Conversations

West Virginia Jazz Society: Where did you go to high school or get your early musical training? Karen Drummond Greene: I started taking clarinet lessons from Henry Mayer at Bandland [a Clarksburg, WV music store] when I was in the fifth grade. I only took a few lessons from Henry because I started late in the school year and he helped me get caught up to the other students. I attended Chestnut Hills Elementary School. At that time, it was very unusual for a woman to play the sax, but we had a girl on alto sax in grade school; so my first impression of seeing anyone play a saxophone was seeing a girl play the instrument. Because of that, I didn't realize it was unusual until I got into college and started auditioning for bands. I attended Washington Irving High School, which is now part of Robert C. Byrd High School. My band director was John Christian. John was into jazz and exposed us to many musicians like Maynard Ferguson. Maynard was my first love when it came to jazz. From there, I branched out to all the sax players like Wayne Shorter, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, and Cannonball Adderly to name a few. While most high school kids were listening to Aerosmith and Heart, I was listening to jazz every morning before I went to school. Randall Hall, who was the band director at Bridgeport when I was in high school, was extremely supportive and very instrumental on my basic jazz training. I had some friends who were in band at Bridgeport, and through them, I was introduced to Randall. We became good friends and remain so to this day. I owe him so much.

with KAREN DRUMMOND GREENE

The Grammy Award winning Harrison County native and jazz entrepreneur is dishing on her West Virginia roots, going on the road, and being a girl saxophonist.

WVJS: How did you make your decision to leave West Virginia for a career in music? KDG: I wanted to play full time and I knew there were no opportunities to do so at that time unless I went on the road. I left West Virginia in 1982 to take a job with a fabulous show band called Still Creek who booked with Limeliters Entertainment out of Nashville. WVJS: Why do people keep referring to you as Karen "Drummond"? KDG: My maiden name was Drummond. Most people in Clarksburg and Bridgeport know me as such. I've been married to Bryan Greene for 26 years. WVJS: How did you get together with Mike Haid [top drummer] and David Ellington [master of the Hammond B3 organ]? KDG: Mike, David and I play in an 8-piece original jazz group here in Atlanta called Solid State. We perform all original pieces and many of our compositions were used on The Weather Channel until it was purchased by NBC last year. That's how I met Mike. Mike and I have also played on many corporate gigs together. David moved to Atlanta after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleanshe lived there for 23 years but lost virtually everything. He was immediately hired by band leader, Ken Gregory, for Solid State. After a few performances together, we were called to play a private trio gig by an agent. We didn't know we were on the gig together until we arrived that night but it was during that performance that we really clicked on a playing level and knew we had to do more shows together. We now have a regular restaurant gig every Friday night, and some Saturdays so we get to work together on a regular basis. We also do a lot of private gigs around Atlanta as well. WVJS: What kind of feedback are you getting from the jazz artists who have come to West Virginia to play for us? KDG: They all have very positive comments about their experiences in West Virginia, especially the audiences. They love the congeniality of the West Virginia people and the fact that students and average people are hearing more jazz music.

See Karen LIVE in concert Saturday, January 28, as part of Jazz at Charles Pointes Winter Jazz Weekend 2012. Tickets on sale now. Call 304.808.3000 for reservations.