Kathy Kosins, the Queen of Mid-Century Cool, Comes to Sonoma

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Kathy Kosins
Photo by Judy Elyias, courtesy of Kathy Kosins.

It's been several months since retro jazz diva Kathy Kosins brought her mid-century vocal sound to the Bay Area, so we're especially excited for her upcoming series of gigs in Sonoma County later this month.

The singer first caught the ear of the Eichler Network with her record and stage show 'To the Ladies of Cool,' which celebrated jazz divas of the '50s and '60s, such as Julie Christy, Anita O’Day, Julie London, and Chris Connor. Her latest record, 'The Space Between,' dropped in August, and continues her stylistic appreciation of the West Coast cool movement.

Her Northern California tour takes her first to Sonoma State University on Wednesday, Oct. 23, where she'll do what she described as "almost like a live rehearsal onstage" for the university's Jazz Forum, followed a question and answer session. On Friday, Oct. 25, you can catch Kosins on the air at KCSM from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., when she'll be appearing on Alisa Clancy's Desert Island Jazz.

Kosins will be performing two evening gigs, the first on Saturday, Oct. 26, with the Sonoma County Jazz Society in the town of Sonoma. Audiences can expect a mixture of songs from the 'Ladies of Cool 'album as well as 'The Space Between,' plus a number of covers.

"Audiences won't let me out of there alive unless I do stuff like 'Cry Me a River,' which was Julie London's signature song, or 'All About Ronnie,' which put Chris Connor on the map when she was with the Stan Kenton orchestra. So I'll do a little of this and a little of that from both CDs, and then some," Kosins says.

Finally, on Sunday, Oct. 27, Kosins plans to perform a similar mixture of tunes at a house concert in Sebastopol, contact information for which can be found on her website.

If all that jazz isn't enough, Kosins, who is also a visual artist with a mid-century modern bent, plans to paint from the stage during both of her evening performances. "I'm going to ship some of my artwork to Sonoma or bring some with me in a suitcase, so I'll have some of my work displayed and for sale at both of those venues." Should be some very cool stuff.