Linda Kosut: Linda's journal

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Mark your calendars for Monday, April 20, 2009 - when I make my Yoshi's San Francisco debut! On many levels a dream come true.

First of all, I have been wanting for a long time to collaborate with other singers to present ourselves in a great venue, to a large audience and to share all the elements of producing a show - the band, the audience, the costs. A way to present affordable, quality-level entertainment in a time where money is tight, venues are closing and performers are unable to build their craft and their audiences.
Then along comes another singer/producer like myself, Elaine Lucia, who says, "yes, that's exactly what I want to do, too!" and POOF, a partnership that results in our fist foray - FOUR GREAT SINGERS & ONE HOT BAND @ YOSHI'S SAN FRANCISCO

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009
SHOWS 8PM & 10PM
THE SINGERS: Oh my ...
* Elaine Lucia, jazz vocalist (www.elainelucia.com)
* Wendy DeWitt, the Queen of Boogie Woogie (www.wendydewitt.com)
* Me!
* and the great Kenny Washington, jazz vocal virtuoso (www.kennywashingtonvocalist.com)

AND THE BAND:
Max Perkoff, piano & trombone
Jonathan Alford, piano
Tom Shader, bass
Alan Hall, percussion

Don't miss this kick-off event for what hopefully, will become a monthly tradition when Lucia | Kosut Productions Present ... FOUR GREAT SINGERS & ONE HOT BAND

Got some wonderful local gigs which I am very excited about. Come on out and listen - no cover, great music.

While I am working on the next generation of me!

We had a ball this past Sunday. The band was smoking- Max Perkoff, Daniel Fabricant, John Mader and Fil Lorenz- wow! Were they hot. I guess I was, too. The audience loved the show. More from this group for sure.

"A Tree and Me" was the featured download on All About Jazz. You can still download it for FREE right here at ALL ABOUT JAZZ

I went back to New York for the 22nd Annual MAC Awards - that's the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs. The MAC Awards are presented annually to honor achievements in Cabaret, Comedy , and Jazz. The Awards encompass more that two dozen categories and in addition, through special awards, MAC salutes outstanding contributions to the field of live entertainment.

I was honored this year with two MAC nominations - for Best Female Jazz Vocalist and Best Jazz Recording
I was thrilled to be nominated and never expected to win. I went to NY for the awards ceremony so I could party with all my NY and SF friends who were there.

To my great surprise, I was disappointed when they did not call out my name, TWICE!!! Shocking! It was not shocking that I didn't win; it was shocking that I was disappointed. I did not expect that emotion. Now I know how the Oscar nominees feel.

I am very proud of the work I did this year, and to have been acknowledged, first by BackStage Magazine's Bistro Award and then by the members of the MAC community - great honors.

The Back Stage Bistro Awards recognize achievement in a wide variety of categories— from outstanding performances to outstanding accomplishments and contributions by members of the cabaret community. read more
At the award ceremony, I not only was privileged to be performing on the same stage with some extraordinary entertainers including the remarkable Marilyn Maye, but I received a special nod from BMI for my recording.

Carlin America, Inc., one of Oscar Brown Jr.'s major publishers, organized the above photo and wrote about the award on their website.

I can tell you what I was doing. I was performing my show at NY's fabulous Metropolitan Room with an awesome audience of die-hard music fans (obviously they were there to see me and not the Super Bowl) and about the time I was thanking Norman Curtis, Oscar Brown Jr.'s music collaborator on Summer In The City, which he had just played for me and I was getting ready to sing The Snake, The Giants scored the winning points and the game was over! I clearly was the "lucky charm!"

This tour has been awesome - Phase I is complete. My sponsors, the audiences, the reviewers, the musicians, and the local support wherever we played – I am grateful to all. And I must acknowledge myself as well to have taken an idea and made it happen - from the concept, to the research & development of the show, the bookings, the promotion, and of course the creative and artistic endeavor and performances.

Now I will sit for a few minutes to analyze, plan and charge forth for Phase II of the OBJ Project and start development of the new venture. Yippee!!

I am both thrilled and sad that this phase of my CD Release Tour is nearly over - we have had nothing but great reception in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York; and now again in San Francisco next Monday.

I am very proud of this body of work; honored to have played with some amazingly top musicians in each of the cities to which we have toured - percussioinists: Paul van Wageningen, David Rokeach, Vince Lateano, Lance Dresser, Frank Parker Jr., Jack LeCompte, Scott Latzky; bassists: Tom Shader, Fred Randolph, Tim Emmons, Tom Hubbard, Tim Ferguson; some arranging by the fabulous Mike Greensill; and of course band leader, arranger, pianist and trombonist Max Perkoff. Also the special guests that have sat in with me in different of these shows from Benn Bacot in SF and NY; Maggie Brown in SF and Chicago; Norman Curtis in NY; my sponsors including Harlan Kleiman, Shoreline Pacific Equity; Peter Fowler, Headlands Capital; Dion Jackson and of course, Steve Lyon- all are part of Phase I of this amazing journey. Phase II, well, that is in the works and I will certainly let you know about that within the next few months. For now, the Plush Room in San Francisco next Monday - I believe that's the cherry on the top of the sundae.

