Notes
Jazz pianist Mary Louise Knutson's debut jazz trio CD, 'Call Me When You Get There,' charted in the Top 50 in the United States and Canada for eight consecutive weeks and earned her the award for 'Top New Instrumentalist of the Year' from KWJL Radio, Palmdale, CA, in 2001. It's 10 tracks feature her award-winning compositions and signature arrangements of such jazz classics as 'Green Dolphin Street', 'Gone With the Wind', and 'I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face' and range from the joyful lyricism of 'Call Me When You Get There' to the impassioned blaze of 'Meridian'. Mary Louise was one of five finalists in the 2005 Mary Lou Williams 'Women in Jazz' Pianist Competition hosted by the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. She was also nominated for 'Jazz Artist of the Year' and 'Pianist of the Year' for the 2006 Minnesota Music Awards. REVIEWS 'Call Me When You Get There is...state-of-the-art piano trio finery.' JazzTimes 'Mary Louise Knutson is an excellent pianist whose voicings sometimes recall Bill Evans but who has developed a lyrical style of her own. .....she has a talent for coming up with fresh melodies. This is an impressive disc.....' LA Jazz Scene 'Knutson is the same kind of rookie that Ichiro Suzuki is - a proven winner...' Minneapolis Star Tribune '...another example that major labels don't have all the exceptional jazz talent.' Jim Clark, KUSD - South Dakota Public Radio 'Knutson's CD is phenomenal......I'm all over this thing! It's just tremendous.....I'm going to be on this very heavily!' Ross Gentile, WSIE - St. Louis, MO 'Mary Louise Knutson has to be one of the most exciting and innovative artists to happen to jazz piano in quite some time. She shows the smoothness and feeling of a Bill Evans (probably the best ever). Her compositions are excellent along with her playing. The performance of the group on the album is superb. Let's hope that this is just the first of many more efforts from this fine artist.' Fan Review ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Knutson, who is based in Minneapolis, has performed with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Richie Cole, Von Freeman, Greg Abate, Dianne Reeves, Billy Hart, Richard Davis and Clyde Stubblefield. An acclaimed composer, she received awards from Billboard magazine for her compositions 'Meridian' and 'How Will I Know,' the latter being recorded by Prince's horn section, the Hornheads, for their '5 Heads Are Better Than 1' release on Bone 2 B Wild Records. Chosen as the music bed for the art documentary, Wellington Lee: 60 Years of Artistic Photography, Knutson's composition, 'Call Me When You Get There', will soon be heard at major art museums across the United States. In addition, her composition 'Merle the Pearl' streams on the internet as the theme music for 'Jazz Release', a recorded interview program on JazzSteps.com. Knutson's trio also features the talents of jazz bassist, Gordon Johnson who has performed, recorded, and toured extensively as a bassist with such artists as Maynard Ferguson, Chuck Mangione, Paul Winter, Toots Thielemans, Kenny Werner, Ben Sidran, Stacey Kent, Marlena Shaw, Herb Ellis, Peter Erskine, Manfredo Fest and many others. Drummer Phil Hey, who plays on six of the CD tracks (2,3,5,6,7,8), rounds out the trio. A New York native, Hey has worked with Kenny Barron, Charlie Rouse, Dewey Redman, and Benny Golson. Since moving to Minnesota, Hey has worked with many visiting jazz greats including Jay McShann, Jane Monheit, Rebecca Paris, and Nneena Freelon. Drummer, Marc Rio, (tracks 1, 4, 9), has performed extensively throughout the United States and internationally, playing with some of the world's finest musicians including Ron Eschete', Scott Henderson, Jeff Berlin, Gary Willis, Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, and John Entwhistle. An experienced performing and recording artist, Rio also teaches at Music Tech in Minneapolis, following 10 years as Master Class instructor for the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California where he taught big band,
