Jazz@StBarney's welcomes the first of five outstanding local pianists this season with the MARY LOUISE KNUTSON TRIO at 7 pm, Saturday, September 18.

Minneapolis-based jazz pianist and composer, Mary Louise Knutson, has been called "one of the most exciting and innovative artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time." Her warm, inviting tone, broad range of emotional expression, and distinctive compositions have brought her much recognition on the national music scene.

Knutson’s debut jazz trio CD, "Call Me When You Get There", charted in the Top 50 in the United States and Canada for eight consecutive weeks following its release, and earned Knutson the award for Top New Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year from KWJL Radio, California, in 2001. Featured tracks include her award-winning compositions and signature arrangements of such jazz classics as "Tangerine", "Green Dolphin Street (mp3)", and "Gone With the Wind" and range from the joyful lyricism of "Call Me When You Get There" to the impassioned blaze of "Meridian".

MARY LOUISE KNUTSON PLAYS
Merle the Pearl

In 2004, Knutson was the recipient of Lawrence University's distinguished Nathan M. Pusey Alumni Achievement Award for significant contributions and achievements in a career field, and in 2005, she was a Top 5 Finalist in the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams "Women in Jazz" Pianist Competition. In 2006 Knutson was a Minnesota Music Awards nominee for both Jazz Artist of the Year and Pianist of the Year.

Knutson has performed with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Kevin Mahogany, Nicholas Payton, Ernie Watts, Bobby Shew, Slide Hampton, Richie Cole, Greg Abate, Von Freeman, Peter Erskine, Billy Hart, and Richard Davis. As a show player, she has performed with such musical acts as Jordin Sparks, Michael Bolton, Trisha Yearwood, Sam Moore, Donny Osmond, Smoky Robinson, the Osmond Brothers, and comedians Phyllis Diller, Jack Carter, Rob Schneider, Kevin Nealan, Judy Tenuta, and more.

An acclaimed composer, Knutson has won numerous awards, including two from Billboard magazine for her compositions "How Will I Know?" and "Meridian (mp3)". Her composition "How Will I Know? (mp3)" was also recorded by Prince's horn section, the Hornheads, for their "5 Heads Are Better Than 1" release on Bone 2 B Wild Music. Chosen as the music bed for the art documentary, Wellington Lee: 60 Years of Artistic Photography, Knutson’s composition, "Call Me When You Get There (mp3)", will soon be heard at major art museums across the country.

Inspired by successful concert tours in both Italy and the United States, Knutson is now composing music for her next recording project which is slated for release in 2011. In the mean time, she can be heard regularly, with her group the Mary Louise Knutson Trio or as a soloist, at clubs, festivals, and concert halls here and abroad; with area vocalists Connie Evingson and Debbie Duncan; and with a variety of instrumental groups including the JazzMN Big Band and the Chuck Lazarus Quartet.

Formerly an instructor in jazz piano and improvisation at Carleton College, Knutson teaches privately and conducts a variety of masterclasses, including "Intro to Composition", "Freedom From the Written Page: Beginning Improv for Pianists", "Jazz Piano in the Big Band: Voicings, Rhythms, and Scales", "The Press Kit", and "History of Jazz Overview: A Timeline of Styles & Recordings". Her newest masterclass, "Making Sense of Jazz", for non-musicians and/or budding enthusiasts, explores how jazz musicians communicate on stage, the typical structure of songs, and the use of improvisation.

Eastman School of Music graduate Gordon Johnson (Bass) toured extensively throughout the ‘70s & ‘80s with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Doc Severinsen, Roy Buchanan and the Paul Winter Consort. Back home in the Twin Cities, he has performed with many great jazz artists, including Joanne Brackeen, Rosemary Clooney, Herb Ellis, Curtis Fuller, Scott Hamilton, Slide Hampton, Sean Jones, Stacey Kent, Delfeayo Marsalis, Jay McShann, Maria Muldaur, Dewey Redman, Jim Rotondi, Diane Schuur, Ben Sidran, Freda Payne, Marlena Shaw, Toots Thielemans, plus many Minneapolis, St Paul musical artists from many genres. Gordy has produced four critically acclaimed jazz piano trio CDs which include a multitude of local and internationally known pianists and drummers: Gordon Johnson TRIOS, TRIOS V.2, TRIOS Version 3.0 and TRIOS GJ4.

Phil Hey (Drums) has played all across the USA with dozens of Jazz legends, including Charlie Rouse, Benny Golson, Harold Land, Jay McShann, Benny Carter, and, for over 20 years, Dewey Redman. Hey has appeared on more than 100 CDs, including his first as a leader, Subduction, which was named "Jazz Recording of the Year" by The Twin Cities City Pages in 2006. Phil was also their 2006 "Jazz Musician of the Year." His years of study with Marv Dahlgren and Ed Blackwell have also led to a career as an educator at various colleges and universities. He has taught at the University of Minnesota in the Jazz Studies department since 1991, and is currently also teaching Drum Set at St.Olaf College. Hey maintains a busy performance schedule with both his own Quartet and and many other Twin Cities based groups, as well as accompanying myriad touring artists around the US.

This activity is made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through a grant from the McKnight Foundation and an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature.

St. Barnabas Center for the Arts is a program of St. Barnabas Lutheran Church supporting the arts through education, nurturing and sharing of creative works.

For more information call SBCA Director Jeff Whitmill at (763) 553-3083 or e-mail him.