Album Notes

Kate Paradise was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1981, but spent a majority of her childhood in southern New Hampshire, about an hour outside of Boston. Kate’s interest in music began at an early age, singing with her mom in church and taking piano lessons from her pastor. In school, Kate excelled in small but supportive music programs, taking on leadership roles in the choirs and singing in the high school big band. Kate also auditioned and participated in numerous NHMEA All-State and Jazz All-State choirs. During the summer of 1998 Kate attended the Berklee College of Music Summer Performance Program in Boston, Massachusetts. There she received her first formal voice training and was encouraged to further pursue her interest in jazz. A year later, in the fall of 1999, Kate enrolled in one of the top jazz performance programs in the country at the University of Miami School of Music in Coral Gables, Florida. She spent six years at UM, earning her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Studio Music and Jazz Vocal Performance. While in Miami, Kate received Downbeat Magazine’s student award for Outstanding Solo Jazz Vocal Performance as well as numerous student Downbeat awards for her work Jazz Vocal I, University of Miami’s top jazz choir. Kate taught singing as a graduate assistant and began an active performing career as a jazz singer, including appearances with Kurt Elling, Kevin Mahogany, Elaine Elias, Carmen Lundy, Claudia Acuna and Will Lee. In the summer of 2005 Kate and her future husband, pianist, Joe Davidian, moved to central Vermont. While in Vermont Kate worked as a jazz vocal educator at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Johnson State College and Saint Michael’s College. Kate continued her active jazz performance career in Vermont, quickly becoming a local favorite. Early in 2006 Kate released her debut CD, You Stepped Out of a Dream, on Vermont label Sonic Mirage. The recording features Joseph Davidian (piano), John Rivers (bass), Geza Carr (drums), Nicholas Cassarino (guitar) and John McKenna (tenor saxophone.) Partial proceeds from the sales of You Stepped Out of a Dream will be donated to the Melissa Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to violence prevention and treatment. The album, like most of Kate’s repertoire, includes some of the genre’s best-loved songs and features a variety of instrumentation: intimate duo performances, a Nat “King” Cole-style swing tune and quartet arrangements, concluding with a live track from her Master’s recital in Miami. Kate and her husband Joe currently reside in Nashville, TN. While continuing to perform nationally, Kate is also a full time instructor of commercial voice and director of jazz vocal group, Jazzmin, at Belmont University.