Sonya Kitchell, the 16-year-old wunderkind singer, composer and guitarist from Ashville, Mass., is on a dizzying roll of success that hits yet another peak Wednesday when she makes her Carnegie Hall debut.
Kitchell performs in Carnegie's majestic Isaac Stern Auditorium - a holy of holies among world venues - as part of a star-studded salute to the legendary singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell. She'll be sharing the limelight on stage in Manhattan at the 2,800-seat house with such luminaries as Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Laurie Anderson, Tracy Chapman, Judy Collins, Amy Grant, Neil Sedaka and many others. Information: www.carnegiehall.com.
Each performer gets to sing one Mitchell song. Kitchell has selected "Trouble Child."
"I am so thrilled that I'm doing that," Kitchell says by phone from Los Angeles, a stop on her tour of performance centers in California, Washington state and Idaho.
"First of all, I feel so honored to be part of the tribute because Joni Mitchell is one of my heroes. And, second of all, Carnegie Hall is so amazing," she says.
Playing Carnegie comes on the heels of another major event in the young singer's burgeoning career, courtesy of Starbucks. Kitchell's debut album, "Words Came Back to Me," will be released April 4 by Velour Music Group and Starbucks Hear Music
The Starbucks connection - one that seems sure to keep her CD sales brewing - means that her debut disc will be available at Starbucks Company-operated locations. Simultaneously, the album will be released in record stores and music retailers nationwide. Kitchell is only the second artist to be selected for the Starbucks Hear Music Debut CD series, which was created "to introduce emerging artists with great talent and long-term career potential."
Kitchell, who began singing at age 7 and writing tunes at 12, has already composed more than 100 songs, including the 12 originals on "Words Came Back to Me."
Despite her youth, she's not afraid to tackle complex adult subjects, grappling with everything from the mysteries of love to the horror of catastrophe. Her first song, for example, was "If I Cried" - a lament and poetic reflection on 9/11.
Love and romance dominate "Words Came Back to Me." She wrote the CD's title tune in the quiet retreat of her bedroom, she says, right after being verbally flummoxed in an awkward but minor tiff with a boy she then had a crush on.
"I was completely stupid, and thought, `God, I'm such an idiot!' I just couldn't come up with the right thing to say on the spot," she says. "So, I went home and wrote a song about how I say stupid things in situations like that. It's much more poetically said in the song, I hope."
Although Kitchell has often been billed as a jazz singer - she performed last summer at the Litchfield Jazz Festival - she's actually an eclectic stylist. Her honey-smooth, sultry, bell-like voice could nestle quite cozily in any genre from pop to country.
On her song, "No Matter What," the teenager from the Berkshires sounds as if she could step easily into country and western divadom. Now and then she lets loose with sexy, silken, upward rising, slightly countrified glissandos that would sound right at home on stage at the Grand Ole Opry House.
Often her writing and singing shine with a pristine folk quality, as on "Cold Day." Her narrative and melody for "Jerry" has the ring of authentic, traditional folk material.
Her musical moods shift, rather than staying static.
On "Words," Kitchell sounds vulnerable. But on "Can't Get You Out of My Mind," she's soulful, showing a hot glimmer of Aretha Franklin, a touch of sassy assertiveness tempered with much breathy intimacy.
Another song, "Too Beautiful," is a portrait of pastoral bliss, an ode to a utopia where idyllic romance is a certitude untroubled by care and woe. In marked contrast, her "Tinted Glass" is colored with life's ambiguities, depicting a more complex world.
As she becomes increasingly more successful, Kitchell says, the business side of her career gets more demanding, including the need to handle non-musical chores like dealing far more extensively with the media.
Promotion - a massive, make-or-break factor in the music biz - is necessary, she quickly acknowledges, but can be tiring.
Recently, for example, she made an appearance in Tokyo, where she played a single concert to promote her new album, which was first released in Japan. That concert, however, was only a small fraction of her professional duties as a young singer on the rise.
"I also did lots and lots of press - six hours of press every day for 10 days," she says.
Nonetheless, the escalating tempo for promo and the grind of having to be on the road a lot more doesn't phase her a bit. In fact, it can be both enjoyable and educational, she says.
