Mary Foster Conklin: Blues for Breakfast

Mary Foster Conklin is an award-winning jazz vocalist with a passion for uncovering lesser known material. She has spent the last three years researching and performing the music of West Coast singer-pianist Matt Dennis (1914-2002), best known for his hits “Angel Eyes” and “Will You Still be Mine,” among others. Blues for Breakfast: Remembering Matt Dennis, her third CD, is a tribute to this charming and hip composer of the post-WWII, oft-neglected period of the Great American Songbook.

Conklin’s talents have earned her a place on the stages of The Blue Note, Sweet Rhythm, The Iridium, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. On the West Coast she has performed in San Francisco at The Plush Room, as well as the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles and the Vic in Santa Monica. She has appeared in Chicago at the Cultural Center and at Park West. Her style has been described as both recognizably traditional yet unmistakably contemporary. “Scratch her witty tough-girl-from-Jersey patter,” wrote The Washington Post, “and you’ll find a sensitive artist (but not frail) with a wide-ranging boldly colored voice and an open ear for off-beat material.”