KATE BAKER
Kate Baker is a critically acclaimed jazz singer hailing from, and currently residing in, New Jersey. Her debut album, 2022’s Return to Shore, is a luminous guitar-and-voice duet with her late husband, Vic Juris, who passed away in 2019.
The throughline is Baker’s inimitable voice, which resonates with her love of diverse musical inspirations — whether jazz, Brazilian, Latin, or the blues. Be it English or Portuguese, a Cole Porter standard or an Antônio Carlos Jobim composition, Baker effortlessly makes herself right at home.
For two decades, she frequently performed with Juris, but that, too, isn’t the long and short of it. Across the years and decades, the list of luminaries the native New Jerseyan has performed with is a cross-section of the global jazz landscape.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Boutté was born November 3, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana into a 7th Ward Creole-Catholic family. Exposed to the local culture such as Mardi Gras parades and jazz funerals since childhood, he also grew up listening to the music of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and the like. He played trumpet and cornet in marching bands in his junior high and high school days. During this time, he also formed an a cappella group and sang on the streets.
Studying business at Xavier University of Louisiana, Boutté was in ROTC and after graduation was commissioned in the U.S. Army, serving for four years. Returning home he worked at a credit union until he met Stevie Wonder, then decided to seriously become a professional singer. He soon joined his sister Lillian on her tour to Europe, and his professional career started.
In 1993 John released his debut album titled Through the Eyes of a Child. The following year he was featured on his sister’s live album, Gospel United, released in 1994. He was the featured guest vocalist on Cuban group Cubanismo!’s Mardi Gras Mambo, recorded in New Orleans.
In recent years, Boutté has been working with ex-Cowboy Mouth guitarist and singer Paul Sanchez which led to a collaborative effort Stew Called New Orleans released in 2009. He was also featured on John Scofield’s 2009 album, Piety Street, singing the lead on three tracks.
His Treme Song on his Jambalaya album is the theme song of HBO’s series, Treme. He appears in several episodes of the show’s Seasons 1, 2, and 3.
Vocalist John Boutté, who is known for his diverse music style that goes beyond jazz to R&B, gospel, Latin, and blues, continues to perform.
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The Jazz Voyager
The Midwest is the next destination for this Jazz Voyager to the city on the Mississippi River with the famous Gateway Arch. But before that monument was built, St. Louis, Missouri was known as a hub for jazz with many musicians being born or migrating from other regions of the country. The venue I’ll be visiting began as a small intimate location Jazz At The Bistro. In 2006 the name was changed to Jazz St. Louis and by 2014 was renovated as is the Harold & Dorothy Steward Center For Jazz.
Performing at this center this week is a friend of mine who I always enjoy seeing, especially in performance. She is internationally renowned vocalist Rene Marie. Over two decades of performing and recording eleven albums, she has cemented her reputation as a composer, arranger, theatrical performer and teacher. Her life lessons are an integral component of her compositions as she borrows various elements of folk, R&B, classical, and country to create a captivating hybrid style. Her body of work is musical and is an affirmation of the power of the human spirit.
The venue is located at 3536 Washington Avenue, 63103 and for more information you can visit https://notoriousjazz.com/event/rene-marie-3
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Louis Bacon was born on November 1, 1904 in Louisville, Kentucky. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois when he was a young child. After a short stint playing with Zinky Cohn in Michigan, he relocated to New York City in 1928. There he worked through 1938 with musicians Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, Bingie Madison, Bessie Smith, and Chick Webb among others.
Contracting tuberculosis in 1938, resulting in a performance hiatus, but by early 1939 he was playing with Benny Carter once more. Later that same year, he embarked on a tour of Europe with Willie Lewis and remained there for two years. He recorded under his own name as well as with Lewis and Freddy Johnson.
After his return to the United States he worked with Garvin Bushell, Cootie Williams, and Jesse Stone. Shortly after the end of World War II, he stopped playing once again due to persistent health problems. He did play trumpet again briefly in 1959–60, working in New York, and late in his career taught voice and sang with Wilbur De Paris.
Trumpeter and vocalist Louis Bacon transitioned on December 8, 1967.
LAUFEY
Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) is a 24-year-old, Los Angeles-based singer, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist whose jazz songs are about young love and self-discovery. Raised between Reykjavík and Washington, D.C. with annual visits to Beijing, the Icelandic-Chinese artist grew up playing cello as well as piano and became hooked on the jazz standards of Ella Fitzgerald after digging through her father’s record collection.
In 2020, while still a student at Berklee College of Music, Laufey released her debut single “Street by Street,” which went on to top the Icelandic radio charts. Following the release of her 2021 Typical of Me EP, Laufey was named Best New Artist in Jazz and Blues at the Icelandic Music Awards and hosted her own show on BBC Radio 3/BBC Sounds. Her debut full-length Everything I Know About Love, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Alternative New Artist Album chart, and the lead single “Valentine” peaked at #1 on the Spotify Jazz Chart. In 2022 Laufey was the most streamed jazz artist on Spotify, with 425 million streams across all platforms.
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