Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

PROFILE August 4, 2020

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Johnaye Kendrick

The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and 30's. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the south. It has produced such historical jazz icons as Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson. In many instances it has acted as a temporary repose ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 19, 2018

Johnaye Kendrick: Flying

By Troy Dostert

It's been four years since vocalist Johnaye Kendrick released her debut album, but her sophomore outing, Flying, was certainly worth the wait. With finely-honed vocal chops channeled through some compelling compositions of her own and a few distinctively-performed covers, Kendrick is a complete artist, and this record will undoubtedly win her a lot of new listeners. Kendrick has an equal fondness for jazz, pop and R&B, and while all these influences are amply represented here, what's most noteworthy ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 10, 2018

Johnaye Kendrick: Flying

By Paul Rauch

Once, maybe twice in a generation, a singer enters the world of jazz and captivates the genre so dominated by jazz instrumentalists. There are qualities in the voice, delivery, the exquisite phrasing, and inexhaustible ability to deliver a narrative in such a way that expresses the jazz and blues tradition in a special and personal way. Johnaye Kendrick is one of those singers. Upon graduating from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, then sequestered at Loyola University in New Orleans, ...

INTERVIEW March 8, 2017

Johnaye Kendrick: In The Deepest Way Possible

By Paul Rauch

Since arriving in Seattle, Johnaye Kendrick has enriched the Seattle jazz community with her performances, recordings, and as Associate Professor of Jazz Voice at the prestigious Cornish College of the Arts, as a mentor to her many students. Her vocal style is centered in the jazz and blues tradition, but embellished by her own interpretation based on her diverse and unique musical and life experiences. After receiving a Bachelor of Music from Western Michigan University, Ms. Kendrick attended ...