And I’m celebrating with blogs over the next few weeks sharing background info on the new CD. Creating this record, “Karla Harris Sings the Dave and Iola Brubeck Songbook,” was an amazing experience, and at the top were the musicians who made this music with me.
Pianist Ted Howe not only plays throughout but also arranged the music and produced the project. Ted is the multi-hyphenated pianist-arranger-composer-educator-producer who came up with the concept for this record. Based in Los Angeles, he’s done innovative tributes before, including chart-topping works featuring the music of Ellington, Gershwin andElton John.
On bass is Tom Kennedy. As one of the top jazz bassists on the planet, Tom was a perfect choice for this project, which called for both acoustic and electric bass in various styles. He and I are both from St. Louis, and that’s where we first worked together when I sang for a quartet he led there in 2004. Tom produced my first CD and was happy to play on this record. In the process, he brought aboard his longtime friend and collaborator Dave Weckl (Modern Drummer Hall of Fame member). Dave’s reputation and credits speak for themselves. (It happens that Dave is from St. Louis as well, although I’d never met him before this session.) Rounding things out was sax player Bob Sheppard, an L.A. session veteran who's played on hundreds of records. Bob added alto to three songs.
It was a great experience to watch these musicians at work and feel the arrangements come alive. We recorded rhythm tracks over two days at Tritone Studios in L.A., with me singing my vocals live with the trio. Many of those live takes became the finals we used on the CD. I love the fact that so much of what you hear on this album is the sound of us making the music together. It was a thrill being in the studio with these players.