Club Matthews presents the third Jazz Sessions event, “Jazz with Jami Lynn & Guests.” The show is a CD release “Sparse” for Jami’s newest jazz album (being recorded in July). The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 6 at The Matthews Opera House.
7:30 p.m.
About Jami’s show
While singer/songwriter Jami Lynn has built her musical career wielding a banjo and a bit of twang, her influences have always included the likes of Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, and Sarah Vaughn. Her latest album project showcases these influences and melds the classics with Jami’s jazz originals. Filling out Jami’s light but sultry vocals and electric guitar is upright bassist Andrew Reinartz, Joel Shotwell on sax, Jim Speirs on trumpet, Jeremy hegg on keys, Daniel Heier on drums, and special guests Ingrid Lane on violin and JD Fiedler on electric guitar.
This performance showcases sparse and haunting ballads as well as the vocally-driven, scat-laden big band tune, and marks the release of Jami’s first jazz recording, “Sparse.”
The EP features the talents of Reinartz, Heier, and Paul along with Joel Shotwell on sax, Jim Speirs on Trumpet, and Dalton Coffey on dobro.
About Jami
Though Jami Lynn’s latest folk and Americana album earned her a top 25 listing from the UK’s Telegraph, honors from the Planet Bluegrass Folks Festival Songwriting Competition, and one of Culture Spot’s “50 artists to watch,” don’t rule out her jazz chops. Jami’s roots are in the old-time country, folk, and polka of the Northeastern South Dakota jamborees of her childhood, but a love for the great ladies of jazz developed right alongside her love of the banjo.
While studying classical voice at the University of South Dakota, Jami recorded two full-length albums and wrote her thesis, “Early American Folk Music of the Upper Midwest” which introduced her into the folklore world of cowboys, settlers, lumberjacks, and miners. The resulting recording, Sodbusters was featured in the Smithsonian’s Shared Harmonies Project. Jami’s foray into jazz performance also began in college. While solo jazz pieces by Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, and Gershwin always work their way into solo performances, sitting in with the Sioux Falls-based, Dakota Jazz Collective, and jazz/funk band, Polyphase, has eventually led Jami to a full-on collaboration with bassist Andrew Reinartz. Due out in October of 2017, the resulting work showcases Jami Lynn’s vocally driven jazz originals, and some of her favorite standards as re-imagined by Reinartz, pianist Jeff Paul, and percussionist Daniel Heier. The recording will also feature the talents of Jim Speirs on trumpet, and Joel Shotwell on saxophone. Jami Lynn has shared the state with Chicago singer and pianist Elizabeth Doyle, Jolie Holland, and joined the ranks of the 2017 Holiday Jam with the Hegg Brothers.
When not performing for public audiences, Lynn also brings folk music to elementary students and hospital systems through the SD State Arts Council’s Artists in the Schools program and Touring Artists program. She is currently based out of Spearfish, SD.
VIDEOS
“Holiday Jam 2016” by Jami Lynn
“Doris Passing” by Jami Lynn
What is Club Matthews?
Club Matthews is a new jazz series featuring four performances over the next year. The series highlights accomplished jazz performers from throughout our region in a setting evocative of the jazz clubs of the past century. Cabaret table seating available on the main floor invites a different audience experience than our standard theater seating. It’s a bit more intimate and elegant.
7:30 p.m.