“Azucar de Amor” nominated for Best Latin Jazz album of 2008 by the Jazz Journalist Association Voted Best Latin Jazz Vocalist in 2008 and 2010 by the Latin Jazz Corner “Parra’s performance as a vocalist in the Latin Jazz world this past year was a standout appearance. Her album “Dos Amantes” exuded class and style, swung like crazy, and featured a variety of Latin Jazz approaches that showcased Parra’s world-class vocal skills. “ Kat Parra has leapt beyond the boundaries of the typical latin jazz singer. With her thirst for the exploration of world rhythms and tonalities, she has developed a style of music that encompasses sounds that both transcend and bend the stereotypical definition of latin jazz. She has incorporated not only afro-cuban music, but also added afro-peruvian, middle eastern, south american folklore as well as nueva trova. Most interestingly, she has also been developing, along with her musical director Murray Low, new arrangements of Sephardic music, the music of the Spanish Jews sung in the dying language of Ladino. Kat sings fluently in English, Spanish and Portuguese as well. With this multi-lingual and multi-musical experience, Kat Parra is able to transport her audiences to an exciting and vibrant journey of world and latin music. Parra has achieved a great amount of critical acclaim and success since leaving her corporate hi-tech job in 2006 to pursue a full-time musical career. Not only was she signed to a two CD contract with Wayne Wallace’s independent record label, Patois Records, but she has been invited to perform in Amsterdam, Brazil, Mexico, Southern California, Chicago and Seattle as well as top-tier venues around the San Francisco Bay Area (ie San Jose Jazz Festival, Sonoma Jazz Festival, San Francisco Summer JazzFest, Yerba Buena Gardens, de Young/Intersection for the Arts, Jazz at Pearls, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, etc). To date, Parra has been awarded four Zellerbach Family Foundation grants, a grant from the SF Friends of Chamber Music and a matching dollar for dollar grant by the East Bay Community Foundation to further develop her interpretations of Sephardic music (secular music of the Spanish Jews). Since receiving these grants Parra has engaged multiple world-renowned arrangers to help her create a musical environment that reaches deep into a World music sound. Audiences are continually enthralled with this new approach to the ancient music of the Spanish Jews. With this single, It's a Beautiful Day, Kat departs from her usual style to show off her multi-faceted songwriting skills. This song was written while walking around the streets of Oakland on a bright and sunny day. It ultimately became a tribute to her dear friend, Joan Banich, who loved the song and urged Kat to record it. Joan passed away on May 2, 2014 from complications of MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome) and Kat released the song in her honor on May 2, 2015.