Karla Harris and Tom Kennedy with Ken Kehner and Kevin Gianino
Karla Harris and Tom Kennedy are longtime creative collaborators, who bring style and gorgeous music to the stage. This will be their first time performing together in their mutual hometown in 20 years. Expect a special evening of heartfelt musical virtuosity presented through straight-ahead and contemporary jazz, blues favorites, and a few originals.
Jazz vocalist Karla Harris has captivated audiences at events such as the Sarasota Jazz Festival, Greenville Jazz Festival, Portland Jazz Festival, Oregon Coast Jazz Party, Nantucket Arts Festival, Atlanta Jazz Festival, and a TED Talk. She has performed for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Arts Across America live performance series, and in 2022 was awarded a distinguished Jazz Road grant through the South Arts foundation. In addition to performing, she is a songwriter and educator. In 2024 she was named a recipient of Atlanta Magazine’s “Women Making a Mark” award in recognition of her jazz outreach and education programs. Harris is a member of the Kennesaw State University Jazz Studies faculty, teaching applied vocal jazz to aspiring young singers passionate about this uniquely American art form.
Harris’s music, a nuanced blend of straight-ahead and contemporary jazz, is heard worldwide. Critics acclaimed her 2015 album, “Karla Harris Sings the Dave and Iola Brubeck Songbook,” calling it “a work of sheer elegance.” Greenlighted by the Brubeck estate, the project stands as the first studio recording dedicated to vocal versions of several Brubeck compositions with lyrics by his wife, Iola. Harris’ 2019 release, “Certain Elements,” reached #44 on the prestigious Jazz Week chart.
Tom Kennedy is an accomplished touring and studio musician who ranks as one of the top acoustic and electric bass players in the world. By his late teens, he had already performed with jazz icons such as Freddie Hubbard, James Moody, Nat Adderly, Sonny Stitt, George Russell, Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis. Since then, Tom has performed and recorded with Mike Stern, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Dave Weckl, Michael and Randy Brecker, Al DiMeola, Simon Phillips, Steve Gadd, Frank Gambale, Steve Lukather, David Sanborn, Jeff Lorber, Ricky Lawson, Joe Sample and Harvey Mason, to name a few. Along with a lifelong career as an international touring artist, Tom has released five solo projects to date and has appeared on over 200 recordings.
