Jazz star is wowing the legends
As a young jazz vocalist just starting to make her way in New York, Kendra Shank gained an impressive coterie of supporters.
Jazz legend Shirley Horn was so taken with her luminous voice and folk-tinged delivery that she took Shank under her wing, introducing her to the jazz cognoscenti at the Village Vanguard and shepherding her 1992 debut album “Afterglow” (Mapleshade). The great vocalist and songwriter Abbey Lincoln was another invaluable mentor.
On 2014’s “New York Conversations” (TCB) Shank and the astringently lyrical guitarist John Stowell alternate between luscious standards and impromptu compositions. Two years later she recorded “Half Moon” (Ride Symbol) a breathtaking live encounter with piano star Geoffrey Keezer.
These projects are so compelling it’s easy to forget that Shank is also an accomplished bandleader, and on her rare return to the Bay Area on Sunday she performs with her New York quartet: pianist Frank Kimbrough,
bassist Dean Johnson and drummer Matt Wilson.
Details: 4:30 p.m. Sunday; Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay; $30-$35; 650-726-4143, www.bachddsoc.org.