MASTERS OF MUSIC: MARY LOUISE KNUTSON


MASTERS OF MUSIC: MARY LOUISE KNUTSON Making Sense of Jazz (75-minute lecture-concert) Have you ever wondered how Jazz works? Well, you're not alone! Music lovers far and wide have asked the same questions, "How do Jazz musicians know what to play?", "How can musicians who have never met each other play together?" "Is there any structure to this music?", and "How do the musicians all come in together after the drum solo?". Learn the answers to these questions and more in Making Sense of Jazz, a one hour lecture-concert (with audience participation) designed to help you gain an understanding and appreciation for America's original art form. 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. In 2005, she was selected as one of five finalists in the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams "Women in Jazz" Pianist Competition and in 2006 she was nominated for "Jazz Artist of the Year" and "Pianist of the Year" for the Minnesota Music Awards. 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 recent 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", and "Gone With the Wind" and range from the joyful lyricism of "Call Me When You Get There" to the impassioned blaze of "Meridian". Knutson has performed with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Kevin Mahogany, Nicholas Payton, 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 Michael Bolton, Trisha Yearwood, 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". Her composition "How Will I Know?" 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", will soon be heard at major art museums across the country. Formerly an instructor in jazz piano and improvisation at Carleton College, Knutson teaches privately and conducts a variety of master classes, 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 master class, 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. 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 2009. In the mean time, she can be heard regularly with her trio in the Twin Cities; with area vocalists Connie Evingson and Debbie Duncan; and with a variety of instrumental groups including the JazzMN Big Band and the Doug Little Quartet. For more info, please visit www.MaryLouiseKnutson.com The 75-minute concert is set for Saturday, September 12 at 7 pm in St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, 15600 Old Rockford Road, Plymouth. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students. For more information contact St. Barnabas Center for the Arts, (763) 553-3083. 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. Close this window

MASTERS OF MUSIC: MARY LOUISE KNUTSON

Making Sense of Jazz
(75-minute lecture-concert)

Have you ever wondered how Jazz works?

Well, you're not alone! Music lovers far and wide have asked the same questions, "How do Jazz musicians know what to play?", "How can musicians who have never met each other play together?" "Is there any structure to this music?", and "How do the musicians all come in together after the drum solo?". Learn the answers to these questions and more in Making Sense of Jazz, a one hour lecture-concert (with audience participation) designed to help you gain an understanding and appreciation for America's original art form.

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. In 2005, she was selected as one of five finalists in the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams "Women in Jazz" Pianist Competition and in 2006 she was nominated for "Jazz Artist of the Year" and "Pianist of the Year" for the Minnesota Music Awards.

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 recent 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", and "Gone With the Wind" and range from the joyful lyricism of "Call Me When You Get There" to the impassioned blaze of "Meridian".

Knutson has performed with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Kevin Mahogany, Nicholas Payton, 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 Michael Bolton, Trisha Yearwood, 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". Her composition "How Will I Know?" 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", will soon be heard at major art museums across the country.

Formerly an instructor in jazz piano and improvisation at Carleton College, Knutson teaches privately and conducts a variety of master classes, 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 master class, 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.

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 2009. In the mean time, she can be heard regularly with her trio in the Twin Cities; with area vocalists Connie Evingson and Debbie Duncan; and with a variety of instrumental groups including the JazzMN Big Band and the Doug Little Quartet.

For more info, please visit www.MaryLouiseKnutson.com

The 75-minute concert is set for Saturday, September 12 at 7 pm in St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, 15600 Old Rockford Road, Plymouth. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students. For more information contact St. Barnabas Center for the Arts, (763) 553-3083.

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.

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