Karrin Allyson was born in Great Bend, Kansas, and now is a jazz luminary in New York City, but she can’t get Kansas City out of her system.
As a child, she lived here with her family for about six years before they moved to Omaha. She returned to Kansas City in the late 1980s and cut her teeth in the music world here, becoming a local favorite and a respected recording artist.
“When I first moved there, I got a great — let’s say — education,” the five-time Grammy nominee said in a recent phone interview.
These days, the vocalist, songwriter and pianist flies in from New York to perform in Kansas City on a regular basis, assuming the role of returning hero. When Allyson kicks off the Folly Jazz Series’ 2024-25 season the night of Saturday, Sept. 21, it will be her fifth KC appearance in 10 years — but her first since 2021.
Since then, Allyson’s alma mater, the University of Nebraska-Omaha, gave her an honorary doctorate, and she was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. She also recorded her 15th album, “A Kiss for Brazil,” which will be the focus of her Folly appearance.