Kate Schutt
New York City, New York, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
"An audacious, almost reckless synthesis of folk and jazz. She has endurance, witholds nothing, muscles the guitar, and sings unrestrainedly. Self-drawn like her music, she plays with seductive style and ropes you in." - Minnie King
"From the first notes I heard, I knew Kate was the real deal. A huge talent."
- Artistshare website
Kate Schutt's masterful "No Love Lost" is meticulously composed and beautifully performed.
Schutt's sweet, warm voice and clear phrasing command attention for the universal resonance of her lyrics, often sounding like old-school standards written for the Broadway stage, like the opening track “How Much in Love.”
- Eyal Hareuveni
"She's an enticingly languid vocalist, wry composer and a sophisticated arranger in the pop/jazz vein, a natural next step for fans of Norah, Madeleine, Rickie Lee and Edie." - Philadelphia Daily News
“Listeners can take the album (Telephone Game) in all at once, and want to play it again, at once. The tunes are varied, the words are thoughtful, the musicianship top-notch.”
- Jonathan Shipley
"Harvard and Berklee kid Kate Schutt (now living in Toronto) ... is an assured singer/songwriter/guitarist with a smoky, understated delivery."
- Jon Garelick
“Guitar genius Kate Schutt turns her attention to jazz-influenced vocals on ‘Telephone Game’ (kateschutt.com). Anyone who has ever heard her … knows precisely of what she is capable.” - Gregg Shapiro
“Kate Schutt sings ... in glassily clear and glossily sweet tones.” - Mark Silver
“Former JLSC Jazz Grand Prize winner, Kate Schutt, recently gave a brilliant early performance at Canada AM, Canada's most-watched national morning news channel.” - ...Blog post
"The jazz leanings are there, but it's more about the improvisational style, and certainly the fearlessness of Monk, that translates more directly. She's been called folk/jazz, Monk/folk, fusion, Lilith/jazz, and God knows what else. Really though, the label doesn't matter. Schutt is just a consummate professional, and an artistic workhorse, and one who truly deserves your audience." - Echo Magazine
Discography
TELEPHONE GAME (CAN: CUTO 2009 | US: ArtistShare 2009)
NO LOVE LOST (Artistshare, October, 2007)
HITS and MISSES (full-length, July 2006)
PAPER CROWN PROJECT (EP May 2005)
HEART-SHOT (EP February 2004)
BROKEN (2002)
BROKENWORLD (2001)
BROKENWINGTRICK (2000)
Photos
Bio
Kate Schutt At A Glance:
• Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer
• Originally from Pennsylvania, now lives in New York City and Guelph, Ontario, Canada
• At age 11, began studying with renowned educator / legendary guitarist John Dougherty
• Harvard University grad, Magna Cum Laude, English Literature
• Berklee College of Music Alum
• 2007 & 2009 John Lennon Songwriting Contest Winner in the Jazz Category
• 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 ASCAP Plus Awards for Jazz Composition
• A constant collaborator, Kate has worked with Justin Faulkner (Branford Marsalis) John Ellis (Jason Marsalis, Charlie Hunter), Terri Lyne Carrington (Herbie Hancock), Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett, Bill Frisell)
• Self-produced her sophomore release, Telephone Game, engineered and mixed by Canadian uber-producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, Rheostatics)
You could call Kate Schutt a musical triathlete. She is a creative triple threat - a guitarist, producer and singer/songwriter of rare skill and originality. The sports analogy is fitting, given that her teenage prowess as an ice hockey and lacrosse player helped the Pennsylvania born and bred Schutt gain access to the hallowed halls of Harvard. Her other passion, music, then took over. After a rigorous education at the famed Berklee College of Music, Kate’s commitment to music became entrenched.
Telephone Game, Kate’s self-produced second full-length album, is a remarkably lush, melodic record that deftly walks the line between pop, soul and jazz. This balancing act creates an uncanny sense of familiarity from the very first listen.
A myriad of styles and influences, Telephone Game showcases Kate’s innate ability to write from various perspectives and in different voices. The lead track, “Take Everything”, is a smoldering, soulful song that pleads "Take everything, but leave me something: something I can forget you by.” Inspired by the Eastern seaboard power outage of 2003, “Blackout” possesses an unabashed rock vibe. Laced with chaotic yet calculated guitar distortion and feedback, it perfectly captures the east coast’s plunge into darkness. “Take Me with You” coasts along like a lost jazz standard until you get to the rock-ish bridge – all energetic power chords and motion. Kate pulls this off magically, naturally; many of her songs sound like one thing (retro jazz standards) that then morph into and out of another style (rock interludes, blues vamps, gypsy jazz meditations).
Kate handpicked a “dream band” for Telephone Game. Her first choice for drums was the masterful Terri Lyne Carrington (Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Cassandra Wilson) and she’s one of the reasons why the record feels so good. Young lion pianist Orrin Evans (Mingus Big Band, Kenny Barron) uses his formidable chops sparingly, subtly, and always in support of the lyric and the singer. Duane Andrews’s acoustic guitar serves as foil to Kate’s understated electric guitar work. Telephone Game features standout appearances by saxophonist John Ellis (Charlie Hunter, Jason Marsalis) and his horn section and by a trio of members from Kuumba, Harvard’s gospel choir. To preserve the vintage sound and vibe captured during the recording sessions, Kate committed to mixing the album analogue. She and Michael Phillip Wojewoda traveled to legendary producer Steve Addabbo’s Shelter Island Sound in New York for the final mixing and melding. Telephone Game was recorded, mixed and mastered in Toronto, Boston, New York and Nashville.
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