pop music with jazz fluency and improvisation. As the Nashville Scene said, the sweet-toned, Grammy Award-nominated vocalist ...

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Radio

The Jazz Session #51: Kate McGarry

The Jazz Session #51: Kate McGarry

Source: All About Jazz


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Recording

Rebecca Martin and Kate McGarry: Two Appealing Blends of Jazz and Folk

Rebecca Martin and Kate McGarry: Two Appealing Blends of Jazz and Folk

Source: All About Jazz

Both Rebecca Martin and Kate McGarry are native New Englanders in their 40s, and both create exceptionally appealing blends of folk and jazz in their new albums. Yet thanks to their contrasting voices and arrangements, Ms. McGarry's “If Less Is More . . . Nothing Is Everything" (Palmetto) and Ms. Martin's “The Growing Season" (Sunnyside) take their listeners on divergent sonic paths. Ms. McGarry sings in a broad, bluesy soprano that dominates her sound. Ms. Martin sings in a slightly ...

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Event

Kate McGarry Quartet, KJ Denhert, Howard Fishman at "Summer on the Hudson"

Kate McGarry Quartet, KJ Denhert, Howard Fishman at "Summer on the Hudson"

Source: Reva Cooper

Summer On the Hudson, one of New York City's largest free summer festivals, continues its eighth season with a summer of unique contemporary music events at Riverside Park South, including the Kate McGarry Quartet, KJ Denhert and Howard Fishman's Biting Fish Brass Band on its July 13-August 24 “Acoustic Sundays" series. Summer On The Hudson is an Annual Arts and Cultural Festival in Riverside Park South Presented by The New York City Department Of Parks & Recreation Date: Sundays, July ...

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Performance / Tour

Kate McGarry Headlines La's Jazz Bakery on June 17t

Kate McGarry Headlines La's Jazz Bakery on June 17t

Source: All About Jazz

Kate McGarry, hailed by Downbeat as one of the top female vocalists of 2007, will bring her inspired repertoire of standard and not-so-standard fare to LA's Jazz Bakery on June 17th. A singer who's also a favorite among singers, McGarry, who has not performed in the LA area in over a year, will preview tracks from the upcoming CD 'If Less Is More...Nothing Is Everything' as well as her 2007 release 'The Target, ' praised by The New York Times ...

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Radio

The Jazz Session #33: Kate McGarry

The Jazz Session #33: Kate McGarry

Source: All About Jazz

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews vocalist Kate McGarry about her new album, The Target (Palmetto, 2007). It's yet another stellar album in a career that has seen her working with everyone from Fred Hersch to Maria Schneider. On The Target, McGarry is joined by her husband Keith Ganz on guitar, Gary Versace on organ and piano, Reuben Rogers on bass and Greg Hutchinson on drums, along with guest appearances from saxophonist Donny McCaslin and ...

If Less Is More, Nothing Is Everything is the third in a series of superb recent recordings by Ms. McGarry. An exceptionally appealing blend of folk and jazz." ~ Martin Johnson, Wall Street Journal

"Spin McGarry's hushed amble through the Cars' Just What I Needed to see how high the bar can be set." ~ Jim Macnie, Village Voice

"McGarry's sense of musical authenticity is beautifully blended with her always-original musical vision." ~ Don Heckman, The Los Angeles Times

"There's no greater influence on the young generation of post- Joni female jazz singer-songwriters than Kate McGarry." ~ Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix

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Primary Instrument

Vocals

Location

Raleigh

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

What to Wear in the...

Resilience Music Alliance
2021

buy

Songs You Like a Lot

Flexatonic Records label
2020

buy

The Subject Tonight...

Binxtown Records
2018

buy

The Jazz Chamber

Dash Hoffman Records
2018

buy

Balancing Act

Palmetto Records
2015

buy

Genevieve & Ferdinand

Sunnyside Records
2014

buy

My Funny Valentine

From: The Subject Tonight Is Love
By Kate McGarry

When There Were Trains

From: Balancing Act
By Kate McGarry

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