Kitchell, who travels with her mother, doesn't get homesick, even though she loves the 40-acre estate where she grew up, along with her kid brother, Max.
"I miss my cat sometimes and my bedroom, which is the place where I feel most comfortable when I'm writing," she says.
Calmed by her bedroom's cool, cucumber green décor and its walls covered with paintings by her father, Kitchell likes to look out her window at the neighboring hills, relax and work on her next song.
"My home is very inspirational. We don't have a TV, but we have lots of books. It's an art-filled house because both my parents are artists. (Mom, Gayle Kabaker, is a professional illustrator and graphic designer. Dad, Peter Kitchell, is an abstract painter and photographer.)
"Everyone is constantly creating. So, it's a good place to write," she says.
Kitchell is a junior who will finish her last two years of high school by studying with a tutor. Riding the whirlwind of her daily life-touring, performing, writing and constantly meeting new people and new challenges-she says she doesn't have time for a boyfriend.
Along with everything else, there's always schoolwork to be done. For her latest homework project, she's reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," and will write an essay on the Colombian writer's use of "magical realism."
Kitchell, who turns 17 March 1, feels she's keeping a level head about her success.
But "it's a little overwhelming," she acknowledges.
"Probably the most difficult thing about it is that you have to do your best all the time to make everybody proud and happy. There are so many great things happening that it's hard to give each of them my full effort and to do the best job that I can do, which is always what I want to do."
Jazz fights diabetes
Fine music and a noble cause are united as pianist, singer and composer Dena DeRose performs with her trio Saturday at 7 p.m. in the ninth annual Jazz for Juvenile Diabetes Concert at West Hartford Town Hall, 50 S. Main St. Dr. Steven Sussman, organizer of the benefit for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, says a limited number of tickets are still available. Tickets are $125, which covers the concert, a catered dinner, drinks, dessert and coffee. Information: 860-236-8543.
Big Apple gig
Singer and songwriter Kate Callahan, a well-known Connecticut-based contemporary folk music artist, and her father, Lee Callahan, a fine jazz pianist and much respected piano teacher, collaborate Saturday at The Iridium, a Manhattan jazz club at 1650 Broadway at 51st Street. The Callahans, who have been acclaimed for their smart, engaging mix of jazz and folk, play 6:30 to 8 p.m.
On Kate's 2000 debut album, "The Influence of Red," Lee accompanied her on piano. Besides singing and playing acoustic guitar, Kate wrote, arranged and produced the album's 12 songs.
Tickets: $15, plus $15 drink or food minimum. Reservations: 212-582-2121.
Messenger from Moscow
Master hard bop trumpeter Valery Ponomarev leads his quartet Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Stardust Lounge, 90 Fitch Blvd. (Route 5), South Windsor. Pianist Alex Nakhimovsky, bassist Paul Brown and drummer Curtis Torian join the Moscow native and former member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Free. Information: 860-290-1509.
La Paloma flies high
The Dezron Douglas Quintet keeps the newly launched winter and spring jazz series aloft Saturday at 8 p.m. at La Paloma Sabanera, 405 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Douglas, a distinguished young bassist from Hartford, presents the noted saxophonist Stacy Dillard as his guest. $10. Information: 860-548-1670.
Last Friday night, Rhythmic Prophecies, which features Hartford's Curtis brothers, keyboardist Zaccai Curtis and bassist Luques Curtis, rocked the cozy coffeehouse and bookstore, which co-owner, Luis Edgardo Cotto, also offers as a nurturing nest for jazz.
The Curtis bothers and their two swinging collaborators, conga player Reinaldo DeJesus and percussionist Richie Barshay, play Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Mezzanine, 960 Main St., Hartford. Information: 860-524-9590. Selected as U.S. jazz ambassadors, Rhythmic Prophecies is about to begin a State Department-sponsored tour of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Pianist Jen Allen and combo perform tonight at 7:30 at Szechuan Tokyo, 1245 New Britain Ave., West Hartford. The Jason Schwartz Project plays there Friday at 8 p.m. Information: 860-561-0180.
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