Heart & Soul   I   Left Coast Life  I   Straight Up With a Twist  I   Evolution  I   Live at the Jazz Workshop  I   Live Reviews

Reviews for Live at the Jazz Workshop

Jazziz Magazine
"Finally, I must say something about Kitty Margolis, the Bay Area singer who has just debuted on the obscure Mad-Kat Records. Live at the Jazz Workshop is a marvelous, ear opening live recording that introduces not just a fine young vocalist but an important new jazz voice. These eight standards let Margolis bare her imposing arsenal of musical weapons: steely attack, fiery warmth, exuberant pace, legato transitions, razor-sharp pitch, timbral variety, high-voltage scat, and, best of all, the ability o sing a through line, not just fancy riffs. Sheila Jordan summed up her response this way: "After hearing Kitty's wonderful work, I'm sure that the future of jazz singing Is safe and sound!"

Jack Fuller, The Chicago Tribune
"Unless you have happened to come across her in San Francisco, chances are you have not heard of jazz- singer Kitty Margolis. Do yourself a favor. Take the time and trouble to order this album and discover a hot, energetic new voice. She is the real thing in jazz: stylish, swinging, in love with the risk of improvisation. You can hear a lot of influences in her work from Sarah Vaughan to Al Jarreau. But the-result is so genuinely individual that once you hear it you know you will recognize it if you are lucky enough to hear it again. At the moment about the only way to do that is to write Mad Kat-Records at Box 330425, San Francisco, Cal. 94133. But if any of the major record companies have sense, they will sign her up immediately and make the next album a smash in all the stores."

Bart Grooms, Option Magazine
"On her debut album, Bay Area native Margolis proves that she is an accomplished, full-blown jazz singer. Not only does she have a strong sense of swing and phrasing, but she attacks the material with an improvisatory gusto. She can also scat up a storm, as befits someone who was the only singer in saxophonist Hal Stein's improv class at S.F. State. Few singers can make this approach work; Betty Carter has probably taken it further than anyone, and Margolis sounds as though she's digested the idiosyncratic Carter (and Sarah Vaughn- as well). Backed by a fine rhythm section . Margolis soars through standards like "I Concentrate On You," Miles Davis' "AII Blues," and "All The Things You Are" (with the Dizzy Gillespie intro). Fine stuff by a lady who's more than ready to strut hers."

K. Zimmerman, The Gavin Report
"Since its release last year, not a week goes by when the sultry tones of Kitty Margolis pop up on somebody's Jazz playlist. Her vocal improv is punchy and bluesy; her song arrangements stretch out a bit more than Eastman's do. Margolis employs a confident, gliding intonation where the notes tumble over each other in a technique a bit reminiscent of, believe it or not, Leon Thomas' African inflections. Jazz ravers like the way Margolis flaunts timbre and volume intensity. Check out her cocky versions of "All The Things You Are" and "All Blues."