Former folkie Shank finds new career in jazz genre
Legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday has had a profound effect on many.
Including vocalist Kendra Shank, who switched genres because of her.
Originally a guitar-playing folk-pop singer in Seattle, Shank altered her musical direction after a European friend played a Holiday record for her in 1988.
"I just flipped," she said in a phone interview from her New York home. "It was like an epiphany. I said, 'That's it. That's what I want to do.' I wasn't the same after that."
Shank, 46, will be in Lincoln Tuesday with her quartet to perform at Jazz in June. Brought in by the Berman Music Foundation, she will be singing in the Star City for the first time since 1995, when she played the Zoo Bar.
Performing with her will be Frank Kimbrough (piano), Dean Johnson (bass) and Tony Moreno (drums).
Born in California to a playwright father and actress mother, Shank started acting in plays at age 5, picked up the guitar at 13 and at 19 began her professional music career.
She said her transition to jazz wasn't immediate after hearing Holiday sing, but the seed definitely had been planted.
She bought a "fake book" of jazz standards and sang and played folkie renditions of "Round Midnight" and "Autumn Leaves."
She even began sitting in "bashfully," she said at jazz clubs in Paris, where she was living at the time.
"I knew, like, three songs," she admitted.
It was then she met bassist Ed Schuller (son of Gunther Schuller), who encouraged her to look up vocalist Jay Clayton, a respected teacher and singer in Seattle.
Clayton, who took Shank under her wing, became one of three women vocalists Shirley Horn and Abbey Lincoln were the others who became critical in Shank's development.
"She really gave me the basics," Shank said. "What is jazz, how to sing it, leading a band and writing a chart."
In 1990, Shank approached Horn at a Seattle club after being bowled over by her performance. She appreciated Horn's smooth, understated style.
Horn sat Shank down, and the two women talked music. Horn told her she needed a demo tape "she could be proud of" and gave Shank her address and telephone number.
Shank didn't send her tape but hand-delivered one when their paths crossed again at a jazz festival in France. Horn eventually helped Shank secure Shank's first record deal and co-produced the critically acclaimed debut album "Afterglow" (Mapleshade, 1994).
Shank moved to New York in 1997 and put out two more albums for Jazz Focus Records, "Wish" (1998) and "Reflections" (2000).
Her next project will be a songbook album devoted to the music of Lincoln, whom she met for the first time at a Thanksgiving gathering at Clayton's home in 1993.
"I arrived with pumpkin pies in my hands, and I damn near dropped them when I saw who was sitting in Jay's house," Shanks said.
Lincoln, you see, is a jazz icon who is known as much for her unique and powerful material as she is for singing it.
The two women have developed a close friendship, with Lincoln opening her home to Shank when she moved to New York City. Shank was a musical guest on Lincoln's CD "Over the Years" (Verve), helping Lincoln to jazz up the bluegrass standard "Blackberry Blossoms."
When Shank told Lincoln about wanting to record Lincoln's material, she said Lincoln was thrilled.
"I was so scared (to ask her)," but I really wanted to do this," Shank said. "Abbey loves it when people do her tunes."
The way Shank sees it, the CD is the least she can do for another woman who has had a profound effect on her.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@;journalstar.com.
If you go
What: Kendra Shank, Jazz in June
Where: Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery sculpture garden, 12th and R streets
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Tickets: Admission is free
Including vocalist Kendra Shank, who switched genres because of her.
Originally a guitar-playing folk-pop singer in Seattle, Shank altered her musical direction after a European friend played a Holiday record for her in 1988.
"I just flipped," she said in a phone interview from her New York home. "It was like an epiphany. I said, 'That's it. That's what I want to do.' I wasn't the same after that."
Shank, 46, will be in Lincoln Tuesday with her quartet to perform at Jazz in June. Brought in by the Berman Music Foundation, she will be singing in the Star City for the first time since 1995, when she played the Zoo Bar.
Performing with her will be Frank Kimbrough (piano), Dean Johnson (bass) and Tony Moreno (drums).
Born in California to a playwright father and actress mother, Shank started acting in plays at age 5, picked up the guitar at 13 and at 19 began her professional music career.
She said her transition to jazz wasn't immediate after hearing Holiday sing, but the seed definitely had been planted.
She bought a "fake book" of jazz standards and sang and played folkie renditions of "Round Midnight" and "Autumn Leaves."
She even began sitting in "bashfully," she said at jazz clubs in Paris, where she was living at the time.
"I knew, like, three songs," she admitted.
It was then she met bassist Ed Schuller (son of Gunther Schuller), who encouraged her to look up vocalist Jay Clayton, a respected teacher and singer in Seattle.
Clayton, who took Shank under her wing, became one of three women vocalists Shirley Horn and Abbey Lincoln were the others who became critical in Shank's development.
"She really gave me the basics," Shank said. "What is jazz, how to sing it, leading a band and writing a chart."
In 1990, Shank approached Horn at a Seattle club after being bowled over by her performance. She appreciated Horn's smooth, understated style.
Horn sat Shank down, and the two women talked music. Horn told her she needed a demo tape "she could be proud of" and gave Shank her address and telephone number.
Shank didn't send her tape but hand-delivered one when their paths crossed again at a jazz festival in France. Horn eventually helped Shank secure Shank's first record deal and co-produced the critically acclaimed debut album "Afterglow" (Mapleshade, 1994).
Shank moved to New York in 1997 and put out two more albums for Jazz Focus Records, "Wish" (1998) and "Reflections" (2000).
Her next project will be a songbook album devoted to the music of Lincoln, whom she met for the first time at a Thanksgiving gathering at Clayton's home in 1993.
"I arrived with pumpkin pies in my hands, and I damn near dropped them when I saw who was sitting in Jay's house," Shanks said.
Lincoln, you see, is a jazz icon who is known as much for her unique and powerful material as she is for singing it.
The two women have developed a close friendship, with Lincoln opening her home to Shank when she moved to New York City. Shank was a musical guest on Lincoln's CD "Over the Years" (Verve), helping Lincoln to jazz up the bluegrass standard "Blackberry Blossoms."
When Shank told Lincoln about wanting to record Lincoln's material, she said Lincoln was thrilled.
"I was so scared (to ask her)," but I really wanted to do this," Shank said. "Abbey loves it when people do her tunes."
The way Shank sees it, the CD is the least she can do for another woman who has had a profound effect on her.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@;journalstar.com.
If you go
What: Kendra Shank, Jazz in June
Where: Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery sculpture garden, 12th and R streets
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Tickets: Admission is free
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