BluLuna was formed by four veteran musicians out of their love for myriad genres of the jazz idiom without restraining themselves to one specific branch of the music. By focusing on familiar melodic compositions, this bias-free approach has allowed them to concentrate on playing very fresh and sparkling ideas honoring the wide range of America’s 1st original sonic art. The result is a startlingly warm delivery of a strong yet hyper-sensitive mélange of enchanting moments. Dean Magraw: guitar, Rick Carlson: piano, Steve Pikal: bass, Jay Epstein: drums.

Minnesota born-and-raised, Connie Evingson has a catalog of acclaimed albums that cover a wide range within the jazz genre. From jazz to Broadway standards, to covering Peggy Lee or The Beatles, the Twin Cities-based singer has an adventurous spirit that, like her music, knows no boundaries. Her ten albums released through Minnehaha Music have all charted in the Top 50 in the United States and Canada, and can be heard on radio stations around the globe.
Evingson has toured worldwide, with appearances at concert halls, theaters and festivals in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Memorable performances include being a guest artist at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis, Michael Feinstein, and Vince Giordano; multiple performances on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion; collaborations with the Minnesota Orchestra and Toronto Symphony conducted by Doc Severinsen; performances with the JazzMN Orchestra and Vocalessence, and a standing invitation at the renowned Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. Evingson is a two-time recipient of both the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians as well as the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist’s Initiative Grant.
She has been featured in the Smithsonian Jazz Singers radio series, on NPR’s Fresh Air and Weekend Edition, and appears on numerous compilation discs. Her latest album, “All the Cats Join In,” featuring John Jorgenson and his Quintet playing in the “jazz manouche” style popularized by Django Reinhardt, was released in 2014 to critical acclaim. No matter the genre, from bebop to Bossa nova, from big-band swing to ballads, her voice is pitch-perfect; a bit smoky in texture, with articulation as clear as midnight on a starry Minnesota winter night. Just listen. Connie Evingson finds the heart of a song, and nestles it in the hearts of her audiences.