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Mary Foster Conklin

Vocalist and radio host Mary Foster Conklin is an old school song hound, with a special talent for uncovering lesser known treasures of the Great American Songbook and performing them in nontraditional venues. Her smoky voice with a tart twist of lemon has been described as both recognizably traditional yet unmistakably contemporary, as she puts her personal stamp on a repertoire that spans over nine decades. “Scratch her witty tough-girl-from Jersey patter,” wrote The Washington Post, “and you’ll find a sensitive artist (but not frail) with a wide-ranging boldly colored voice and an open ear for off-beat material.” Mary Foster Conklin has appeared in theatres, jazz clubs, cabarets and even fire escapes in the metropolitan New York area and throughout the United States and Canada. She also hosts a weekly live radio show called “A Broad Spectrum – the Ladies of Jazz” celebrating women composers and lyricists on WFDU.FM on the HD2 channel Jazz and What's More. A New Jersey native who came to New York to pursue theatre work, her transformation from actor to jazz singer began when she joined drummer/composer Art Lillard’s 15-piece Heavenly Band and her song selections naturally shifted from show tunes to blues, Latin and bebop. As a leader, her sets are a mix of contemporary material and standards, with an emphasis on the lesser known treasures of the Great American Songbook. In New York, Conklin’s talents have earned her a place on the stages of The Blue Note, Zinc Bar, Iridium, Birdland, the Kitano and the Cornelia Street Cafe. She can also be seen from time to time singing off various fire escapes as The Lady in the Red Dress with the Renegade Cabaret. Her latest projects include THE RAINBOW PROJECT, a collaboration with pianist John diMartino and violinist Sara Caldwell, MIRRORS REVISITED, an evening of dark art songs by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller imortalized by Peggy Lee and LIFE IS A BITCH, a tribute to Beat poet/lyricist Fran Landesman, (best known for "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" and "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men") which was praised by the New York Times as "full of salt and vinegar — with the intensity and tough humor of someone who might have lived on the bohemian fringe in the late ’40s and ’50s, when the word ‘hip’ meant something." On the West Coast she has performed in Los Angeles at the In House Jazz Series, Vitello’s, the Gardenia and the Jazz Bakery.

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4
Album Review

Mary Foster Conklin: These Precious Days

Read "These Precious Days" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Mary Foster Conklin is a New York-based singer with an eclectic approach to the choices she makes in deciding upon a repetoire for her fifth release, These Precious Days. Unafraid to step outside the nine dots, she has focussed the project on lesser-known jazz and popular compositions by predominately female songwriters. Joining Conklin are a number of top shelf New York musicians including pianist and arranger John Di Martino, violinist Sara Caswell, bassist Ed Howard, drummer Vince Cherico, guitarist Guilherme ...

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Album Review

Mary Foster Conklin: Blues For Breakfast

Read "Blues For Breakfast" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Blues For Breakfast, the third album from vocalist Mary Foster Conklin, is a tribute to the music of Matt Dennis, who died in 2002 at the age of 88. Although he was not as renowned as the members of the Great American Songbook circle (Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, et al.), Dennis did indeed contribute significantly many memorable songs, primarily during the second half of the Twentieth Century. In the liner notes, author James Gavin relates how in the ...

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Album Review

Mary Foster Conklin: Blues for Breakfast: Remembering Matt Dennis

Read "Blues for Breakfast: Remembering Matt Dennis" reviewed by Jack Bowers


I don't review many albums by singers these days, but I couldn't pass up a tribute to Matt Dennis, one of the most talented and sadly neglected songwriters of the Twentieth Century. Before scoffing, remember “Angel Eyes," “Will You Still Be Mine," “Everything Happens to Me," “Violets for Your Furs," “Let's Get Away from It All," “Show Me the Way to Get Out of This World" and “The Night We Called It a Day." All were written by Dennis, who ...

