2020 Cabaret Star Jean O’Donnell
West Warwick,RI
March 31, 2020
7:30 PM
Price: $18 advance / $20 day of show
Buy Tickets“Breaking Out”
When everyone in your family sings or plays an instrument, but one of you is a musical genius, it’s a little difficult – if you’re not that one – to figure out your place in the music world. Sometimes it may take decades to break away from what you think is expected of you and to find your own style. Come with Jean on her musical journey!
Jean McKenna ODonnell comes from a musical family. Her brother Dave McKenna was a widely respected, world renowned jazz pianist; her mother, Catherine, a violinist and pianist, her father Bill, a drummer. Jean began singing as a child, and has been doing so ever since as a soloist with church and choral groups as well as with jazz trio’s, quartet’s, and big bands in Rhode Island, Boston, and Cape Cod. While living in Boston she recorded commercials and sang at the Hotel Bostonian and The Office. As a result of a demo recording she made with Dave, her brother, she was approached about singing in New York, but opted instead to continue teaching high school English and working weekends with local bands. With a group called the Deacons, she was the first to perform at Chan’s in Woonsocket when John Chan had the inaugural of his music room at his restaurant. Today, of course, it is a prime venue for jazz and blues. She has appeared there with her brother Dave, Daryl Sherman, and Mike Renzi, who was the pianist and arranger for her “Full Circle” CD which also featured Dick Johnson, Marshall Wood, and John Wheatley. Jean performed with the Jewels of Dixie and Bobby Hackett at Bovi’s Town Tavern; at the Living Room and the Sidebar in Providence, and at the Greenville Vineyards music series in Portsmouth.
