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Minneapolis-based jazz pianist and composer, Mary Louise Knutson, has been called -one of the most exciting and innovative artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time-. Recently, she was selected as one of five finalists in the Kennedy Center’s 2005 Mary Lou Williams -Women in Jazz- Pianist Competition.
Knutson’s debut jazz trio CD, -Call Me When You Get There-, charted in the Top 50 in the United States and Canada for eight consecutive weeks following its recent release, and earned Knutson the award for -Top New Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year- in 2001, from KWJL Radio, California. Featured tracks include her award-winning compositions and signature arrangements of such jazz classics as Tangerine, Green Dolphin Street, and Gone With the Wind and range from the joyful lyricism of Call Me When You Get There to the impassioned blaze of Meridian.
An acclaimed composer, Knutson has won numerous awards, including two from Billboard magazine for her compositions How Will I Know? and Meridian. Her composition How Will I Know? was also recorded by Prince's horn section, the Hornheads, for their -5 Heads Are Better Than 1- release on Bone 2 B Wild Music. Chosen as the music bed for the art documentary, Wellington Lee: 60 Years of Artistic Photography, Knutson’s composition, Call Me When You Get There, will soon be heard at major art museums across the country. In addition, her composition Merle the Pearl streams on the internet as the theme music for Jazz Release, a recorded interview program on JazzSteps.com.
Knutson has performed with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Slide Hampton, Richie Cole, Greg Abate, Von Freeman, Billy Hart, and Richard Davis. As a show player, she has performed with such musical acts as Michael Bolton, Trisha Yearwood, Donny Osmond, Smoky Robinson, the Osmond Brothers, and comedians Phyllis Diller, Jack Carter, Rob Schneider, Kevin Nealan, Judy Tenuta, and more. And from 1994-1998, Knutson performed and toured internationally as the lead keyboardist for Synergy (formerly Rupert’s Orchestra).
Currently she performs both locally and nationally, with her jazz trio or as a soloist, at clubs, festivals, and concert halls. She can also be heard backing up area favorites Connie Evingson and Debbie Duncan and freelances with a variety of instrumental groups including the JazzMN Big Band and the Doug Little Quartet.
A member of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) and a former instructor in jazz piano and improvisation at Carleton College, Knutson conducts a variety of masterclasses, including -Jazz Voicings and Scales: Freedom from the Written Page- which assists students in building jazz chords for solo and ensemble playing and outlines a starting point for improvisation. Her newest masterclass, -What’s Up with Jazz?-, for non-musicians and/or budding enthusiasts, explores how jazz musicians communicate on stage, the typical structure of songs, and the use of improvisation.
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