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Karen Marguth

A Bay Area resident for most of her life, Karen Marguth has been receiving rave reviews since the release of her eponymous album in 2009. Jazz Magazine wrote: "Great big talent, much too small a pond...Karen is one of the finest American jazz vocalists you've likely yet to discover." DownBeat gave her album a rare four-and-a- half stars, saying she's "...a spiritual grandchild of hipness highness Annie Ross. She swings fiercely, and scats with a proper abandon." And Jazz Magazine of France included her on their list of the 101 best chanteuses of all time, saying "She has all the qualities of a great jazz singer." Andrew Gilbert listed her bass/vox duo album among his list of the Best of the Bay Area, 2015.

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz

Read "The Poetry of Jazz" reviewed by Duncan Heining

by Duncan Heining
October 27, 2018

Lenny Bruce might have skewered it with his skit, “Psychopathia Sexualis." Mike Myers' mildly misogynist poet might have parodied it in the movie I Married an Axe Murderer (1993). It has been dismissed as a late-fifties fad associated with the Beats. And, yet, the desire of poets and jazz musicians to combine their art forms has proven surprisingly durable. Sometimes, the practice is just plain embarrassing and made worse by the reality that those involved, like the man ...

Album Review

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz

Read "The Poetry of Jazz" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
March 20, 2018

Benjamin Boone's The Poetry Of Jazz could easily have been titled The Jazz of Poetry because of the almost interchangeable nature of the terms. The composer/saxophonist's vision to put music to the U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine's prose is a reminder to listeners that jazz was birthed by the common man, and is not to be kept in an ivory tower.Both professors at Cal State Fresno, Levine and Boone had performed together before, and the saxophonist had used ...

Album Review

Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz

by Mark Corroto
March 16, 2018

Benjamin Boone's The Poetry Of Jazz could easily have been titled The Jazz of Poetry because of the almost interchangeable nature of the terms. The composer/saxophonist's vision to put music to the U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine's prose is a reminder to listeners that jazz was birthed by the common man, and is not to be kept in an ivory tower. Both professors at Cal State Fresno, Levine and Boone had performed together before, and the saxophonist had ...

★ ★ ★ ★ ½ She swings fiercely, and scats with a proper abandon. — JOHN MC DONOUGH, DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE

Great big talent, much too small a pond. Her name is Karen Marguth, one of the finest American jazz vocalists you’ve likely yet to discover. Her talent lifts her to the plateau of Diana Krall, Jackie Ryan and Carolyn Leonhart, and it’s high time that she advanced to her rightful place on national and international stages. T ~ CHRISTOPHER LOUDEN, JAZZ TIMES

Karen Marguth is, indeed, a Jazz singer, with pinpoint intonation and a supple voice allowing her to phrase and scat with audacity. ~CADENCE MAGAZINE