Kate Schutt

Making The Telephone Game

Jazz News by: Susan Frances

Toronto-based singer/songwriter and Pennsylvania native Kate Schutt invites fans to participate in her current ArtistShare project The Telephone Game by submitting their own love stories, ideas, poems or prospective titles for songs. She will be writing songs for the CD based on the fan input and will respond to every submission sent her way. Participation will occur at different levels, including ArtistShare Executive, Gold, Silver, Bronze - and depending on the level of participation they choose, Schutt's fans can be rewarded with anything from a private performance to prominent credit on her CD, or even a song written and recorded just for them.

The media has called Kate Schutt a musical triathlete, being a venerable triple threat as a creative guitarist, producer and singer/songwriter. The sports analogy is appropriate given her teenage prowess as an ice hockey and lacrosse player, which helped the Pennsylvania born and bred Schutt gain access to the hallowed halls of Harvard University.   It was at Harvard that her passion for music took over her drive. After a rigorous education at the famed Berklee College of Music, Kate’s commitment to music was solidified.

Schutt relocated to the artistically-stimulating community of Guelph, Ontario in 2004.  Her 2007 debut studio recording, No Love Lost, was self-released in Canada in May, and in the U.S. on ArtistShare in October. Select tracks have received impressive airplay on jazz, college, and public radio, and reviews on both sides of the border have been glowing.  Key musical collaborators on the album are two Newfoundlanders, virtuoso guitarist Duane Andrews and trumpeter Patrick Boyle. After seeing the two perform in Montreal, Kate lured them to Guelph to work on her record. “When I moved to Canada, I wanted to make an album that sounded like Paris in the ‘30s or ‘40s. Then I heard Duane, and it was like ‘that’s totally it.’”

Andrews’ fluent guitar work adds a Django-ish gypsy jazz feel to the album, and it meshes perfectly with Kate’s own compelling fretwork on electric guitar and the 8 string, a guitar/bass hybrid.  Schutt's hauntingly melancholic ballad "How Much in Love," from No Love Lost and featured on Q2 2008, successfully bridges the gap between jazz noir and adult alternative. Schutt's expressive performance draws on the influence of Billie Holiday and Julie London. "How Much in Love" will appeal to not only jazz vocal enthusiasts, but also to admirers of modern singer-songwriters like Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colvin and Tori Amos.   Her new record, The Telephone Game is set for release in August 2008 on ArtistShare.

Some background information about ArtistShare (www.artistshare.com) is that it is a fan-funded project that allows participants to follow the process of writing, arranging, rehearsing, and recording CD’s released by artists on ArtistShare‘s roster. Fans have opportunities to contribute to different parts of the creative process, including submitting artwork for a CD cover to coming up with ideas for songs and new material. Those who participate at higher levels have the opportunity to attend the mastering sessions, receive an ipod containing never before heard tracks from the label's roster, and much more. Fans will also have the opportunity to “drop in” and received the latest news on a project or hear music that one of the artists are currently working on, or even get a credit on a new CD. The fan experience is enhanced through streaming videos, photo journals, and other additional content such as artist interviews from the studio and insiders’ access to the compositional process.

For more information: www.kateschutt.com

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