02/15/10

Story by Peggy Graham

Carol Comer with PBT play large hall for Jazz Series

Carol Comer

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - The great Kansas City jazz singer Carol Comer performs with PBT at noon Tuesday, March 16, in the 1,250-seat Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, for this free spring Jazz Series concert featuring local musicians.

Comer has worn many hats over the years, including singer, composer, teacher, pianist and journalist. She has performed with a variety of famous musicians - from Pat Metheny to Bill Evans - and has been featured locally at the Family Arts Fair, Women's Jazz Festival, Kansas City Jazz and Blues Festival, Corporate Woods Jazz Festival and Spirit Festival. She was chosen to headline for Johnson County's first outdoor jazz festival in Shawnee Mission Park and continues to be a popular choice for convention entertainment. Her efforts on behalf of jazz and women in jazz have been acknowledged in several books.

Comer was honored with a Jazz Heritage Award by the Kansas City Jazz Commission, and her distinguished career was touted by Jazz Ambassador Magazine when she was featured as their cover story. As a journalist herself she is a former syndicated jazz columnist for the Los Angeles Times and Kansas City's correspondent for Down Beat magazine.

Paul Smith, pianist, Bob Bowman, jazz bassist, and Tim Cambron, drummer, provide sounds for the PBT jazz ensemble.

Smith, based in Kansas City since 1965, has worked with an impressive list of locally and nationally known musicians including Bob Brookmeyer, Red Rodney, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Phil Woods, Clark Terry and Pat Metheny. In 1990, Smith began playing piano with Karrin Allyson on the road until his retirement in 2004 and recorded on seven of her CDs. An Elder Statesmen of Kansas City Jazz, Smith is respected as an educator and performer.

Bowman toured with the prestigious Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra early in his career and recorded several albums including the Grammy Award-winning Live at Munich. In 1979 he joined the innovative Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabakin Big Band. Bowman toured with Karrin Allyson and is featured on many of her recordings. He also leads the groups Interstring and Bowdog and teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in jazz studies.

A vital part of the Kansas City jazz scene, Cambron can be heard with noted musicians such as Jake Blanton, Kerry Strayer, Stan Kessler and others. He appears on recordings with The Kerry Strayer Orchestra, Christmas in Kansas City; Stan Kessler, Stan Kessler's Television; and Megan Birdsall, Track 13. Cambron holds a bachelor's degree in percussion performance from UMKC.

The Jazz Series continues at noon Tuesday in the Recital Hall except as noted:

The series is cosponsored by the JCCC music departments, Community Services and the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts. Seating is available first-come, first-served. For information, call 913-469-8500, ext. 3605.