(Vocal Jazz) Karen Oberlin - Live At The Algonquin - 2010, MP3, 320 kbps

#777Telling the story, both musically and lyrically, is what I find most exciting and galvanizing as a performer," Karen Oberlin recently said in an interview. Hailed as one of premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Nightlife, Bistro, and MAC Award-winning vocalist Karen Oberlin very recently returned from a triumphant run at the newest club in London, the Crazy Coqs, being called by the esteemed UK publication, Classical Source, a "Champion of popular song." She received her third and fourth rave reviews from the New York Times for her recent week at Feinstein's at the Regency and her three-week engagement at the legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, with Stephen Holden writing "Beyond having a a lovely voice, poise and interpretive insight, Ms. Oberlin has impeccable classic pop style (and) musical intelligence.” Rex Reed, in the New York Observer, called her recent performance “thrilling,” and continued, “Oberlin is as lovely to look at as she is to hear -- subtle, elegant and musically spot on. She’s a keeper!” The music critic for The Nation, David Yaffe, says Ms. Oberlin “reaches into the minds and muses of our golden repertoire to teach us, dazzle us, and send us to a Tin Pan Alley nirvana, as deep as the ocean and high as the sky. She is truly a marvel.” Along with the Algonquin and Feinstein's, she has appeared at major New York venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Town Hall, Iridium Jazz Club, Merkin Hall and The Metropolitan Room, among others. Nationally, she has performed at Guild Hall in the Hamptons, The Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, The Prince Theatre in Philadelphia, and the Royal Room at the Colony Palm Beach, to name a few. She has three recordings on the Miranda Music label, including “Secret Love: The Music of Doris Day” and a live recording at the Algonquin's Oak Room. She can be heard on a number of compilations, including the newly discovered musical by Duke Ellington and Herb Martin, "Renaissance Man," in the all-star CD version, "Secret Ellington" (True Life), which featured Joe Lovano, Grover Washington, Jr., and Freddy Cole, among others.
Ms. Oberlin appeared in more than 100 Off-Broadway performances of the smash-hit show "Our Sinatra,” and has performed her own shows nationally and abroad, including her recent appearances in Paris and London. She had the honor of being part of the first-ever Cabaret Conventions in both Philadelphia and the Hamptons and has performed in the New York shows at both Jazz at Lincoln Center and at Town Hall, where she was also featured in the Broadway By The Year series at Town Hall. Along with playing Maureen in the first staged incarnation of the now-legendary Broadway show, “Rent,” Ms. Oberlin has also held lead roles at such prestigious theatres as the North Carolina Theatre, the Palace Theatre in Louisville, among others. She has appeared as a professional actress in everything from Shakespeare to national commercials, including playing a recurring nurse on “All My Children” and can been seen in both independent and feature films. She also enjoyed being part of a professional a cappella group called "Where’s The Band?" for many years.
Ms. Oberlin has a deep background in classical music, jazz, cabaret, theater and musical theater. The granddaughter of Vaudevillians and the youngest daughter of two classical musicians, she often performed and competed in classical singing events and performed steadily in theater, musical and otherwise, growing up in Central New York. As a child she played piano and flute, and cello in the county orchestra, performed in her first role in an opera at age six, and as a teen led a few local rock and new-wave bands. Since then she has performed continuously and trained extensively, graduating from the Circle In The Square Professional Workshop Broadway theatre conservatory in New York after receiving her B.A. in English Literature. New York City led Ms. Oberlin to jazz and deepened her appreciation for the Great American Songbook. She has studied voice for more than twenty years, and she teaches master classes in acting, singing and interpreting song, including teaching at Singers Forum in New York City. Ms. Oberlin is a dedicated yogi, a very happy mother and stepmother, and is married to the writer David Hajdu.

Multi award-winning Oberlin received these raves, among others, for her three-week engagement at the legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin, when this CD was recorded:
"Karen Oberlin is a demure pop-jazz singer who radiates a subdued glamour! Beyond having a pretty voice, poise and interpretive insight, Ms. Oberlin is a thorough researcher who placed many of the songs in a historical or personal context! A smart, polished show." -- Stephen Holden, The New York Times
"A Christmas tree angel named Karen Oberlin is lighting up the Algonquin's Oak Room with a show that sends you out humming. I loved the bebop jawbreakers, and she excels on the love songs. Subtle, elegant and musically spot on, the lovely Ms. Oberlin is such a welcome addition to the often noisy and pointless cabaret scene that one can even imagine her accompanied by a celesta without causing the slightest hint of boredom. She's a keeper." - Rex Reed, New York Observer
"How would you like your own private one-to-one performance by a sophisticated singer? All right, so there are other people with you in the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel. But everyone seems to fade away as Karen Oberlin has a love affair with the music and lyrics she has chosen and sings so intimately that it's as if her songs are meant only for you. She sets the bar for her purity of tone and interpretation at the outset with "If I Were a Bell" from "Guys and Dolls," sung with utmost clarity and attention to detail. She liltingly sings such ballads as "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" (music in this case by Jule Styne), "I've Never Been in Love Before" from "Guys and Dolls," and "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" from the 1947 film "Perils of Pauline." Honoring the prolific composer and lyricist could not be in better hands." - William Wolf, William Wolf's Entertainment Guide
"Her voice warms like melting butter to infuse her love songs with emotion and passion. With shades of the whispery Doris Day intimacy, she luxuriates over the long lines and romantic intent of "Wanting to Be Wanted", an intense song cut from Most Happy Fella just before its New York opening... With her warmth and introspection, Frank Loesser's songs come to us as fresh and contemporary as the annual question, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?". Karen Oberlin has followed a straight upward path since she began her career. In a three-week engagement in the Oak Room, she proves her audiences were right and her critical acclaim is well-deserved." -- Elizabeth Ahlfors, Curtainup
"Like a breath of spring, Karen Oberlin's lush vocal renditions of the songs of one of America's foremost writers of the American theater filled the air of the historic Oak Room. Oberlin, always in control, cleverly weaves lyrical wonders whether it's a sensitive and plaintive "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" (music by Jule Styne) or a meticulously sung novelty, "Hamlet" (1949 film: Red, Hot and Blue). Musical Director Jon Weber, skillful in his accompaniment and arranging, added vocal counterpoint to a sultry "Baby, It's Cold Outside." From Pulitzer Prize winner How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (slated for a Broadway revival in 2011), Oberlin showed off flawless styling on "I Believe in You." A mix of pop and jazz with an easy delivery, it feels as if she hugs each lyric, Oberlin is joyous to behold." - Sandi Durell, Cabaret Scenes Magazine