Arts & Entertainment
Homegrown Diva
Birminghams Kathy Kosins introduces her new jazz CD.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
IC
athy Kosins hasn't released her new CD
yet, but she's already broken a record.
Kosins is the first female vocalist to be
featured by Chiaroscuro, an independ-
ent jazz label in business out of New York since
1971.
Mood Swings, Kosins' second CD, will be debuted
8-10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, during a party at La
Dolce Vita in Detroit. Of the 11 songs on the
recording, seven are her originals, and she will be
performing them with instrumentalists Cliff
Monear, Nick Calandro and Gerald Cleaver.
"I've been working on new compositions since
1996, when I came out with my last CD, All in a
Dream's Work (Schoolkids Records)," says Kosins, a
self-taught singer and composer. "When I got
together enough material that I was really happy
with, I picked which songs I wanted to record. I
thought the title Mood Swings was appropriate for
the different types of music.
"
In The Mood For Jazz
Songs written by Kosins, in collaboration with oth-
ers, include the swinging "I Was There"; the wistful
bossa nova "Paradise," featuring a harmonica solo
by Howard Levy, formerly of Bela Fleck and the
Flecktones; the ballad "Love Me Like a Song"; and
the jaunty "No Ordinary Joe," based on the
changes of the classic "Pennies From Heaven."
Among the titles by other composers are
"Melancholy Serenade," the TV theme of the late
comedian Jackie Gleason, who also composed the
tune, and "Foxey Lady," the classic rock hit of Jimi
2/1
2002
00
Hendrix transformed
into jazz.
The CD project, for
which Kosins hand-
picked the musicians,
spanned two years.
•
"Do you know anyone
who wouldn't have a
mood swing or two tak-
ing this long to make
one record?" Kosins asks.
"In the case of my origi-
nal compositions, I
sometimes went back to
the drawing board to
enhance a lyric, change
the instrumentation or
rerecord the entire song
with a different arrange-
ment. "
Kosins wanted com-
Kathy Kosins: "Do you
plete control of this
know anyone who wouldn't
recording and made her-
have a mood swing or two
self producer. In addition
taking this long to make to the players, she picked
one record?" Kosins says the studio, artwork,
about "Mood Swings." graphics and layout. She
also struck a deal that
will let her license the CD through independent
contracts in other countries.
Taking Charge
Kosins has been taking charge of her career since
graduating from Southfield High School, where she
sang in the choir. She
got her professional
start singing with
rock and R&B bands
in and around the
Motor City, and
received her introduc-
tion to jazz from leg-
endary Detroit trum-
peter and educator
Marcus Belgrave.
L a y Ktls iii s
Hanging out with a
`Mood Swings consists of 11 Jewish crowd that
songs, seven of them written
included future hit
by Kosins.
producer Don Was
(Don Fagenson, a
1970 Oak Park High School grad and member of
Was/Not Was), she showed up at his studio one day
and asked to do backup singing on his rock record-
ings. That professional relationship lasted eight
years.
"It was through Don that I got my first taste of
free-style jazz, and that's when I started listening,"
says Kosins, who has lived in Birmingham for more
than 20 years. "It's freer than other musical forms.
You can play with the melody, phrasing and timing
more than you can with pop and R & B.
"I began writing R & B and pop music for vari-
ous groups and moved on to jazz with the idea that
I would pitch those songs to established artists.
Instead, I wound up using them for my first CD."
For a time, Kosins sang with Johnny Trudell's
band. Then there was work with the J.C. Heard
and Nelson Riddle orchestras. Later, she decided to
become a band leader in her own right and hire
musicians as she got bookings around the country.
An opening act for the likes of composer-pianist
Marvin Hamlisch, trumpet star Maynard Ferguson
and pop singing quartet Manhattan Transfer, Kosins
has entertained at the Detroit International Jazz
Festival, Muskegon Summerfest and the Grand
Rapids Blues and Jazz Festival. In Detroit, she has
performed with Belgrave, Michael Henderson and
Gregory Hutchinson.
A Teacher, Too
"Because I was doing the legwork getting the book-
ings, I developed a class called Gainful Employment
and Hustling the Gig," Kosins says. "I decided this
is something I could go out and teach to college
students in the music business so they don't have to
wait around for the phone to ring:
"It's not just enough to practice your instrument.
You have to go out there and find work. I've taken
my own experiences and come up with a three-hour
master class. Students go home with printed materi-
als and an outline of how to do all this."
Kosins, who recently received an award for corn-
posing from the Michigan Council for Arts and
Cultural Affairs, long ago decided on the single life
to have the freedom to tour. Describing herself as
more spiritual than religious, she has attended High
Holiday temple services with her morn, Marilyn
Schaefer. She also is the daughter of the late clothier
Harry Kosins.
When this jazz singer is off the road, she pursues
an interest in painting. The freedom of abstractions
suits her personality.
"One day, I just woke up and decided I wanted
to start painting," she recalls. "I took a few classes
at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, got can-
vases and acrylics and came up with a definitive
style all my own.
"When my instructor left, I formed a group that
had been taking classes with him year after year. It's
an independent studies group that's been around for
12 or 13 years. For me, painting is a hobby, therapy
and release. I sometimes get ideas for songs from
my paintings."
❑
A CD release party for Kathy Kosins' Mood
Swings runs 8-10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 5, at La
Dolce Vita, 19546 Woodward, Detroit.
Reservations: (313) 865-0331. To order a copy
of Mood Swings, go to Kosins' Web site at
www.kathykosins.com .