Kendra Shank

Shank's mother was an actress and playwright and her father was a playwright[1] and teacher at the University of California.[2] When she was five, she appeared onstage with her mother in Threepenny Opera.[3] In her early teens she started playing guitar.[4][1]

Shank attended Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Washington, receiving a degree in art and French.[1] During the 1980s, she performed in clubs in Seattle as a folk singer, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. In 1989 she studied with jazz vocalist Jay Clayton[1] at Cornish College of the Arts.[5] She was a busker on the streets and subways of Paris and while in Paris heard her first Billie Holiday album.[1] Although she had been working as a folk singer in clubs, she bought a method book to learn a few jazz standards.[1]

In the early 1990s, she went on tour with Bob Dorough.[1] Shirley Horn saw her perform and became a mentor, introducing at the Village Vanguard in 1992.[5] Mapleshade released Shank's debut album Afterglow on which she sang and played guitar.[6] She met Frank Kimbrough through Horn, and he became a member of her quartet which recorded A Spirit Free (Challenge, 2007), a tribute to her mentor and friend Abbey Lincoln.[3] She has also recorded with Gary Bartz, Peter Leitch, Ben Monder, John Stowell, and Larry Willis.

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