Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Karen Street was born on December 13, 1959 in the United Kingdom (UK) and started playing the accordion at the age of 7.  She went on to study at Bath University, RWMCD and in London, England with the late Ivor Beynon, a pioneer of the classical accordion. She studied music at Welsh College of Music and Drama and Guildhall School of Music. She became the British Virtuoso Champion in 1981/2 and competed in the Coupe Mondiale World Championship in Hamburg, Germany and Folkstone, UK.

Karen has created a niche for herself in the UK jazz scene and is a regular member of Mike Westbrook’s groups, works with Tim Garland as well as part of Lammas playing alongside Geoff Keezer, Joe Locke and Avishai Cohen.

As a saxophonist Street was a member of the all girl saxophone quartet The Fairer Sax and is now a member and co-leader of Saxtet with her husband Andy Tweed.

Karen’s composing is specialized by writing music for the saxophone, from solos to large ensembles. Her composition for solo accordion, In The Ballroom With The Rope, took first prize at the London Accordion Festival, Composition Competition in 2001. The same year she released her debut recording, Finally A Beginning.

Besides jazz, Karen has played across genres with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Grace Jones, Andrea Bocelli, Kate Westbrook, BBC Philharmonic, Icebreaker, and the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour band for three seasons.

Accordionist, saxophonist and flutist Karen Street is currently a freelance musician playing across a wide variety of genres.

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