“I’ve always been drawn to the space of silence between the notes. It’s in the silence that the secrets of songs reveal themselves.”
--Kate McGarry

If Less Is More…Nothing Is Everything (2008, Palmetto) finds Kate in a joyful, albeit introspective mood, covering everything from Jobim to The Cars, with a few originals (including a tender e.e. cummings poem set to music) rounding out the project.


About The Artist
Born into a large, musical family in Hyannis, Massachusetts, Kate caught the performing bug at an early age. She and her nine siblings would put on talent shows for their parents, playing and singing together at every opportunity. “As a child, music was as important to me as anything in my life. I never considered any career other than singing. To my family, music was one of the healing arts. It was just as good as being a doctor.”
Kate’s early musical inspiration came in the form of the Beatles, the Mills Brothers, Earth Wind & Fire, and the Celtic music she would hear at the local Irish pub. But then she heard Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, and her life’s calling became obvious. “The melodies and harmonic structures were mysterious and beautiful…but somehow it made so much sense to me.” A degree in African American music and studies with Archie Shepp soon followed.
Success came quickly after graduation, with a move to the West Coast bringing gigs with Clark Terry and Hank Jones at the Monterey Jazz Festival and regular hits at such venerated venues as Catalina’s, the Jazz Bakery, and Le Café. In the vicinity of Hollywood, she also did some vocals for film and commercials, including tracks for Imax Films, the Sony Pictures release Caught and the title track for Boiling Point. But Kate’s spiritual nature and need to explore precipitated her next move back to the East Coast and a three year stint studying and teaching at an ashram in upstate New York.
Kate’s independently released 1992 debut recording, Easy To Love, an album of standards, earned her the attention of Music Magazine, who called her: “…a strong improviser who shows taste and restraint worthy of the most mature jazz singer.” But it was a move to New York City in 1999 that kick-started her singing and songwriting career. Her sophomore release Show Me (2001) was picked up by the lauded Palmetto label in 2003, earning her the distinction of being the first and only vocalist signed by the label. Her 2004 wedding to guitarist Keith Ganz inspired a change from an organ combo to a more roots-oriented, acoustic guitar-centric sound that perfectly combined Kate’s influences and inspirations. The resulting project Mercy Streets (Pametto, 2005) was hailed by All Music Guide as a release that “seamlessly combines music from many disparate sources into a cohesive, emotional experience (and) bridges the sonic chasm between folk-pop and jazz.”

Throughout 2005, there was mounting evidence of Kate McGarry’s expanding palette. In addition to releasing Mercy Streets, she toured with acclaimed pianist Fred Hersch and master vocalist Kurt Elling, performing Hersch’s song cycle, Leaves of Grass, a setting of Walt Whitman’s poetry to music. The project earned Hersch a Guggenheim Award, and the ensemble performed “Leaves of Grass” to a sold out audience at Carnegie Hall in March 2005. Kate can also be seen on Chick Corea’s 2005 DVD, Rendezvous, in an impromptu performance of “Smile” with Bobby McFerrin during Corea’s 60th birthday celebration at the Blue Note. Also in 2005, Kate performed over 50 concerts of The Different Moods of the Blues as a Lincoln Center Institute touring artist. 2006 brought fruitful collaborations with Grammy Award winning composer and bandleader Maria Schneider and New York’s Jazz Tap Ensemble and an appearance on Dee Dee Bridgewater’s NPR show, Jazz Set.
With the release of 2007’s The Target, there was a sense that Kate had truly arrived. An NPR All Things Considered profile and New York Times review brought the magic of Kate McGarry to a whole new – and very receptive – audience. The record reached #1 on the national jazz charts and was named one of the best vocal jazz CDs of the year by both Downbeat and the New York Times. Michael McCall of Nashville Scene raved: "McGarry embraces jazz's freedom yet points the genre toward a future that's as fresh and thrilling as its past."
In September of 2007, Kate was invited to join the faculty of Manhattan School of Music. “My challenge there has been to take what I have learned and value about the jazz tradition and translate it to the education world,” says Kate. “Most of my favorite singers learned their craft on the road, not in the classroom.” Other current projects include a guest spot (with Eartha Kitt and Jon Hendricks) on the hit children’s’ TV show Wonder Pets, and writing, recording and producing (with Ganz) 63 children’s songs for the Heinle Picture Dictionary For Children - an international ESL release. You can also catch Kate with vocal jazz super group MOSS, featuring her friends Peter Eldridge, Theo Bleckmann, Lauren Kinhan and Luciana Souza.