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Album Review

Mary Foster Conklin: You'd Be Paradise

Read "You'd Be Paradise" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Hip singer, splendid album. To elaborate — New York–based songstress Mary Foster Conklin, who obviously loves what she does, goes around the block and back to avoid the obvious on You’d Be Paradise, complementing no less than four sophisticated tunes by the inimitable Bob Dorough with one each by David Cantor (“Nirvana”), Tom Waits (“Broken Bicycles”) and Michel Legrand (“The Windmills of Your Mind”), King Pleasure’s wry commentary on Stan Getz’s opus “Don’t Get Scared,” a brace of venerable Cole ...

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Album Review

Mary Foster Conklin: Crazy Eyes

Read "Crazy Eyes" reviewed by AAJ Staff


She’s standing there on the cover, lovely black and white photograph, big smile, looking to the heavens. You know what this is; you turn it on. “You got a blue eye”, sings the sophisticate; “It’s deeper than any blue.” You know what this is. She relates that the other eye is charming – only it’s green ! You do not know what this is. And you should – in this witty album Mary Foster Conklin sings an eloquent batch of ...

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Performance / Tour

Steve Kuhn, Vijay Iyer, Rachel Z Celebrate the Music of Bud Powell (Sun. Jazz Brunch) Mary Foster Conklin This Weekend at at the Iridium Jazz Club

Steve Kuhn, Vijay Iyer, Rachel Z Celebrate the Music of Bud Powell (Sun. Jazz Brunch) Mary Foster Conklin This Weekend at at the Iridium Jazz Club

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) NEW YORK, NY 10023 RESERVATIONS: 212-582-2121 Sets At 8:00 & 10:00PM Effective immediately, minimums are $10/person/set for all Sept. 27-30 THE MUSIC OF BUD POWELL BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BUD POWELL TRIBUTE 'THE AMAZING BUD POWELL' Sep 28 Steve Kuhn Billy Drummond Eddie Gomez Sep 29 Vijay Iyer Piano Stephen Crump Bass ...

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Event

Mary Foster Conklin Tomorrow at the Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble at 66th and Broadway 6:00 P.M

Mary Foster Conklin Tomorrow at the Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble at 66th and Broadway 6:00 P.M

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

MARY FOSTER CONKLIN tomorrow (April 18): Any Wednesday at the Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble at 66th and Broadway 6:00 p.m

Yes, the weather has been dreary this week, but why not jump into your favorite rowboat tomorrow (April 18) and come to see the wonderful smokey-voiced jazz singer MARY FOSTER CONKLIN as she pays tribute to the songwriter Matt Dennis, as she does on her award winning album, Blues for Breakfast: Remembering Matt Dennis. We can't promise that the ...

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Performance / Tour

Mary Foster Conklin Wednesday, March 7 @ 8PM and 9:30PM Enzo's Jazz Room at the Jolly Hotel Madison Towers

Mary Foster Conklin Wednesday, March 7 @ 8PM and 9:30PM Enzo's Jazz Room at the Jolly Hotel Madison Towers

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

MARY FOSTER CONKLIN Wednesday, March 7 @ 8pm and 9:30pm 22 East 38th Street (at Madison Avenue) (212) 802 0600 in the Whaler Bar located in the Lobby. Complimentary antipasti served by Ristorante Cinque Terre $15. cover charge, 1 drink min. Sets are at 8pm and 9.30pm Praised by the New York Times as “a highly creative singer whose style blends cabaret and jazz so thoroughly as to defy any easy categorization," and “an ...

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Performance / Tour

Mary Foster Conklin East Coast CD Release Event November 7th at Sweet Rhythm

Mary Foster Conklin East Coast CD Release Event November 7th at Sweet Rhythm

Source: All About Jazz

November 7 - 8pm and 9:30pm Mary Foster Conklin East Coast CD Release Event - BLUES FOR BREAKFAST - REMEMBERING MATT DENNIS (Rhombus Records) Sweet Rhythm 88 Seventh Avenue South NYC $15 cover + 2 drink minimum http://www.sweetrhythmny.com/

with John di Martino-piano; Greg Ryan-bass; Ron Vincent-drums;Tony Romano-guitar; Joel Frahm-saxophone

Mary Foster Conklin can be heard in clubs throughout New York City and beyond, both as a ...

