Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Kit McClure, Yale University 1975, is a bandleader and saxophonist in New York City. Her credits include tours in the USA, Japan, and Europe with R&B legends Sam and Dave, Broadway show “Dancin',” and featured soloist with the Barry White Orchestra. In 1982 her vision of a band of women musicians became a reality as the Kit McClure Band made its debut at the Ritz in New York City. The Band quickly became a popular fixture in the New York nightclub scene, and also had the privilege of touring with the great Cab Calloway. Soon the Band was noticed by the recording industry and was put on the payroll of Island Records to prepare a show with the late rock star Robert Palmer. This show toured two years later, playing sold out houses at Radio City Music Hall, Garden State Arts Center and similar venues across the Northeast. Eight tours of Japan quickly ensued, with time out to produce the CD “Some Like It Hot” on Redhot Records. The Band's second CD release, “Burning,” also on Redhot Records, was produced in 1996 by jazz legend Teo Macero. The Band has recently completed five tours of Europe in support of these recordings.
The Kit McClure Band is as dedicated to keeping a dance floor full as it is to providing a show in concert halls and music festivals. The Band's music ranges from transcriptions of Duke Ellington's and Count Basie's popular works all the way to the soulful grooves of Aretha Franklin, James Brown and original arrangements by Kit McClure and the Band. As a dance orchestra the band has enlivened ballrooms across the Northeast, such as the Waldorf Astoria and the Plaza in the Band's hometown New York City.
The Kit McClure Band has continued to further the recognition of the achievements of women in music by completing “The Sweethearts Project,” a tribute to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the popular all women band of World War II. The resulting recording is The Sweethearts Project, Redhot Records, released in March 2004.