We had a blast at the Jazz Bakery in LA. Although the audience was small, they were amazingly enthusiastic and Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times was there to report on it. "Linda Kosut finds her groove in Oscar Brown Jr.'s music - the singer hits all the right notes on her tribute to the musician." I could not have asked for a better evening.

And the band was awesome with Max leading the charge and Tim Emmons on bass and Jack leCompte on percussion. We had a great time.

Well, I've booked the tour. That is quite an accomplishment as you out there who are performers know, this is not an easy task. Now begins Phase II of the work ... marketing to these cities - to where I've been before and to where I am debuting! Phase III begins when I walk out on that stage. At the end of the day, I will have had an amazing experience, but until I get on the stage in each and every city at each and every venue, the work involved with being a self-marketed, self-produced, self-managed performer, often feels daunting.

Why do I do this? Because it is on the stage where I want to be. Performing, communicating, telling the stories to an audience of attentive folks, people who come out to see and hear what I have to say, that's the joy - the reason I do this.

I am very proud of this performance piece and accompanying CD. It is the best work I've done to date (and each to-date does get better and better).

So ... send your friends, family to a city near you where LONG AS YOU'RE LIVING is being presented.

We had an amazing time in New York. Two shows, two great audiences, standing ovations, special guests - Norman Curtis and Benn Bacot who were splendid, my band led by Max Perkoff with Tom Hubbard on bass and Scott Latzky on drums, were awesome.

New York - we will be back, but before that ... Los Angeles, Chicago and of course, San Francisco for the big CD Release!

... and getting ready for the first of 2 performances of "Long As You're Living" - the Oscar Brown Jr. tribute show AND CD RELEASE! yes, the CDs are here and ready to dance off the shelves.

Had a very fun interview on WHCR-The Voice of Harlem with Lamon Fenner this past Sunday; and tonight at midnight NY time, will be on WOR710 (www.wor710.com) on the Joey Reynolds Show. Should be a gas!

Tomorrow morning also starts the events surrounding my college reunion - City College of New York - with attending the graduation. Given the fact that when I graduated back in 19XX, I opted to not go to the graduation, this should be a blast - finally walking my graduation.

I'll check back after. Stay tuned.

In April, we went into the studio to record my newest CD of the music of Oscar Brown Jr. AND IT IS DONE AND AVAILABLE FOR SALE RIGHT HERE ON THIS WEBSITE! http://www.lindakosut.com/products.html

And I want to tell you that this was the most effortless experience recording that I've ever had (#3 experience). I do believe that being completely well-rehearsed with the material - that goes for me, Maestro Max Perkoff (his commitment and his charts), an amazing band with Tom Shader on bass and Paul van Wageningen on percussion. Add to this my wonder-kids - Maye Cavallaro, producer and Gary Mankin, chief engineer, a recording studio (Mesa in Sebastopol) that made it feel like we were home in the country house, Steve's unending support, advice and willingness to listen to every single cut, take, out-take, etc. etc.

And now we have this fabulous recording that I am extremely proud of. Wow!!

Seems like winter has come and is slow to go [I know, a San Francisco winter when we have a handful of nights in the low-30s is not like a real winter at all & for those of you living on the East Coast, winter seems to have just hit - so sorry] ... anyway, what I meant to say is, for these past few months, I found myself curled up under the covers, watching some pretty terrible movies, feeling a bit depressed after a great run of the new show.

But as I always do, I scratched my way up & out of that mood, and "designed" my next moves ...

So off we go ... 2 more shows in San Francisco, 2 shows in New York and we're working on Los Angeles, Washington DC, Florida et al.

And we're going into the studio in about a month to record some of this fabulous and inspiring music.

Whoopee!!!

At the end of every year I like to look over the past many years and assess where I’ve been, where I am and where I’m going.

I, for one, can’t believe it’s going to be 2007. I remember 2000 – for it was one of those moments in my life when I declared that I was going to bring singing back into my life...for it had been missing for quite some time. And it happened in my kitchen.

On January 1, 2000, at a New Year’s Millennium brunch at my house, someone named us, that is, Lua Hadar and myself while we were singing in my kitchen, The Kitchenettes. And that was a moment that changed the course of my life for these past 6 years. That year, I did my first show in 15 or so years. Later that year, Lua and I met Mychelle Colleary and the three of us brought The Kitchenettes into reality. Now I know a lot of you never heard us as a trio – I must say, that we were awesome.

