The middle of winter is the perfect time for a jazz singer who lives in New York City to visit musical family in Hawaii — and Karrin Allyson, born in Kansas and now a New Yorker, has become a welcome winter visitor in recent years.
Allyson always plays at least one show while she’s here, but this year the five-time Grammy finalist is playing the Blue Note Hawaii for a four-night, eight-show engagement. She opens her run on Thursday.
KARRIN ALLYSON
Where: Blue Note Hawaii, Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort
When: 6:30 and 9 p.m. nightly, Thursday through Feb. 5
Cost: $15-$35
Info: bluenotehawaii.com or 777-4890
Note: Validated parking, $6 for four hours, Ohana Waikiki East Hotel
“I’ve had a lot of local support over the years,” she said, calling from her home overlooking Riverside Park in New York City on Jan. 19. “I absolutely adore (Hawaii musicians) Jim Howard and Bruce Hamada, but this time, since it is a four-night run, the opportunities present themselves where I can bring my own band from New York and from Kansas City.”
For the Hawaii shows, the vocalist will work with two longtime collaborators — guitarist Rod Fleeman and bassist Ed Howard — and “a fabulous new pianist to me,” Miro Sprague.
“Ed Howard was featured on my CD ‘Round Midnight’ in 2011,” Allyson said. “Rod’s been on a lot of my CDs; and Miro’s rather new, but he’s a wonderful player.
“We’ll be doing an eclectic group of stuff including Rodgers & Hammerstein material, but also Brazilian music blues, some more timely things that are happening now and some originals,” Allyson promised. “We change shows from the first set to the second, and from night to night too.”
Hawaii knows Allyson to cover a lot of ground musically. She’s earned high marks over the years for a repertoire that arcs from bebop, blues and bossa nova to pop standards, soft rock and the Broadway classics of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.
Her 2015 tribute to the famed Broadway songwriters, “Many a New Day: Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein,” which she recorded with renowned jazz pianist Kenny Barron and bassist John Patitucci, earned Allyson her fifth Grammy Award nomination and will provide material for her local performances.
“The songs all come from such different places and different characters within those musicals — with, I feel, some of Oscar Hammerstein’s best lyrics,” she said. “I did the arrangements so they would fit my style.”
