Karen Sharp (Saxes - UK)

Karen took up the tenor saxophone whilst studying composition at the Royal Northern College of Music. A friend introduced her to a recording of Dexter Gordon and she was instantly hooked, quickly joining the college jazz band and finding regular work in a busy soul band based in Liverpool. Since moving to London in 1999 She has become a busy freelance musician working alongside the likes of Jim Mullen, Sir John Dankworth, Roy Williams, Clare Teal, Alan Barnes, Danny Moss, Mark Nightingale, Paul Lacey’s Back To Basie band, Dick Sudhalter, Barbara Lea, Gary Scott, Ellyn Rucker, Tina May, Nikki Iles and Esther Miller. In March 2004 Karen took over from Kathy Stobart in Humphrey Lyttelton’s band playing tenor and baritone saxophone. It is the baritone that Karen recently played alongside Joe Temperley at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival.

As well as appearing with Humphrey Lyttelton, Karen writes for and plays baritone and tenor with her own quintet. The band has played at many festivals and jazz clubs both in the UK and in abroad including the Silda Jazz Festival-Norway, Edinburgh Festival, Swanage Jazz Festival, Hamburg Feast of Jazz, Newbury Festival, Oundle Festival, Bures Jazz Festival, Coventry, Isle of Wight, Isle Of Man and Keswick Jazz Fesitivals. Karen has also appeared at Wakefield jazz Club, The Stables-Wavendon, The Concorde Club, and numerous other jazz venues across the country.

Karen produced her debut CD ‘Till There Was You’ for ‘33’ Records in 2002. The album was featured several times on BBC Radio Two and Jazz FM. Karen also appeared on “Tenorama”, an album led by the multi-instrumentalist John Williams which was released by Spotlite records early in 2003. In 2004 ‘33’ Records released Karen’s second album under her own name, entitled ‘So Far So Good’ and later that year She was featured on Humphrey Lyttelton’s album “Sad Sweet Songs And Crazy Rhythms”, which highlighted not only her saxophone playing but her compositional skills as well. In 2005 Karen recorded with the South African Singer Esther Miller, working alongside Mark Nightingale and Bryan Corbett and in November she made a guest appearance on George Melly’s latest album along with Jackie Dankworth and Van Morrison.

In 2006 Karen was very busy writing not only for her new quintet album ”Wait And See”, but also providing material for Humphrey Lyttelton’s new album which was recorded in October. She also played at the Ginza International Jazz Festival, Tokyo with Tina May and Nikki Iles, and November saw the launch of a new project entitled ”A Tribute To Al And Zoot” with fellow tenor player Robert Fowler.

Karen is currently busy promoting her new album “Wait And See” at venues and festivals across the UK.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Lindsay

Web Site www.karensharp.com