THE SHOWROOM SESSIONS: Streaming LIVE from Piedmont Piano Company
Anna Laura Quinn & Friends
New Orleans based vocalist Anna Laura Quinn is excited to return to the piano store for an evening of song that will take you through an array of languages and emotions. She will be joined by some of her favorite Bay Area collaborators - Rob Reich on accordion, piano, and glockenspiel; Justin Ouellet on violin; and Joe Kyle Jr. on bass. Together, the ensemble will offer a playful blend of tunes that is sure to leave you with a smile on your face!
New Orleans-based vocalist Anna Laura Quinn is rapidly gaining notice for her imaginative interpretations of well-loved tunes from the American Songbook, French and Brazilian music, and more, all delivered with style, emotional power, and a joie de vivre that recalls the mystique of a bygone era. Holly Devon of Antigravity Magazine wrote: “Her voice is a well worked instrument that brings new vitality to classic tunes by the likes of Cole Porter and Duke Ellington.” A self-proclaimed “jazz acolyte,” Anna uses her voice to convey her deep regard for the legacy of jazz music to audiences of all ages, backgrounds, and musical proclivities.
Anna lives for music, art, and exploration. She was raised in San Francisco, received her BFA in Studio Art at NYU in New York City, and made New Orleans her home in 2010. The wild and beautiful Crescent City has been inspiring her creative growth ever since and she owes much of her emergence as a musician and bandleader to the education that living in New Orleans has bestowed upon her. She is currently in her final year of the Jazz Studies masters program at the University of New Orleans and performs regularly around the city, engaging with a variety of seasoned and emerging musicians.
In 2018 Anna recorded and released her debut EP, I Feel the Sudden Urge to Sing! with her Bay Area ensemble, the Anna Laura Quinn-tet, featuring Rob Reich on accordion; Justin Ouellet on violin; Scott Foster on guitar; and Joe Kyle Jr. on bass. She continues to nurture her musical life in San Francisco by performing with these fine players whenever she can, and as well as by performing as a featured vocalist with Michael Zisman’s Americano Social Club. She is also an enthusiastic participant in Jazz Camp West. annalauraquinn.com
Accordionist and multi-instrumentalist Rob Reich has performed in concert halls, circus tents, dance clubs, and chapels. This breadth of experience has made him a foremost performer and composer in the Bay Area. Reich's music defies genre, combining strong melodic ideas, rhythmic drive, and a spirit of irreverence and experimentation. His many musical projects include serving as long-time musical director for Circus Bella. Reich recently released an album of original swing music, "Swings Left". He's also known for his work with Tin Hat & Gaucho. robreich.com
Joe Kyle Jr. cut his musical teeth in the early 1990s in San Francisco, when entry-level gigs were plentiful and taxicabs were large enough to accommodate a double bass. His musical education began in the trenches and the barrooms and dance halls of the Greater Bay Area, and continues to this day.
Joe has become an in-demand performer and session player known throughout the land for his superb feel, musical agility, adaptability and propensity for slap bass and tragicomic asides. He may be the only bassist to have played with pianists Martin Denny, Al Kooper, AND Pinetop Perkins, although not with all on the same session, sadly.
In addition to the Anna Laura Quinn-tet, Joe can be seen and heard performing and recording with many Bay Area groups, including Michael Zisman's Americano Social Club, HowellDevine, Koolerator, The Cottontails and The Waybacks. joekylejr.com
Voted 2019’s “Best Jazz Instrumentalist” (San Francisco Classical Voice Best of the Bay), Justin Ouellet has garnered a reputation as a fearless performer as a cross-over artist in the classical and non classical worlds. Ouellet collaborates on violin & viola with an array of Bay Area artists including Kev Choice, Dame Drummer, Dave Ellis, Aaron Germain, Erik Jekabson, Jennifer Johns, Josh Jones, Cava Menzies, OneFoundSound, Dan Parenti, Rob Reich, Howard Wiley, & has accompanied notable musicians like Air Traffic Controller, Mani Draper, Mark Erelli, Dave Godowsky, Martin Luther McCoy, Meernaa, Jónsi and Alex Somers, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg & iZion.
He has been a featured artist at notable venues in the Bay Area including Yoshi’s, Davies Symphony Hall, Grace Cathedral and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and is a regularly featured artist with the Kev Choice Ensemble, d'PaJo, and the Anna Laura Quinn-tet. As a classical orchestral and chamber musician, Ouellet has appeared throughout the United States in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. He has toured internationally to Austria, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico and Switzerland, and has played under the batons of multi-Emmy Award-winning Gerard Schwarz, Grammy Award-winning John McLaughlin Williams, and Arnie Roth. He is a recipient of the 2018-19 Academy of Gospel Music Award for his achievement in Arts education as co-director of Orchestral & Chamber Music Studies at Oakland School for the Arts.
He can be heard on projects by artists including Roscoe Mitchell, Undercover Presents, Cava Menzies, Anna Laura Quinn, Jeff Kolhede, RebelRockStudios. His debut album Episodes of an Aquarius, can be heard on all music streaming forms. justinouellet.com