Cole Family Benefit Concert

A benefit concert for the Cole family is in the works! The Kara Leigh Jazz Combo will be performing at the Tassel Center for Performing Arts in Holdrege, NE on Saturday, August 23rd at 7pm.

Mike Cole, a native of Holdrege, suffered a debilitating accident while working for the city on July 15, 2007. He has endured 8 surgeries, 2 strokes, seizures, and months of therapy. Because Mike needed to have a portion of his skull removed due to infection, a titanium plate was placed. Following that surgery, Mike had another stroke, this one leaving his left side partially paralyzed. Through months of painful therapy, Mike has regained most of the use of his leg; however, his left arm is partly disabled. It is not yet know how fully he will be able to recover from his injuries. He will most likely not be able to work full-time again.

Mike is married to Julia, and they have three boys; Lane who is 11 years old, Jared who is 7 years old, and Mitchell who is 2 years old. They reside in Holdrege.

The concert will be held at the Tassel Performing Arts Center in Holdrege, NE. Tickets are available at the Tassel Box office, or on their website.

http://www.thetassel.org/

Location: 1324 Tilden St., Holdrege, NE

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 526, Holdrege, NE, 68949-0526

Phone: (308) 995-2717 Fax: (308) 995-6956

Email: info@thetassel.org

Please contact me if you are interested in making a donation to the Cole Family.

Please contact me by email for more information! kara@karaleighmusic.com

Rococo Concert

We had a wonderful time at the Rococo Theatre! The band sounded great with the addition of Greg Ahl on drums and a wonderful guest trumpet player, Gabor Viragh, for a few tunes as well. Here are some pictures of the specatular hall. Thanks to Pam and Aaron from the Rococo for making it a great night!

Rococo Theatre Concert

I'm very excited to be performing at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln! It's been beautifully done, and is a great space to perform. The Kara Leigh Jazz Combo will be there on Friday, June 20th 2008 from 8-11pm. The doors open at 7:30, so come in and get a good seat. I asked for it to be 18+, so all the college kids could get it. Under 18 can come with a parent. It's $8 at the door.

Rococo Theatre - Lincoln, Nebraska--link here to a photo tour of the Theatre

We'll be doing some new songs, and my band from Illinois will be here. It should be a great concert! We're looking forward to it!

http://www.rococotheatre.com/

The Box Office is located inside the Rococo lobby on the southeast corner of 13th and P Streets.

"The Jazz Singer" on 10-11 News

I was thrilled when Lance Schwartz from 10-11 news contacted me about doing a piece in his Lance's Journal about my "story." Once again, the band was gracious enough to pack up and travel out here for the occasion. Our hosts were the fine folks at the Delray Ballroom down in the haymarket. We had a great crowd, with many enthusiastic dancers! Thanks to all those who came out and checked it out. What a great space to perform!



Lance did a wonderful job editing the hours of footage he recorded that evening. The piece aired on Tuesday, February 6th, 2008. You can post comments on their website, by clicking on the link below, then the story "The Jazz Singer."



http://www.kolnkgin.com/lancesjournal

The Lied Center Concert

On November 20, 2007, the Kara Leigh Jazz Combo took to the Lied Center Stage. It turned out to be a wonderful concert, with approximately 500 in attendance. The crowd was very energetic, and our time on stage flew by. Here are some photos of us doing our sound check, working with some Lincoln Public Schools special needs students, and getting ready for the performance.

CD RELEASE: Black Coffee

Well, after over a year of work, it's finally done! Julia and I have completed our first cd: Black Coffee. It's a collection of songs we performed in the coffee shops of Lincoln when we first started playing together. We recorded in Monmouth, IL, and we are really pleased with how it turned out. We threw in a couple of new songs that we really wanted to record. Email me if you're interested in one!

The Band!!

Hello! I'd like to introduce you to my band, in case you didn't get to meet them this past weekend when they were in Nebraska.

Julia Andrews, on the left, is our pianist. She's originally from Texas. She majored in music theory, if I'm not mistaken (which of course to me is crazy...why would anyone want to study music theory!!), and then moved to Nebraska to do her Master's at UNL. We've been playing together for about 3 years. She always know right where I'm going, musically speaking, and it's great to play with someone you're on the same page with! Now, if we could only get her on a mic during performances.....she's really funny!

Art Fowler is our guitar player. He's from Wisconsin, although you can't hear an accent. That could be because he speaks several languages. He teaches and translates Spanish, and lived in Spain for some time. He has his Master's degree in Spanish, which I just found out last weekend coming home from Omaha. He also speaks Japanese. We bug him all the time to tell us how to say things in Spanish and Japanese. I'm sure that doesn't irritate him at all.

Brian Daw is our guitarist. He is apparently from Kansas (I didn't know that either until this weekend), and went to UNO. His main instrument in college was French Horn, although he was gigging on bass back then. He's also a violin maker, and went to school in Utah for violin making. He has a shop in Monmouth, Il, where the band lives. Check out his website: www.dawviolins.com. He's going to make me a 5-string acoustic violin....I'm SOOOOO excited for that! It is really handy for me to have Brian around....I've already needed his help with my violin several times!