This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Wherever Karla Harris decides to settle in, she becomes a major figure on the local jazz scene — and a contributor to the music education of the local community.
Initially it was her hometown, St. Louis, in combos with the city’s leading jazz musicians, including internationally acclaimed bassist Tom Kennedy as they began what would become a career-long musical partnership. She was also instrumental in developing a multidisciplinary music curriculum she would personally deliver to young students in schools around the city.
In Portland, where she moved in 2005, she quickly became a regularly featured artist at the city’s coveted jazz rooms, working in front of the city’s well-stocked collection of jazz heroes such as keyboardists Randy Porter and Steve Christofferson and percussionist Bobby Torres.
She also was a fixture at the city’s many special events devoted to jazz, like the Oregon Coast Jazz Party, Cathedral Park Jazz Festival and Portland Jazz Festival.
In Atlanta since 2012, Harris has graced virtually every jazz venue and performed with the city’s top jazz musicians, including appearing at the Atlanta Jazz Festival.
Harris returns to the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center’s Jazz on the Lawn series Friday night. She will be accompanied by some of the city’s cream-of-the-crop musicians, including pianist Tyrone Jackson, bassist Kevin Smith, saxophonist Mace Hibbard, guitarist Trey Wright and Count Basie Orchestra drummer Robert Boone.
Credit: Courtesy of Karla Harris
Credit: Courtesy of Karla Harris
She will also perform Oct. 17 at Kennesaw State University’s Morgan Hall with Parliament, a nine-member ensemble of KSU jazz faculty.
Since moving to Atlanta, Harris has recorded several notable and noted albums of standards and originals. And since 2017, she’s been artist-in-residence at KSU, where she teaches jazz vocals to aspiring young singers.
For Harris, teaching jazz is also teaching life lessons.
“Singing is a very vulnerable experience — and athletic,” Harris said. “There are a lot of things you have to pay attention to. The character traits and the soft skills we learn from jazz we carry into our personal lives, which reverberates into our community then into society at large. It’s a much wider look at what’s happening when we teach these kids about jazz, a lot of positives that make this planet a better place to be.”
While she released her first CD, “Twice As Nice,” in 2007 in Portland, a collaboration with Kennedy, her recording career exploded with her move Atlanta. She received wide acclaim in 2015 with “Karla Harris Sings the Dave and Iola Brubeck Songbook.”
The album spotlights vocal versions of 11 Dave Brubeck compositions with lyrics written by his wife of 70 years, Iola. Released on Summit Records, it awakened the jazz world to Harris’ conceptual approach and execution.
“She makes these seldom-heard lyrics come alive,” Jazz History Online praised. “A work of sheer elegance and distinction,” said Jazz da Gama. “The Brubecks would have been pleased,” Jazziz Magazine wrote.
Her next album, “Certain Elements,” was released in early 2019 and introduced Harris as a songwriter. The album is a blend of contemporary jazz, Latin, swing and blues.
Then November 2022 brought the release “Moon To Gold,” a collaboration with hard swinging Atlanta pianist Joe Alterman and his trio, a combination of live and studio tracks that took Harris back to her beginnings with the standards. Jazz reviewer Norman Warwick wrote, “These songs have never sounded better or more insightful or more relevant than they do here on ‘Moon To Gold’.”
As she prepares for her sixth Callanwolde appearance, Harris and Kennedy are putting the final touches on a new album of originals, featuring such world-class musicians as trumpeter Randy Brecker, Modern Drummer Hall of Fame percussionist Dave Weckl and guitarist John Pizzarelli.
The album will be released early next year.
While each album unfolds to reveal its own unique character, they all confirm Harris’ ability to express the essence of what we know as vocal jazz, each song freshly interpreted — and likely to be so again when Harris performs it in front of an audience.
“The improvisation and freedom that jazz is all about allows you to bring your personal experiences, your feelings from that very day to each song you’re performing,” she said. “So something you’ve heard before will sound completely different the next time you hear it.”
As her audience will surely notice and confirm at Callanwolde on Friday night.
CONCERT PREVIEW
Karla Harris
7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6. Starting at $35. Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, 980 Briarcliff Road NE, Atlanta. 404-872-5338, callanwolde.org/events.
7:30 p.m. Oct. 17. $5-$12. Morgan Hall at Kennesaw State University’s Bailey Performance Center, 488 Prillaman Way, Kennesaw. Kennesaw.edu/arts.
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Mike Shaw is a jazz pianist who has performed for decades in New Orleans and Atlanta. He is the author of the novel The Musician and the founder of Shade Communications, a marketing company.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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