Karen Blixt; Spin This is a terrific record. From the percussion and bass-reed version of the Monk/Ferro song It’s Over Now (Well, You Needn’t) and her groove-enriched version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic My Favorite Things, to the sultry delivery of the Arnold/Walter classic You Don’t Know Me, San Francisco jazz scene favorite Karen Blixt delivers a delightfully entertaining and powerful piece of work with her debut CD Spin This.
Together with producer Frank Martin and a who’s-who cast of musicians, Spin This brings new life to ten contemporary and classic standards; and she emerges as a talented songwriter in the three Martin-Blixt originals: Spin This, Kitchen Blues (where she at times reminds me of Laura Fygi) and the closing track Something So True.
Karen effortlessly shifts moods and direction—nowhere better demonstrated than on the Cole Porter classic Night and Day—while consistently maintaining a distinct sound signature all her own.
Growing up in upstate New York singing church hymns, Karen says, “I grew up in a world of black and white,” and “always singing off the melody.” She gravitated toward how jazz “thrives in the unsettled way where asking the question is more important than being certain of the answer.” In this gray area of taking risks, not knowing whether she is right or wrong, both she and her music live. “With jazz, it’s not about you deciding how to perform the song – it’s about the song finding its own life through you,” she says.
Karen settled in northern California and has been a staple in the Bay Area jazz scene for ten years. She performed with Bobby McFerrin on his score for the Academy Award-winning film Common Threads, and she is now a star whose time has arrived. Spin This is her calling card.
Producer: Frank Martin. Musicians: Karen Blixt (vocals), Frank Martin (piano, Fender Rhodes, arrangements, production), Joey DeFransesco (Hammond B-3 organ, vocals), Russell Ferrante (piano), Alex Acuña (percussion, drums), Buddy Montgomery (vibes), Sheldon Brown (reeds), Paul McCandless (reeds), Bruce Forman (guitar), Joe Hebert (cello), Brian Bromberg (bass), Troy Lampkins (electric bass), Derek Oles (bass), Byron Landham (drums), Will Kennedy (drums)
Label: https://www.hiflirecords.com
Artist https://www.karenblixt.com
SONGS: Swingin’ The Blues, Carefully Taught, My Favorite Things, You Don’t Know Me, Night and Day, Spin This, It’s Over Now (Well, You Needn’t), Now It’s Over, When You’re Smiling, Kitchen Blue, Four, I Thought About You, Something So True
(PUBLISHED in Jazz Review Magazine 2006)