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Recording

Mary Foster Conklin Releases "Blues for Breakfast" on Rhombus Records

Mary Foster Conklin Releases "Blues for Breakfast" on Rhombus Records

Source: All About Jazz

"If a singer is very lucky, she finds a songwriter with whom her voice and manner are a neat click. Both thrush and tunesmith benefit. For this intelligent jazz interpreter, it's Matt Dennis. She's always been top-notch, but with Dennis, she outdoes herself." THE VILLAGE VOICE Mary Foster Conklin can be heard in clubs nationwide, both as a soloist and with Art Lillard's Heavenly Band. Praised by the Washington Post as “a sensitive artist (but not frail) with a wide-ranging ...

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Performance / Tour

Mary Foster Conklin at The Jazz Bakery October 25 + The Villa Resort October 26-28

Mary Foster Conklin at The Jazz Bakery October 25 + The Villa Resort October 26-28

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

MARY FOSTER CONKLIN

Appearing Sunday, October 25

at The Jazz Bakery 3233 Helms Avenue Los Angeles, CA 8/9:30pm Reservations: 310-271-9039 http://www.jazzbakery.com/ and October 26-28

at The Villa Resort 67-670 Carey Road Cathedral City, CA Reservations: 760-328-7211 http://www.thevilla.com/

Mary Foster Conklin can be heard in clubs throughout New York City and beyond, both as a soloist and ...

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Performance / Tour

Mary Foster Conklin New CD + Upcoming Appearances

Mary Foster Conklin New CD + Upcoming Appearances

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Here's an update on Mary Foster Conklin's fall happenings. The new CD, Blue for Breakfast: Remembering Matt Dennis is now available for pre-order on Amazon and the Rhombus Records website (http://www.rhombus-records.com).

New dates have been added. Here is the revised performance schedule for fall:

Thursday, September 21 at 7pm CD preview performance The Metropolitan Room 34 West 22nd Street (bet. 5th and 6th Ave) NYC http://www.metropolitanroom.com/

Monday, September 25th at 8:00 PM ...

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Performance / Tour

Mary Foster Conklin September 10 at Barry Levitt's Iridium Brunch

Mary Foster Conklin September 10 at Barry Levitt's Iridium Brunch

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

September 7, 2006 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] MARY FOSTER CONKLIN SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH 1:00PM Appearing At

BARRY LEVITT'S VOCAL JAZZ WORKSHOP & BRUNCH FEATURING THE BARRY LEVITT QUARTET: BRIAN GRICE - DRUMS CHIP JACKSON - BASS DAVID SCHNITTER - SAX BARRY LEVITT - PIANO 11am-3pm

At The IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st) ...

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“Like her earlier recordings, this one [Photographs] is full of one magic moment after another. Her distinctive rich and dusky sound is completely captivating, conjuring up images of a film noir femme fatale. She is a supreme storyteller, and chooses songs that provide the kind of lyrics that lend themselves well to her approach.” Joe Lang Jersey Jazz “Stylish without pretension, sexy without posturing, and tasteful without strict boundaries, Conklin is a jazz artist with that always hoped-for combination of musical chops and sensitivity to lyrics.” Barbara and Scott Siegel - THEATERMANIA.COM “A delightfully dramatic young singer whose third album [Blues for Breakfast] amounts to a one-woman archeological survey subtitled ‘Remembering Matt Dennis’: 14 tunes, some familiar, many neglected

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

These Precious Days

Mock Turtle Music
2023

buy

Photographs

Mock Turtle Music
2016

buy

Blues For Breakfast

Rhombus Records
2006

buy

You'd Be Paradise

Mock Turtle Music
2001

buy

Crazy Eyes

Mock Turtle Music
1999

buy

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