(Vocal Jazz, Standards) Karen Francis - Little Sunflower, 1998, MP3, 320 kbps

During the golden age of the American popular song (around 1915-60), several dozen very talented composers wrote a countless number of flexible songs that were adopted (and often transformed) by creative jazz musicians and singers. Often originally written for Broadway shows and Hollywood films, many of these works (generally 32 bars in length) have been performed and recorded a seemingly infinite number of times, including "Body and Soul," "Stardust," and "All the Things You Are." Such composers as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Harry Warren, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington supplied the jazz and pop music worlds with what must have seemed like an endless supply of gems. Called Standards (which means that they caught on as a permanent part of the jazz and pop music repertoire), the songs differ from less flexible "originals" that are often put together for a record date and then quickly forgotten. Since the rise of rock, the pop music world has been a much less fertile area for jazz players to "borrow" material from, and although many of the old standards are still performed, jazz musicians and singers have had to rely much more on original material since the 1960s.

In the summer of 1994 in Washington D.C., jazz vocalist Karen Francis was discovered by world renown jazz master (pianist, composer, record label executive, producer, and professor) Stanley Cowell. Cowell, one of jazz music's most talented architects who, with Charles Tolliver in 1971, established and launched Strata-East Records, was hosting a party in his home one evening when he had occasion to be introduced to Francis by one of his students - William Knowles. A significant turn of events during the course of the evening revealed that Karen was a singer and Cowell invited her to sit in with him at an impromptu jam session. They played two duets together - Round Midnight and Lush Life. Once Cowell heard her sing, he knew that this was a voice that would go places and decided to record her. After becoming acquainted with her, Cowell discovered that Francis was relatively new to singing, but not so new to music, as she had played several instruments while in high school in Augusta, Georgia and at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
A few short weeks after his discovery of this extraordinary talent, Cowell gave Francis her first professional recording opportunity and introduction to the international jazz community through an invitation to be a featured artist on a coming project “Mandara Blossoms”. Overwhelmed, nervous, and honored, Karen accepted and in October of ’94, her first efforts as a featured recording artist were committed to history on record in the SteepleChase Records catalogue. This recording featured Cowell on piano, tenor saxophonist Billy Pierce, and drummer Ralph Peterson. Notably, SteepleChase alumni include monumental luminaries such as Ben Webster, Bud Powell, Shirley Horn, Kenny Dorham, Dizzy Gillespie - to name a few. On this roster an awed Francis founds herself in stellar company. Four weeks after the project with Cowell had been recorded, SteepleChase called on Francis to record as a leader. This was an industry nod in light of the fact that SteepleChase's roster of vocalists numbers a very select few.