Kendra Shank is an American jazz vocalist.

Career

Shank's mother was an actress and playwright and her father was a playwright and teacher at the University of California. When she was five, she appeared onstage with her mother in ''Threepenny Opera''. In her early teens she started playing guitar. Shank attended Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Washington, receiving a degree in art and French. During the 1980s, she performed in clubs in Seattle as a folk singer, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. In 1989 she studied with jazz vocalist Jay Clayton at

Cornish College of the Arts Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914. History Cornish College of the Arts was founded in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, by Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), a teacher of ...

. She was a busker on the streets and subways of Paris and while in Paris heard her first Billie Holiday album. Although she had been working as a folk singer in clubs, she bought a method book to learn a few jazz standards. In the early 1990s, she went on tour with Bob Dorough.

Shirley Horn Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and ot ...

saw her perform and became a mentor, introducing at the

Village Vanguard The Village Vanguard is a jazz club at Seventh Avenue South in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. Originally, the club presented folk music and beat poetry, but it became primarily a jazz ...

in 1992. Mapleshade released Shank's debut album ''Afterglow'' on which she sang and played guitar. She met

Frank Kimbrough Frank Kimbrough (November 2, 1956 – December 30, 2020) was an American post-bop jazz pianist. He was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He did some work at Chapel Hill before moving to Washington, D. C. in 1980 and then New York City ...

through Horn, and he became a member of her quartet which recorded ''A Spirit Free'' ( Challenge, 2007), a tribute to her mentor and friend

Abbey Lincoln Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of deli ...

. She has also recorded with

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Wor ...

, Peter Leitch, Ben Monder,

John Stowell John F. Stowell (born July 30, 1950) is an American jazz guitarist, composer, author, and lecturer. Biography Stowell, who plays electric and acoustic guitar, was born in New York and raised in Connecticut. He had private studies with Linc ...

, and

Larry Willis Lawrence Elliott Willis (December 20, 1942 – September 29, 2019) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He performed in a wide range of styles, including jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban jazz, bebop, and avant-garde. Willis was born in New York Ci ...

Discography

As leader

* ''Afterglow'' with

( Mapleshade, 1994) * ''Wish'' (Jazz Focus, 1998) * ''Reflections'' (Jazz Focus, 2000) * ''A Spirit Free: Abbey Lincoln Songbook'' ( Challenge, 2006) * ''Mosaic'' (Challenge, 2009) * ''New York Conversations'' with

(TCB, 2013) * ''Half Moon: Live in New York'' with

Geoffrey Keezer Geoffrey Keezer (born November 20, 1970) is an American jazz pianist. Keezer was playing in jazz clubs as a teenager, playing piano for Art Blakey at age 18 and touring with Joshua Redman, Benny Golson and Ray Brown in his 20s. He has toured w ...

(Ride Symbol, 2016)

As guest

* Abbey Lincoln, ''Over the Years'' (Verve, 2000)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shank, Kendra 21st-century American women American jazz singers American women jazz singers Jazz musicians from California Living people Mapleshade Records artists People from Woodland, California Singers from California Year of birth missing (living people)