Bric-a-Brac

Poems by Dorothy Parker, music by Katie Ernst.

The Last Question

When you've got no place to go,
but there's no room
for love in here.

And you thought this was a home
you could turn to,
but you're still spinning.

What's the use
of making waves 
if they just crash upon the shore?

When did truth
become a secondary sentence to ignore?

Maybe time is not a healer or a friend.
Maybe silence never helps us find an end.

No Room

Interior

Holdin'

From easy/not easy night at Constellation in Chicago, IL. 

(An evening of unrehearsed ensemble performances of music composed with the intention of being 'easy'.)

Patient/Kind (Large Ensemble)

Live at Elastic Arts (mp3)

I Am Not Strong, Interior

Katie Ernst has been described by the Chicago Tribune as "a versatile young bassist who plays in far-flung bands and sings with uncommon delicacy and authenticity." Her recent compositions are inspired by the poetry of American writer Dorothy Parker. Her complete Dorothy Parker project Little Words was released on Feb 10, 2015, and is currently available on BandCamp.
 
As both a bassist and vocalist, Katie has performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, among others.  The Chicago Reader has identified her as "one of the brightest lights on Chicago’s jazz scene, and she isn’t close to hitting her creative ceiling."
 
In 2013 and 2014, Katie was one of 24 young artist-composers selected for the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program, an international jazz residency program at the Kennedy Center under the direction of pianist and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran.  In May 2014, she performed at the Chicago Symphony Center as part of Jason Moran’s Looks of a Lot premiere, which also featured Nasheet Waits, Tarus Mateen, Ken Vandermark, Theaster Gates, and Kenwood Academy Jazz Band.  
 
Katie is an active bandleader and side-woman in Chicago. She regularly composes and performs with the band TWIN TALK, alongside co-leaders Dustin Laurenzi (saxophone) and Andrew Green (drums). Their first album ‘Sightline’ was released in November 2013, and the group was featured at the 2014 Chicago Jazz Festival.  
 
Katie holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media and a Bachelor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She coordinates the Jazz Links Student Council program for high school musicians at the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and serves as Jazz Ensemble Director and Lecturer of Jazz Bass at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL.

katieernst