Jazz Articles about Kat Parra

About Kat Parra

Album Review

Kat Parra: Las Aventuras de Pasion!

Read "Las Aventuras de Pasion!" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 18, 2012

Kat Parra's voice may be the ultimate manifestation of the entire Latin music diaspora. While countless singers dabble in bossa nova or wander far and wide atop Afro-Cuban grooves, few people tackle the scope of music that Parra takes on. Engaging the totality of the entire Latin spectrum is no easy feat, but she seems willing and able to make it a reality. Salsa sounds, Middle Eastern music, Sephardic traditions, Afro-Peruvian passion, Puerto Rican grooves, chamber ideals, ...

Album Review

Kat Parra: Las Aventuras de Pasion!

Read "Las Aventuras de Pasion!" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
August 7, 2012

A collaboration between vocalist Kat Parra and trombonist/arranger Wayne Wallace would be reason enough to celebrate ¡Las Aventuras de Pasión!, the duo favoring a slightly more languorous than usual Afro-Cuban jazz, richly played and brightly sung. Wallace has mined this vein on a string of remarkably good records over the last decade or so. Highlights of this Afro-Cuban warmth include Parra's bilingual cha-cha-cha “Oye Papi," and Murray Low's elegant and altogether apposite piano playing.But there is more to ...

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Album Review

Kat Parra: Dos Amantes

Read "Dos Amantes" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 25, 2010

It was called Al-Andalus from about 711 AD until it succumbed to the rule of the Portuguese in 1492 AD. But in between that period the Iberian Peninsula that includes Andalusia, Granada, and Castile--modern Spain--was ruled by several Moslem Dynasties of Moorish (North African) origin. They created a legendary culture of inclusion allowing several faiths to live in harmony. This bred a near-fabled culture in which the Sephardic Jewish culture also flourished. Gathering artistic riches over thousands of years this ...

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Album Review

Kat Parra & Sephardic Music Experience: Dos Amantes

Read "Dos Amantes" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
February 10, 2010

Some music defies categorization. In the case of Dos Amantes, by Kat Parra & The Seraphic Experience, it's the blending of several styles that make genre assignment a challenge; to place it in one area would be to omit others. Parra played piano as a child and later studied flute. After marrying at 18, becoming a mother and later a divorcee, she continued her music studies, this time focusing on the voice. Under the tutelage of Patti Cathcart, ...

Album Review

Kat Parra: Azucar de amor

Read "Azucar de amor" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 28, 2009

La cantante Kat Parra ha trovato il modo migliore di esprimersi musicalmente confrontandosi con la musica dei paesi di lingua spagnola. Non solo i ritmi più famosi e conosciuti di salsa, merengue e mambo, ma anche canti provenienti dalla tradizione degli ebrei sefarditi in Spagna o afro-peruviani. Il tutto senza mai dimenticare l'amore per il jazz. Azucar de amor dimostra chiaramente questi interessi della Parra, a partire dalla title-track, di Stanley Turrentine, e passando per brani dagli arrangiamenti (del co-produttore ...

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Album Review

Kat Parra: Azucar de Amor

Read "Azucar de Amor" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
June 15, 2008

The first striking thing about Azucar de Amor, Kat Parra's sophomore effort, is that she has assembled a hell of a band: the credits are littered with Latin music stalwarts such as pianist Jovino Santos Neto, percussionist John Santos, and trumpeter Ray Vega.Those whose names may not be so familiar also sound great. This is the case with trombonist Wayne Wallace, whose languid solo enriches his arrangement of Erroll Garner's “Misty." And then there's the versatility of pianist ...

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Album Review

Kat Parra: Azucar De Amor

Read "Azucar De Amor" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone

by Michael P. Gladstone
June 14, 2008

Kat Parra is a very talented vocalist who has received a lot of buzz from her two albums to date. Although she hails from San Jose, California, Parra spent her youth in Chile, then moving to the United States and attending UCLA to study classical flute and voice. She boasts a real talent, not only for Afro-Cuban music but the musical forms from North Africa, Middle Eastern and Arabic cultures in addition to the music of Brazil. All of this ...