Karen Mason to Release Album KAREN MASON AND ALL THAT JAZZ! in October

Karen Mason will release her singular album Karen Mason And All That Jazz! on CD and in digital and streaming formats on Friday, October 25. For this personal new collection, Karen explores the beloved songbook of John Kander and Fred Ebb, the justly celebrated Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning team behind the Broadway musicals Cabaret; Chicago; New York, New York, and beyond. Karen is accompanied on solo piano by her longtime music director, Christopher Denny. The album is produced and mixed by Paul Rolnick with arrangements by Christopher Denny and Barry Kleinbort, who directed the original concert version of the show.
 
Karen will celebrate the album with a special concert at 54 Below in New York on Sunday, November 10 and then a run at Davenport’s in Chicago on November 13-16. For ticket information, please visit KarenMason.com.
 
Karen Mason And All That Jazz! presents Karen’s dazzling take on Kander & Ebb’s songs, which have been lighting up Broadway since the 1960s. Eschewing her typical orchestral accompaniment for subtle yet engaging piano, Karen’s interpretations are the perfect mix of intimacy and excitement. Christopher Denny’s playing, with its myriad shades and colors, sounds like an orchestra in itself. While Mason puts her unique spin on classics like “All That Jazz,” “Maybe This Time” and “A Quiet Thing,” the album also delves into less often performed shows such as The Visit (“Love and Love Alone”), The Scottsboro Boys (“Go Back Home”), and The Happy Time (“The Life of the Party”). In one particularly fascinating twist of fate, Karen gives us the rousing “I’m One of the Smart Ones,” which was originally written for the unproduced show Golden Gate, but ended up making a memorable appearance on Broadway last season in the musical New York, New York.
 
A special highlight is “My Coloring Book,” one of rare entries in the Kander & Ebb oeuvre not taken from the musical theater, but a standalone hit. The song became part of the early ‘60s zeitgeist with recordings from Barbra Streisand, Sandy Stewart and Kitty Kallen. Yet Karen brings unparalleled sensitivity to the bittersweet ballad.
 
Mason first worked with Kander & Ebb when she starred in Off-Broadway’s And the World Goes ‘Round, a revue celebrating their collaboration, created by director Scott Ellis, choreographer Susan Stroman, and librettist David Thompson. On this album, she revisits the song “Colored Lights,” originally introduced in the musical The Rink in 1984. Her new recording of the number retains the thrilling voice but clearly evokes how her interpretation has deepened in the intervening years.
 
“I have always loved Kander and Ebb’s music,” reflects Karen. “When I was first getting interested in theater, I learned that most female roles were sopranos. But when I heard the cast album from Cabaret, I discovered females singing in my vocal range. And it opened up the world to me! So my connection with Kander & Ebb started very early, and they further enriched my life when I got cast in And the World Goes ‘Round.” 
 
“I’ve been lucky to ‘bump’ into John and Fred at various times in my career,” she continues. “I sang my arrangement of ‘All That Jazz’ for them at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops when they were declared a ‘Living Landmark.’ Later, John asked me to sing the demo for The Visit. This music is my vocabulary, my lexicon as a singing actor. Up to this point, I had not done any shows honoring a specific songwriting team, but this felt like the right time to honor these two artists that have been so influential to my life and career. They’ve given so much to me… and to the world.”