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Karen Briggs

About Me

I was born in New York in 1963, moved to Portsmouth, VA in 1970, then to Los Angles in 1987. I just relocated to Charlotte, NC in Sept 2020. In 1970, I started learning violin at age 11, in the Va Public Schools. I began to experiment with the violin outside of it's traditional expectations. My signature style evolved while continuing to study classical violin techniques. I've worked part-time with The Virginia Symphony, attended local jazz jam sessions and performed local events. In 1981 took courses in Music & Media at Norfolk University. In 1986. I won Amateur Night at the Apollo 4 times. As a result, I moved back to NYC temporarily, where I worked as a booking assistant, while recording my first project of inspirational cover tunes in with musicians in Quebec, Canada. In between, I frequented jam sessions at the Blue Note NY. In 1987, I moved to Los Angeles. After participating in the local Latin Salsa and jazz scenes my music career ascended.

In 1989, I toured with Milcho Leviev, Tootie Heath and Bassist, Nedra Wheeler (Katoomi) performing jazz renditions of classical pieces with the Sofia National Orchestra in Bulgaria. 1990, I secured a tour with Soul ll Soul’s 1990 World Tour, UK based soul group. In 1991, I landed a position with the Yanni string band, leading to the eventual recording of “Live At The Acropolis”, which when broadcast on PBS in 1994, provided international exposure enough to work with several other artists: Stanley Clarke, Diana Ross, Dave Grusin, Chaka Khan, Dr Billy Taylor, Idan RaIchel, Naseer Shamma, Patrice Rushen, Les McCann, Kirk Franklin, Hidden Beaches Unwrapped Band, Wynton Marsalis, Chieli Minucci & Special EFX, Bela Fleck, No Jazz (France) Ledisi, Kenny Loggins, India Arie, KebMo, The Wu Tang Clan, Joan Sebastian and others.

I have traveled to perform as a featured soloist in over 45 countries. After over 4 decades of playing with so many others, I've passed through eclectic range of genres as a violinist.

I have also participated as an Artist-in-Residency at: Berklee Music College, The Kennedy Center and The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. I’ve appeared in at least 17 music video concerts, many recordings/featured live guest appearances. I've recently self-produced and edited several audio/video projects of my own compositions, which appear on my video channel website.

Awards: Jazz Legacy Foundation-Charles Mingus Award for Jazz •L A Black Music Award•Best Female Jazz Performer Oh, did I mention that thru all of this, I am also a single mother of 2?

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because of the freedom to improvise and all of the cool folk who participate. I was first exposed to jazz as a child. I met Betty Bebop Carter. The best show I ever attended was RTF. The first jazz record I bought was Charles Lloyd. My advice to new listeners is to expose the music to your kids!