And that gave me the confidence to move forward.

These past 2 years, I have been doing my solo shows with the most recent, my tribute to Oscar Brown Jr., being the bravest & boldest move I’ve ever made --- to honor someone who has left an expansive legacy (one that I did not even realize until I began my research) and a man who was a performer with a “largess” that I will never be, has been the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. Of the many reviews of Oscar I came across in my work, the one that struck me was Clive Barnes’ of the New York Times in 1971 about Oscar’s show “Joy.” I remember Clive Barnes- he was tough, he was honest, and he was a brilliant writer - he said of Oscar, “This show is not a show for people who want a show. It is for people who want an experience. As a composer and as a singer, this man is a major talent.”

Producing a piece about his life and music, for me, has been a challenge, a stretch and a growth experience that I am thrilled to have caused for myself.

To find venues and audience in which to express ourselves as musicians, as performers, as entertainers – opportunities to grow and press out into our own limits and beyond, is what I wish for each and every one of us. I wish all of you a very happy, healthy, prosperous, joyful and musical new year.

Love to you all,
Linda

PS - I just saw this piece where I was picked in a category of many wonderful entertainers, as one of the best of 2006 - Bay Times Critics Best of 2006!!

On Nov 16, I performed my Oscar Brown Jr. tribute show at Jazz at Pearl's in San Francisco with the incomparable Maggie Brown, Oscar's daughter, joining me.

She is not just a wonderful singer and entertainer, but an extraordinarily warm, open and gracious woman. That she honored me by coming here, by singing in the show and by joining me in song, is just the beginning.

I know that Maggie and I will do more together going forward and I look forward to it.

She is a new and honored friend.

Last night we performed LONG AS YOU'RE LIVING, a tibute to Oscar Brown Jr. at ANNA'S JAZZ ISLAND in Berkeley. I had a great time and so did the band!

Thank you to the audience who came out - friends and those folks I never met before ... thank you. You were a terrific audience.

And to the great singers in the room, I was honored to see you there ... Maye Cavallero, Cathi Walkup, Shannah Carlson, Benn Bacot and Hattie Mullaly ... wow! It was star-studded!

I just came back from a trip to New York and Chicago - met some very incredible people, all as I search out "who" was Oscar Brown Jr.

In New York, I met Bob Golden, from oscar's publishing company Carlin America, and Norman Curtis, Oscar's first music collaborator who transcribed his music (Oscar would hear it in his head and sing it out and someone had to put it down on paper.)

And then onto Chicago where I had the absolute privilege and pleasure of spending time with 2 of Oscar's daughters: Maggie Brown and Africa Brown, both accomplished singers and producers! And their children and their neices and nephews and their neighborhood and community. I was overwhelmed with the love and support they give each other and the room they made for me to "infiltrate" myself into their lives.

Thank you all for a remarkable journey.

I just came back from 2 days in Los Angeles where I went specifically to view some old TV footage of Oscar Brown Jr (aka OBJ) and to view the screening in LA of the documentary on him, "Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress. The Story of Oscar Brown, Jr." by filmmaker donnie l. betts.

Having now seen OBJ in his youth in the old TV shows (host of Steve Allen's "Jazz Scene U.A.A." among others) and the documentary, I am even more impressed with who he was - his intellect, his passion, his music, his poetry and his commitments. What an amazing man and given his contribution to music and his community, how really little he is known.

That said, I hope you can come to any of my shows to find out more about this remarkably talented and creative artist.

I am very excited to be working on material for my new show "Long As You're Living" - a tribute to the music of the late jazz great, Oscar Brown Jr. This show will introduce audiences to the music and spirit of this singer-songwriter-actor-playwright-producer-director-activist who died only a year ago leaving a huge legacy – a prolific catalogue of music and poetry. Show premiers in the fall 2006 and includes tunes such as "Dat Dere” a recording of which is on my CD, "The Snake" made famous by Al Wilson and "As Long As You're Living" originally recorded by the legendary jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln.

"... the fabulously talented cabaret chanteuse ..."

That's what Tom W. Kelly of the San Francisco Bay Times, calls me.

Each step of the way on my recent tour, was filled with many new learnings. What a pleasure to be in a place in my life where things that don't work reveal themselves as opportunites for growth. (I can still remember when they would stop me - not anymore).
One of my dearest friends in New York, who is a very talented performance coach, once shared the "secret to success." "Keep doing it!" she said. And she is right.


I recommend that once you find your passion, don't worry about the result. If you keep doing it, you can only get better. Will you get great? Who knows; but better, yes.