Kathleen Potton Trio Featuring:

• Kathleen Potton - vocals
• Tim Basom - guitar
• Christian Nourijanian - piano

Inviting listeners into her most intimate moments, vocalist and composer Kathleen Potton writes with vulnerability and openness. Moving in and out of long, tapering phrasing and short conversational responses, she sings with clarity of tone and intention, engaging the sophisticated collection of instrumentation that seems to follow her wherever she plays.

After having spent five years in Singapore, where awarded the Veda Mekani Scholarship to study Contemporary Music at LaSalle College of the Arts, the Sydney-born artist soon found herself collaborating with a new generation of genre-resistant musicians on the New York scene. Gracing bandstands at a number of distinguished New York venues from Zinc Bar, Rockwood Music Hall and Bowery Electric to Smalls Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz and Supper Club and the iconic Webster Hall in the East Village, Potton began refining her sound, developing a vital understanding of harmony and groove. Her ability to be vulnerable—an inherent virtue of Potton’s artistic expression—has allowed her to perform on stage and in the studio with growing list of such resonating musicians as Alan Hampton, Taber Gable, Jonathan Hoard, Frank LoCrasto, Ben Eunson, Sean Wayland, Michael Olatula, Tuomo Uusitalo, Samir Zarif and Troy Roberts.

While earning her Master of Arts in Jazz Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College in 2013, Potton had the opportunity to study under the mentorship of JD Walter, David Berkman, Michael Mossman and Antonio Hart. Each instructor pushed her to stretch as a soloist and composer, encouraging her to experiment with lyricism, improvisation and concepts of time. To date, her modest yet powerful body of work reflects a style that includes spontaneity, contemplation and craft.

No single genre defines Potton’s music. A collaborative artist, she draws inspiration from both enduring and contemporary recordings as well as poetry, art and every brief encounter and prolonged exchange that shape her arc of experiences. As a result, her compositions resonate with listeners and peers, alike. Says singer and songwriter Jonathan Hoard, “This lady’s music is so incredibly tasteful. I’m usually never this excited to sing other people’s music, but her music gives life.”

NERO
A soulful tribute to the strength and frailty of the human condition that pays homage to a range of female songwriters who continue to inspire Potton’s work, her debut record NERO teems with sensitivity, budding wisdom and longing. Original compositions and lyrics reflect a five-year artistic inquiry that sent Potton around the world, gleaning insights from four continents and countless individual perspectives. Out of vivid lyrics, she teases subtleties—and ironies—of life’s encounters. Understated grooves complement complex harmony that features the individual contributions that make up the whole of NERO’s distinctive personnel: Alan Hampton, Frank Locrasto, Bill Campbell and Ben Eunson.

Bass and guitar virtuoso Alan Hampton shares Hoard’s enthusiasm for Potton’s music. “I’m so excited about this record,” he says. “Kathleen's writing is as intuitive as it is imaginative, never shying away from complexity, nor relying upon it for interest. Her vocal performances on this record are graceful and understated, allowing the songs to speak for themselves without tricks or flash. Her music is as refreshing as her company.”

As Potton continues to develop her authenticity of sound among like-minded artists, she will add more and more dates to her tour calendar for NERO via her website www.kathleenpotton.com and her social channels Twitter and Instagram @katpotton and Facebook @kathleenpottonmusic.