In music, originality and versatility are measures of achievement. It's something saxophonist Karen Greene strives for in her jazz improvisation. Greene is no novice to the world of jazz. She has been a professional musician for 32 years, performing in a wide variety of music mediums, but jazz is her first love.
Originally from northern West Virginia, Greene immediately went on the road upon graduating from college, and began performing 6 days a week - 48 weeks a year. She initially began her professional career performing with the show band, "Still Creek", and kept that fast-paced schedule
for many years.
Saxophonist Karen Greene
Greene spent much of the 80’s and 90’s in the Triad and Triangle areas of North Carolina. In addition to her own band, “The KGB”, she performed for almost 9 years with the R&B/Jazz Group “Higher Ground”. She was also a member of "The Sam Bruton Group" and
the nationally-acclaimed Latin jazz band “Carnivalito”.
During this time, she also performed with jazz artists Natalie Cole, Melva Houston, Tom Browne, Rodney Howard, and Neena Freelon. Over the years, she has also opened for Santana, Diane Schuur, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Herbie Mann, Joe Lovano, Richard Elliott, The Rippingtons, David Benoit, The Brubeck Brothers, Najee, America, and Three Dog Night. Greene has performed at many jazz festivals on the East coast and has even shared the stage at "Blues Alley" in Washington, D.C. In addition, she has performed with both the North Carolina Symphony and the Atlanta Pops Orchestra on special jazz performances.
Greene continues to perform in the Atlanta area and around the United States at various festivals, clubs, restaurants, and private functions in a variety of musical groups. She is a 'regular' in the studio, performing on commercials for companies like Bank of America, Cort Furniture Rental, and The Florida Keys Tourism Board, and on many album projects as well. In recent years, she has appeared on several concerts for Elko (Nevada) High School's annual "Jazz Fest" with Eric Marienthal, and has also performed at "Jazz Fest" with Denis DiBlasio, Mike Vax, Dan Fornero,
Andy Martin, Allen Vizzutti, Gary Dempsy, Ward Durrett, and Steve Wiest.
She is a member of the Atlanta-based original jazz group, 'SOLID STATE' and performs in Atlanta with David Ellington, Tommy Dean, Jeni Michelson, 'The Allen Goodman Band', Nick Longo, Jon Liebman, and Craig Gleason and the 'Powerplay Band' among others. She also performs frequently in the house band at 'The Georgia Shrimp Company'
in Peachtree City, Georgia, and her quartet, 'Karen Greene and Friends', performs at 'Founders Restaurant' in Senoia, Georgia every Friday night.
In addition to being a musician, she is also a two time Grammy Award-winning audio engineer and director, with clients including Yamaha, Ritz-Carlton Hotels Worldwide, Branford Marsalis, Fox Sports, Cox Communications,
The Denver Symphony, ESPN, Disney, PBS, and HBO.
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