Kate McGarry

Long Bio

“It’s always my goal to reach the essence of the song and its meaning to me,

and deliver that to the listener.” – Kate McGarry

Kate McGarry delivers—not the all-too common, pleasant but benign songbook fare – but personal renditions from an eclectic repertoire that redefines the realm of vocal jazz.

Growing up in a large Irish Catholic family in Hyannis, Massachusetts, Kate and her nine siblings were surrounded by diverse musical influences from Celtic folk songs to the Beatles. Music and theater was a family affair. Recalls Kate, “We’d have talent shows and play and sing, putting on shows for my parents - we loved singing together.” At the same time, Kate was attracted to the music she heard in the local Irish pub. “We befriended the musicians,” says Kate. “We would go as a family to hear them and sing along. Hearing live music as a child was as important to me as anything in my life. I never considered doing any other work than singing.” In addition to folk melodies, Kate remembers listening with her family to the Mills Brothers, Beatles, Al Jarreau, and  the funk artists of the 70s such as George Duke and Earth, Wind and Fire.

And then along came jazz. Her piano teacher gave her a book of Bill Evans’ solos,  “The chord and harmonic structures were mysterious and beautiful…I could hear how Bill ‘sang’ while playing.” Next her boyfriend introduced her to Keith Jarrett. “He played me Keith Jarrett’s My Song and for hours and hours I sang along with solos…it was like he was telling a story I’d never heard that was somehow still familiar.” Kate was particularly inspired by Jarrett’s interactions with the other musicians as if a back and forth conversation. “It made so much sense to me”.

Kate moved more seriously into jazz after high school, studying African American music with Dr. Horace Boyer and avant garde jazz with saxophonist Archie Shepp at the University of Massachusetts. After graduation, singing around Boston with the vocal group “One O’Clock Jump” led to appearances in Monterey, CA and the opportunity to be guest vocalist with Clark Terry and Hank Jones at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Soon Kate had relocated to Los Angeles and became a regular performer at such venues as Catalina’s, the Jazz Bakery, and Le Café. In the vicinity of Hollywood, she also did some vocals for film and commercials, including tracks for Imax Films, the Sony Pictures release Caught and the title track for Boiling Point. She released her debut recording, Easy to Love, on Vital Music in 1992. It was an auspicious beginning with Music Magazine calling her "...a strong improviser who shows taste and restraint worthy of the most mature jazz singer.”

In the mid 90s, Kate moved back east for a few years of meditation as well as teaching harmonium and voice at an ashram in the Catskills. Settling in New York City in 1999, her singing and songwriting kicked into high gear. After independently producing Show Me (2001), she became the first (and still only) vocalist signed by Palmetto, which re-released her second effort in 2003. Show Me rose to #15 on Jazz Week’s charts, with C. Michael Bailey (All About Jazz) declaring, “She scats like a dream without caricature.” Prophetically, Jazzizz Magazine noted, “with this near flawless album, she has arrived.”

In 2004, Kate married guitarist Keith Ganz, and for her next recording, she decided to switch from an organ trio to a band built around the acoustic guitar. Mercy Streets (Palmetto, 2005), featuring originals and arrangements by Kate and Keith as well as covers of Joni Mitchell and Peter Gabriel, was dubbed by C. Michael Bailey (All About Jazz) as “one of the most important vocal albums of the year.” Bailey further noted that, “In her singing, one can detect elements of Kurt Elling, Betty Carter, Joni Mitchell, Cassandra Wilson, and Norah Jones. In this respect, McGarry is pushing the boundaries of jazz vocals in a healthy and fundamental way.”

Throughout 2005, there was mounting evidence of Kate McGarry’s expanding palette. In addition to releasing Mercy Streets, she toured with acclaimed pianist Fred Hersch and master vocalist Kurt Elling, performing Hersch’s song cycle, “Leaves of Grass”, a setting of Walt Whitman’s poetry to music. The project earned Hersch a Guggenheim Award, and the ensemble performed “Leaves of Grass” to a sold out audience at Carnegie Hall in March 2005. Recorded a few years earlier, Kate was seen on Chick Corea’s 2005 DVD, Rendezvous, in an impromptu performance of “Smile” with Bobby McFerrin during Corea’s 60th birthday celebration at the Blue Note. Also in 2005, Kate performed over 50 concerts of The Different Moods of the Blues with Eli Yamin (piano), Bob Stewart (tuba) and LaFrae Sci (drums), as a Lincoln Center Institute touring artist.

The following year proved equally challenging and fulfilling, as Kate performed with the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra in April 2006 at the Manchester Craftsman’s Guild in Pittsburgh, where the ensemble recorded a live DVD of Schneider’s Grammy-award winning suite, “Concert in the Garden.” And following a collaboration with the Jazz Tap Ensemble at the Joyce Theater in New York, Kate began adding tap to her ensemble as another instrument whenever possible. In December 2006, she appeared as special guest on DeeDee Bridgewater’s NPR show, Jazz Set.

Returning more firmly to the jazz idiom, Kate’s 2007 release, The Target, features a hot organ ensemble with Gary Versace, the lyrical guitar of husband Keith Ganz, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Greg Hutchinson on drums, and guest tracks with tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin and Theo Bleckmann on voice loops. The cd went to #1 on the National Jazz Charts. was featured on NPR's All Things Considered, and garnered international acclaim. Other current projects include writing, recording and producing (with Ganz) 63 children’s songs for the Heinle Picture Dictionary For Children  - an international ESL release. In April of 2008 Kate will be touring with MOSS for Sunnyside records (featuring Peter Eldridge, Theo Bleckmann, Lauren Kinhan and Luciana Souza). Kate joined the jazz faculty of Manhattan School of Music in September of 2007. A new release for June of 2008 will be recorded in December.

Wherever Kate McGarry goes next, the words of JazzTimes are sure to follow:

“A bold, brave adventurer, McGarry has, by opting for the musical road less traveled, placed herself firmly on the road to ever-widening critical and popular success.”