Kris Adams balances a busy teaching career with her work as a vocalist, much as other jazz performers from her era have done. Having grown up as an Army “brat,” she moved frequently inside and beyond the United States before establishing a home in Connecticut in 1987. Exposure to Chick Corea, Return to Forever, and additional fusion pioneers sparked her curiosity about jazz. Her earliest paid engagement came in 1977 with the Latin jazz ensemble Talking Drums in Hartford, Connecticut. Saxophonist Thomas Chapin occasionally joined the band before relocating to Rutgers. In 1979 she relocated to Boston to enroll at Berkelee College of Music, completing her studies there in 1982 while performing with several area ensembles. She later pursued further education, earning a master’s degree from New England Conservatory in 1993. During those years she trained under reed master Jimmy Giuffre, keyboard artist Paul Bley, and vocalist Dominique Eade. Upon finishing the degree, Adams joined the faculty at the prestigious Berkelee College of Music and also taught at New England Conservatory and Wellesley College. A grant enabled her to issue the 1999 recording This Thing Called Love on her Jazzbird label. The album’s song selection mirrors the approaches and vocal idioms of her chief influences, Elis Regina, Ursula Dudziak, and Norma Winstone, resulting in familiar material delivered in an unconventional yet compelling style. Rather than conforming to the expectations of a conventional songbird, Adams challenges herself in ways that ask listeners to listen closely; those who accept the invitation discover abundant and lasting rewards. In 2002 she followed up with Weaver of Dreams.
