Laura Karst ○ Dancing in Darkness

Laura Karst’s June 2022 album release, Dancing in Darkness, comprises songs by an international array of jazz composers and a variety of jazz styles: swing, bebop, ballads, Latin, modern, and fusion, occasionally treating listeners to Laura’s impeccably pronounced French and Portuguese singing.

Laura Karst – Biography

Music critics and fans praise Laura Karst’s warm and smooth alto voice, her interpretation of lyrics as a true storyteller, and her versatility as a singer of a wide range of jazz styles, and in a variety of languages. She can swing hard and scat, or get an infectious bossa nova or samba groove going, and she will hold you emotionally captive as she sings her ballads.

San Francisco Bay Area jazz vocalist Laura Karst used to surprise her audiences when they learned that, by day, she was the chair of a prominent college’s French department, up until her retirement in 2017. She enjoyed her day job, but singing jazz has been her greatest love for the past 20 years. Laura is a seasoned solo performer, having headlined in a number of Bay Area jazz venues, including Angelica’s Main Stage in Redwood City, Café Pink House jazz club in Saratoga, the Lobby Lounge of the San Jose Fairmont, Tarragon in Sunnyvale, Sumika in Los Altos, the Octavia Lounge jazz club in San Francisco, and the Tabard Theatre in San Jose.

In 2017, Laura was the invited Guest Artist at the Hilo Bay Café in Hawai’i, and she has also performed in numerous jazz clubs in Paris, such as Autour de Midi et Minuit, Péniche le Marcounet, Le Caveau des Légendes, Le Café Universel, and La Crêperie ELO.

As an ensemble singer, Laura has sung in the 5- and 6-voice vocal jazz groups, Vocal Flight and JAZZ-ology, winning First Place at the Reno Jazz Festival and multiple national awards from DownBeat Magazine during Laura’s tenure with them. With JAZZ-ology, Laura has performed in jazz clubs in Manhattan, NY, and in Paris, Lyon, and Grenoble, France.

She is a lyricist as well, collaborating primarily with the award-winning European jazz composer and vocalist, Loïs Le Van, whose album “Vind”, featuring exclusively Laura’s lyrics, was selected as Album of the Month by Jazz News Magazine in October 2019, with the comment that they lyrics “blend poetry with music”.

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Track list:

1. It’s Your Dance (Israel) [5:04]
John Carisi & Ray Passman (Beechwood Music Corp.)
2. Errática [3:24]
Caetano Veloso (Terra Enterprises, Inc.)
3. Not You Again [5:35]
Duncan Lamont (David Platz Music, Inc.)
4. Bittersweet [3:50]
John Bianculli & Connie Bryson (Hotsprings Music / Meter Maid Music)
5. Winter Sweet [6:22]
Kenny Wheeler & Norma Winstone (Metisse Music)
6. Footprints [8:24]
Wayne Shorter, Giazonne Reyes & Theo Jackson (Miyako Music)
7. Busy Being Blue [4:39]
Peter Eldridge & Jack Donahue (Reuben’s Tunes / Two Maples Music)
8. Beloved (Daahoud) [5:25]
Clifford Brown & Meredith d’Ambrosio – vocalese written by Denise Donatelli (Second Floor Music)
9. A Dream Come True [7:21]
Tony Lakatos & Masha Bijlsma (Cronemeyer Editions / Laika Records Publishing)
10. Dans mon île [4:47]
Henri Salvador & Maurice Pon (Round Hill Works)
Flute: Laura Karst
11. Quiet Afternoon [6:24]
Zbigniew Namyslowski (Mmo Music Group / Vebeque Music)

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DIFFUSION NOVEMBER, 6, 2022