UMass Magazine Online

Fall 2005

Departments

Class Notes

Features

Never Mind the Weather?

If You Can Make it There

Peg Riley Wants a New Drug

A Capitol Guy

What They've Learned

Class Notes

The Lady's Got Jazz

—Linda Smith




	Kate McGarry ’83

MAYBE YOU'VE HEARD THE AIRY, playful swoops of Kate McGarry’s voice and don’t know it: McGarry ’83 has sung on many movie soundtracks in the last decade, in addition to her three critically acclaimed jazz-pop releases. Her spring 2005 CD, “Mercy Streets,” lifts her ever higher. All About Jazz webzine calls it “one of the most important vocal recordings of the year.” She interprets tunes from Bjork to Joni Mitchell in a way that’s vaguely familiar but truly all her own.

McGarry grew up in Hyannis, Massachusetts, one of 10 children in what she describes as a very musical family. At UMass Amherst she enrolled in the Afro-Am Music and Jazz Studies for Voice program. During her time here she studied under “the most incredible teachers—Fred Tillis, Horace Boyer, Jeff Holmes, and Archy Shepp,” she says.

“I remember teaching Kate,” says Holmes, Director of the African-American Music and Jazz Studies Program, as it’s now called. “I remember auditioning her for the music department—she sang ‘Girl From Ipanema’ and I recall telling Dr. Horace Boyer [who would later become her vocal teacher] how impressed I was with her audition. Kate always sang clearly and with confidence right from the start.”

Hear For Yourself: Kate McGarry performs solo and with various jazz ensembles in New York and beyond. For her appearance schedule, and to hear her incredible voice, visit www.katemcgarry.com.

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Close Encounters

Close Encounters: larger image

The Lady's Got Jazz

The Lady's Got Jazz: larger image

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A Rare Vintage: larger image