Jazz vocalists René Marie and Kevin Mahogany join forces for the Kennedy Center’s Louis Armstrong Legacy Series in an evening of duets guaranteed to demonstrate why each is regarded as a master of the genre. They will be backed by Kevin Bales on piano, Quentin Baxter on drums and Herman Burney on bass.
“The audience can look forward to hearing great jazz and good music in a variety of genres,” Mahogany says.
“We first got together on the phone and went through a list of songs that come from all over, some things we hadn’t done before and some new to each of us. We expect to surprise the audience, and maybe even ourselves.”
Mahogany began his career as an instrumentalist but has been singing since high school, so the switch was a natural evolution. His debut vocal recording in 1996 inspired Newsweek to dub him “the standout jazz vocalist of his generation.”
Growing up in Kansas City, Mo., he studied piano, clarinet, and saxophone before heading to Baker University, where he formed a jazz choir. After graduating with a BFA in Music, English and Drama, he established two ensembles playing crossover jazz, contemporary R&B and soul music. But the yen to focus on his natural vocal gifts won out.
“It was a conscious choice,” he says. “I knew I’d reached a plateau as a saxophonist and wanted to express myself vocally.”
Throughout his career, Mahogany has balanced performing with teaching jazz. He has been on the faculties of Berklee College of Music in Boston and the University of Miami School of Music, and later this month will spend ten days in Tel Aviv performing and giving master classes.
“It’s important to shape the future of music and give the tools to others to carry on the tradition and better ourselves in the process. When I sing, I want to give the audience the opportunity to hear the lyrics, to be surprised, and to enjoy the music. It should be a complete experience that allows them to relax and forget everything except the surrounding sound.”
Like Mahogany, René Marie bided her time before deciding to follow her heart and sing the music of her idols, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, for an audience of strangers instead of her children. The Roanoke, Va., native married and raised a family, not venturing into Washington-area clubs until the passing of 20 years.
Since the release in 2000 of her first album, “How Can I Keep from Singing,” she has zoomed to “the very top level of performers,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Whether singing at a live concert or on a recording, she thrills listeners with her own compositions and her interpretations of jazz standards, pop numbers and even the classic tunes of Ravel. In 2005, she closed the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. Her return gig to share the stage with Mahogany, whose surname typifies his smooth, rich tones, is a coup for local jazz lovers.
IF YOU GO
Jazz singers René Marie and Kevin Mahogany present An Evening of Duets, Part of the Louis Armstrong Legacy Series.
Venue: Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, January 13 at 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $30 at 202-467-4600 or 800-444-1324
Info: www.kennedy-center.org
