Kiki Ebsen

Join Kiki Ebsen, daughter of Hollywood icon Buddy Ebsen, for “My Buddy,” cabaret-style jazz show set in a classic movie theatre built in 1937. Spend an intimate evening and hear stories about a young man from Florida who danced his way onto the stages of Broadway by day and supper clubs at night. Distinctively tall, Ebsen danced with Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley Temple, and Judy Garland in “Banjo on my Knee,” “Captain January,” and “Broadway Melody of 1938,” which remain in rotation on Turner Classic Movies. Kiki, Buddy’s youngest daughter, grew up during his decade as TV’s Jed Clampett coming home to his family at day’s end. In the 9 years that he portrayed TV detective “Barnaby Jones,” Kiki was in high school and college preparing for a music career. This journey would lead to accolades of her own. After winning the title of “College Entertainer of the Year” in 1986, Kiki started touring the country playing keyboard and singing for Grammy-winning and Platinum-selling artists like Chicago, Tracy Chapman and Christopher Cross. Four decades and 9 solo albums later, Kiki’s still on the cutting edge of her creative life.

In the final years of Buddy’s life, he and Kiki took time to reconnect. After his passing, she discovered a trunk of Buddy’s scripts and movie memorabilia. Inspired by the trunk’s contents, she decided to record an album of standards from the Great American Songbook with a connection to her dad. The attractive CD Digipak, “Scarecrow Sessions,” featured photos from her personal collection and lesser-known facts about his career. The album received enthusiastic reviews as Kiki was, after years of her father’s original suggestion, singing jazz in a way he knew she could. Fans wanted to know more about Buddy’s 7-decade career, and resulting select speaking opportunities created even greater demand for content. Together with the popularity of “Scarecrow Sessions”, Kiki ultimately developed a show that combined the music with the stories behind the songs, together with photos from her scrapbook.

Kiki Ebsen-vocals Jeff Colella-piano Rob Lockhart-woodwinds Chris Colangelo-acoustic bass

The Wrightwood Arts Center (WAC) and community organizers are excited to announce the second annual Wrightwood Arts & Wine Festival to be held on Saturday, May 20th. The Festival exemplifies the Arts Center’s commitment to make Wrightwood a destination for dynamic engagement with the arts in Southern California. This one-day, juried event will feature a wide variety of visual, culinary, literary, musical, textile, and performing arts, along with wine-tasting presented by regional wineries, and capped off with a poetry slam in the evening.

This is more than a just a tribute to Joni Mitchell, Kiki Ebsen's Joni Mitchell Project offers up creative and skillful arrangements of Joni's extraordinary catalog. Kiki and her all-star band explore an array of material spanning four decades infusing their own musical talents while honoring the essence of each song. Their set includes the essential songs of Joni Mitchell (Both Sides Now, Free Man in Paris, Case of You) as well as the deeper tracks (Sex Kills, Black Crow, Two Grey Rooms). Kiki delivers beautiful renditions on both piano and guitar, from early years of "River " and "Chelsea Morning" to high energy band tunes like "Raised on Robbery" and "Woodstock". This band covers it all.

Kiki Ebsen - lead vocals, piano, guitar Grant Geissman - guitar, bg vocals Terry Wollman - guitar, bg vocals Bernie Dresel - drums Steven Lawrence - bass

“Kiki Ebsen is extraordinary... ” — Susan Hartnett Davis ~ Director of Special Events - Laguna Festival of Arts

“If you’re a Joni Mitchell fan, you will become a Kiki Ebsen fan as she faithfully performs a variety of Joni’s songs in a wonderful show... ” — Stephen Bishop ~ Grammy winning recording artist

www.jonimitchelltribute.com

Watch Video https://youtu.be/tw4o1jBMeZI

June 2023 marks a four week residency of "My Buddy" an exciting new cabaret-style jazz show featuring singer, pianist and storyteller Kiki Ebsen at The Monroe Forum. Backed by a seasoned jazz quartet, the show will feature standards from the Great American Songbook. Recorded originally on her critically acclaimed, "Scarecrow Sessions" released on Father's Day 2014, each song sparks a different part of her father's life and career. Augmented by family pictures and nostalgic video clips, this light hearted show is a look back at an American icon that brought so many smiles to people's faces. Family friendly. No age limit.

Kiki Ebsen-vocals Jeff Colella-piano Rob Lockhart-woodwinds Chris Colangelo-acoustic bass

Go to elportaltheatre.com for more info about historic and newly remodeled The El Portal Theater and Monroe Forum Theatre.

June 2023 marks the four week residency of "My Buddy" an exciting new cabaret-style jazz show featuring singer, pianist and storyteller Kiki Ebsen at The Monroe Forum. Backed by a seasoned jazz trio, the show will feature her reflections growing up with a famous father as well as Great American Songbook standards that had a connection to his career. The music can be found on her critically acclaimed, "Scarecrow Sessions" that was released on Father's Day 2014. Each song sparks a different part of her father's life and career. Augmented by family pictures and nostalgic video clip, this is a light hearted musical look at an American icon that brought so many smiles to people's faces. Family friendly. No age limit.

Kiki Ebsen-vocals Jeff Colella-piano Rob Lockhart-woodwinds Chris Colangelo-acoustic bass

Go to elportaltheatre.com for more info about historic and newly remodeled The El Portal Theater and Monroe Forum Theatre.

June 2023 marks a four week residency of "My Buddy" an exciting new cabaret-style jazz show featuring singer, pianist and storyteller Kiki Ebsen at The Monroe Forum. Backed by a seasoned jazz quartet, the show will feature standards from the Great American Songbook. Recorded originally on her critically acclaimed, "Scarecrow Sessions" released on Father's Day 2014, each song sparks a different part of her father's life and career. Augmented by family pictures and nostalgic video clips, this light hearted show is a look back at an American icon that brought so many smiles to people's faces. Family friendly. No age limit.

Kiki Ebsen-vocals Jeff Colella-piano Rob Lockhart-woodwinds Chris Colangelo-acoustic bass Kendall Kay-drums

Go to elportaltheatre.com for more info about historic and newly remodeled The El Portal Theater and Monroe Forum Theatre.