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Mara Kaye – Concert Hour
November 7
Concert Hour
Make Plans to Attend Our Free Concert Hour – THURSDAYS THIS FALL AND SPRING.
Concert Hour is a music enrichment series presented on the campus of Palomar College for our students, staff, and community by the Palomar
College Performing Arts Department. Enjoy a range of exciting artists and musicians in the beautiful Howard Brubeck Theatre or Performance
Lab D-10. The program is presented weekly during the Fall and Spring Semesters at 1:00 p.m. and ends at approximately 2:00 p.m. Admission and
Parking are FREE.
This Week’s Performing Arts Will Be Located in Performance Lab D -10
Mara Kaye
Bred and buttered in Brooklyn, irresistible vocal force, Mara Kaye is the girl JAZZ LIVES calls “one of New York’s great gifts
to the world.” She’s got “a voice that sounds like Louis Armstrong’s trumpet at a rent party” [Jimmy Vivino] and a sharp comedic
savoir faire that’s reminiscent of some of the early comediennes of the stage and screen. Kaye has carved her own unique path
through the New York Jazz Scene performing at iconic venues like Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Joe’s Pub at The
Public Theater and even all the way out to Moscow Russia, singing a studied presentation of early classic blues and jazz
highlighting the legacies of pioneer blues women like Billie Holiday, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith and Ma
Rainey. Early on in her career she toured the US with the YERBA BUENA STOMPERS, a true traditional jazz band of seasoned
jazz veterans, led by her mentor, expert banjo/ guitarist JOHN GILL. Members of the band have played with the legendary Turk
Murphy, Leon Redbone — even backing up Louis Armstrong himself.
Mara’s debut single, the forever iconic love song, IT HAD TO BE YOU, can be heard on steady rotation on LA’s premier jazz
station, KJAZZ 88.1 FM and features champion roots and blues piano legend Carl Sonny Leyland. Her second single,
DYSTOPIAN BLUES, an original tune, was featured on ‘THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW’ and performed live on CBS News
in 2020. Mara also wrote and sang the hook for Brooklyn rap legend AZ’s track, NEVER ENOUGH, featuring renowned rapper
Rick Ross.
She’s a faculty member of Centrum Foundation’s Voice Works program and a past instructor at their Acoustic Blues Seminar in
Port Townsend WA, teaching voice masterclasses alongside some of the country’s top blues and vocal artists.
She holds educational residencies in San Diego and Los Angeles, leading voice workshops and coachings in both cities.
Although Mara is a tried and true New Yorker, she has spent the last four years living and singing throughout Southern
California, selling out venues like THE GRAND ANNEX and SAM FIRST, working with young virtuosic bass player Marlon
Martinez and his big band, THE MARLONIUS JAZZ ORCHESTRA, along with her other residencies in town.
What’s that old saying? “You can take the girl out of Brooklyn, but you can’t take the Brooklyn outta the girl.” This is true of the
artist Mara Kaye as she stays true to her roots while she carves new avenues of expression, paying tribute to the greats while
bringing a refreshing, modern quality to the genre with stunning vocal tenacity that can’t be matched.