Kate Reid

Quote

“When we surrender to the music and keep it the focus of the performance, we remain the vessel for our art. There are numerous possibilities in performance when we maintain the belief that ‘creating’ is a privilege.” 

Biography

Kate Reid is Director of the Jazz Vocal Performance program and Associate Professor of jazz voice in the Studio Music and Jazz Department at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Apart from overseeing all aspects of the Jazz Vocal Performance program, Professor Reid directs two of Frost’s three jazz vocal ensembles -- Frost Extensions and Frost Jazz Vocal I. Dr. Reid also teaches jazz improvisation, sight-singing, and music theory and she maintains a full jazz voice studio of undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Reid enjoys a busy career as a guest artist, conductor, clinician, and adjudicator at all-state jazz and choral festivals through the United States and Canada, among them, the Sacramento State Jazz Festival, Illinois Wesleyan University Jazz Festival, Alberta Choral Festival, Ontario Vocal Festival, Reno Jazz Festival, Eastern Washington University Jazz Festival, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Millikin University Vocal Jazz Festival, Northern Arizona University Mad/Jazz Fest, the Rocky Mountain Music Festival at Banff and the vocal jazz festivals in California at Cuesta College, MiraCosta College, and Fullerton College. She has also participated in the Manhattan Concert Productions Jazz Series and has conducted the California, New York, and New Hampshire All-State jazz choirs. 

Before joining the faculty at the Frost School of Music, Dr. Reid was Professor of Music and Director of Vocal Jazz at Cypress College in Cypress, California for eleven years. While living in Southern California, Dr. Reid appeared regularly with her own quartet at jazz venues throughout the Los Angeles area. She has worked with many great jazz musicians in Southern California, including guitarists Ron Eschete, Larry Koonse, and Bruce Forman, and drummers Roy McCurdy and Jamey Tate.  Dr. Reid’s CD, The Love I’m In (2012), features tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts and pianist Otmaro Ruiz. Like her album Sentimental Mood (2008), The Love I’m In features tunes from the Great American songbook and it received extensive airplay on jazz radio stations throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South Africa. In addition, Dr. Reid has performed with many renowned artists, including John Clayton, Robin Eubanks, Jon Hendricks, Grady Tate, Mercer Ellington, Don Shelton, Mark Murphy, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Liza Minelli, Mark Murphy, Rosemary Clooney, Dianne Schurr, and Dr. Billy Taylor.

Dr. Reid’s multifaceted career also includes work as a studio and session singer in Los Angeles. Her film credits include Planes, Star Trek Into Darkness, Oz-The Great and Powerful, Epic, and Men In Black III, featuring the music of composers Danny Elfman, Michael Giacchino, John Powell, and Joel McNeely.  She has lent her voice to several network television series, to commercial spots for Ace Hardware, T-Mobile, and Suntory Whiskey, and to recordings by such artists as MUSE, X Japan, and Josh Groban.

In addition to teaching at the Frost School of Music, Dr. Reid continues to perform, record, and teach throughout the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Reid earned her B.M. in Jazz Studies from Western Michigan University and an M.M. and D.M.A. in Jazz Vocal Performance from the University of Miami.