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Karen Segal

About Me

Karen Segal is a San Francisco-based guitarist known for her versatility across multiple genres, including jazz, rock, funk, fusion, folk, and Latin music. Her playing is distinguished by its eclectic, soulful, and original sound. JAZZIZ magazine described Segal’s 2009 release, The Mystery of Life as “a particularly free-spirited style of jazz.” and “a prodigious leap in jazz fusion,” by JazzTimes ,noting her influences “from the bluesy styled arcs of John Scofield to the eclectic rock imagery of Pat Metheny.” After studying with Dean Brown (Marcus Miller) a teenager, she moved to Boston to Copenhagen, where she played free jazz with Marilyn Mazur, (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea). Later, in London, Segal studied jazz guitar with Cedric West (BBC Radio Orchestra) and performed choreographed funk inspired by Prince. In Los Angeles, she recorded and performed acid jazz with guitarist David Brown (Brazzaville) and trumpeter Elliott Caine. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2000 she has since composed, performed, and recorded original jazz alongside artists including Alan Hall, Marcus Shelby, Perry Thoorsell, Maya Kronfeld, Brian Rice, and Allison Miller. Karen’s latest album Open, featuring herself on guitar, Josh Thurston-Milgrem on bass, and Allison Miller on drums, is due for release in spring 2025. It is adventurous, playful, at times deep-groooved and other times free-flowing. The freshness of the music was beautiful captured by Julie Wolf and Adam Munoz at Opus Studio in Oakland over the course of two days and mixed and mastered by Cookie Marenco and Patrick O'Connor at OTR Studio in Belmont CA. Open includes seven original compositions, six spontaneous guitar & drum duets, and covers “All Blues” (M. Davis) and “Binky's Dream” (J. McLaughlin).

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My Jazz Story

I love jazz because... it's fresh creative potential I was first exposed to jazz...my Dad was a big Monk, Parker, and Armstrong fan I met [musician name]... Joe Pass & Stan Getz The best show I ever attended was...either Pat Metheny's recent solo tour or John Mcglaughlin's recent Shakti tour The first jazz record I bought was... Wes Montgomery "Go" My advice to new listeners... keep an open mind Or whatever else you have in mind. my new recording "Open" is due out in the coming month!