Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Announces THE VOICE Featuring Renowned Vocalist Deborah Brown

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Executive Director Lea Petrie today announced the next concert for the 2022-2023 20th Anniversary season, The Voice featuring guest artist Deborah Brown, Thursday, November 10 at 7 p.m. at the Helzberg Hall of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (1601 Broadway, KCMO 64108). The concert will feature guest artist Deborah Brown who will participate in a pre-concert Jazz Chat at 6 p.m.

One of the hallmarks of jazz through the ages has been great artists sharing their stories, emotions, and perspective through music. Of all the rhythm, harmony, and melody in jazz, it is the human voice that consistently resonates in our ears and heart. Deborah Brown is one of the treasures in the music world, a pure master of her craft, and a consummate artist and storyteller. Her voice invites all of us to share in the human experience.

About Deborah Brown

Deborah Brown is one of many American jazz performers who found her greatest fame and recognition overseas rather than in the U.S. She has said that she is equally inspired by Charlie Parker and Betty Carter. Her mother was a classical pianist who taught accordion. After a brief period on violin, Brown switched to accordion before taking piano lessons from her grandmother. She attended a local university for a few semesters but gained her most important musical training while performing live. Brown became a professional singer when she was 20, touring around the United States in different settings including appearances in Las Vegas in a big band that accompanied comic George Carlin.

Brown has toured Asia, Japan, and Indonesia and she spent 1985-1995 living in Europe. All in all, she has sung in over 50 countries. She has been accompanied by pianists Roger Kellaway (including ten duet concerts), Cedar Walton, and Dorothy Donegan, and sung with such notables as tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, harmonica great Toots Thielemans, and trumpeters Harry "Sweets" Edison and Benny Bailey. Other experiences include performing with Russia's Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra, Sweden's Sandviken Big Band, and Kluver Big Band from Denmark. She also toured Siberia with Russian saxophonist Nikolai Panov's quintet and led the quartet Jazz 4 Jazz which included pianist Horace Parlan. In addition to recording with pianist John Lundgren, the Doky Brothers, and the Sandviken Big Band, Brown has led 11 CDs of her own for such labels as 33 Jazz, Alfa, Timeless, Koch, Intermusic, Jazz 'N Pulz, and a duet set with guitarist Joe Beck for Jazz Voix.

Kansas City Jazz Orchestra Artistic Director Clint Ashlock stated, " An innate love for storytelling is something we all have in common, and what is a song but a story? Prose and poetry set to captivating melody and harmony... our imaginations can get lost in the power of song, especially when it is delivered by a masterful vocalist like Deborah Brown. One of the greatest musicians to emerge from Kansas City, Ms. Brown has enlightened listeners across the globe with her pristine tone, soulful interpretation, and attention to the confluence of lyrics, pacing, and tune. Deborah Brown is a consummate professional that combines all aspects of the human experience in telling her stories and is the shining highlight as the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra presents The Voice."

Masterclasses Open to the Public

In addition to the concert, Deborah Brown, a beloved Kansas City native, will conduct two masterclasses for students at her alma mater, Paseo Academy for the Fine and Performing Arts and at The Blue Room. All masterclasses are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit https://www.kcjo.org/.

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