"Kendra Shank's delectable voice--warm-toned, fine-grained, quietly sexy--sets her well apart from the crowd, as does her knack for picking unhackneyed, slightly off-center material. The up-tempo tunes swing hard; the ballads shimmer and shine. Get in on the ground floor: this lady is going up."
-Terry Teachout, TIME

"...she takes the old folkie "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" and gradually whips it into a Coltrane-esque emotional frenzy. ...Shank is supremely talented, innovative and at the same time readily accessible. There's no one else quite like her."
-Will Friedwald, VILLAGE VOICE (NY)

"This vocalist makes lyrics believable, invents like an instrumentalist, and has an ear second to none for little-known and unknown tunes. ...Shank is that rarity among jazz vocalists, a risk taker who stays in tune. Her voice is dark and haunting, and she prefers subtle variations to overly demonstrative embellishments. She also functions like a true equal with her excellent rhythm section..."
-Bob Blumenthal, THE BOSTON GLOBE (Top 10 CD - "Reflections")

"...a standout...a unique and immediately identifiable sound and style. ...Her renderings of songs often took a reconstructive path, as she disassembled phrases, then reassembled them in her own imaginative fashion...the results were remarkable--the original flow of words and music still present, but recast into a form that brought new illumination to the story and the song. If there's any justice in the music world, you should be hearing Kendra Shank's name--along with the superb music she makes--a lot more."
-Don Heckman, LOS ANGELES TIMES

"...(a) striking presence...her musicianship is powerful."
-Nat Hentoff, WALL STREET JOURNAL

"A superbly skilled vocalist, Ms. Shank interprets jazz and pop liberally, but with an abiding respect for melody."
-Nate Chinen, NEW YORK TIMES (Critic's Choice)

"Kendra Shank sounds like sunlight shining through a stained-glass window, her crystalline tone illuminating each song. Working her voice like a horn, she phrases inventively, whether crisp and sizzling or sensuously smoky. She's definitely an original..."
-Patricia Myers, JAZZ TIMES

"...one of the most probing and inspired romanticists in jazz."
-Gene Seymour, NEWSDAY (Top 10 CD - "Reflections")

***** "The precociously talented Kendra Shank is among the best of the great young jazz vocalists to emerge in the 1990's. 'Wish' is a multigeneric masterpiece."
-John Swenson, ROLLING STONE JAZZ & BLUES ALBUM GUIDE (5 stars, top rating - "Wish")

"...uniquely seductive and captivating...her voice envelopes you like cool, soft sheets."
-Marc Fisher, WASHINGTON POST

"...she intoxicates with a combination of power and perfume. ...Shank has a mature, intelligent voice, dark and sensuous, playful but never girlish. Her tone is clear, but she doesn't hesitate to get it dirty. ...her bounding, courageous solos sometimes bring to mind Kurt Elling (though she started her career first), bridging the gap between singing and speaking..."
-Neil Tesser, CHICAGO READER (Critic's Choice)

*** "The penetrating-voiced, modern-minded Shank breathes life into an impressive breadth of material."
-Zan Stewart, DOWN BEAT (3 stars - "Reflections")

"Kendra Shank is an original. A singer with a sound."
-Abbey Lincoln

"Shank's luxurious voice and pliant guitar are sparse and understated, shimmering with a luminous aura."
-Wayne Saroyan, JAZZIZ

"...splendidly original...she has her own sensuous way of phrasing, stretching time to suit her taste, a lithe voice, and a knowing repertoire. ...one of the most consistently interesting vocalists on the New York scene."
-Gary Giddins, VILLAGE VOICE (Critic's Choice)

"...an improviser with a beautiful voice who is never afraid to take chances...one of the top jazz singers around today."
-Scott Yanow, L.A. JAZZ SCENE

"A bevy of jazz singers are coming into their own right now, and Kendra Shank may be the most intrepid of them. Not only does she do standards and new melodic discoveries her own way, she's capable of doing so while hanging on to that familiar thread."
-K. Leander Williams, TIME OUT NEW YORK (Critic's Choice)

"...she knows how to extract the maximum drama from a lyric with precisely calibrated phrasing and a rich, polychromatic tone, at turns ebullient and vulnerable."
-Ted Panken, DOWN BEAT

"Ms. Shank convincingly struts her stuff from the very first tune...reharmonizing and reconfiguring the contours of the composition with a shape-shifting scat-and-stop dynamic reminiscent of Betty Carter."
-John Stevenson, EJAZZNEWS.COM

"...a true ensemble performance...every tune was a musical collaboration...the conversation of four close friends...effortless, natural and unscripted."
-Joe Kruty & Will Wolf, NY JAZZ REPORT

"...a practically telepathic integration...these four people appear to have emerged from the same womb."
-Lawrence Brazier, JAZZ NOW

"A musician among musicians, Shank treats her voice like another instrument in the band rather than as its centerpiece. She sings fresh, melodic phrases in buoyant, broken rhythm--the antithesis of heavy swing--a style reminiscent of jazz impressionists like Miles Davis and Bill Evans."
-Jason West, SEATTLE WEEKLY

"Ms. Shank is a risk taker who ventures fearlessly onto the high wire. ...Her jagged phrasing, willingness to stretch and manipulate time and her refusal to resolve phrases in conventional ways give her singing genuine originality. ...one of the most interesting, creative and promising jazz singers of her generation."
-Mathew Bahl, ALL ABOUT JAZZ

"...an adventurous and innovative artist who commands attention in the growing gallery of jazz vocalists."
-Robert L. Daniels, VARIETY

"...spare, lean, understated, honest...a clear, well-focused voice..."
-Chip Deffaa, NEW YORK POST

"Shank uses her voice like an instrument--floating, swooping, caressing, or swirling--and always does so in a musical fashion. That she manages to tell the story in each song while she's playing with the tones and notes is Shank's special triumph."
-Kirk Silsbee, LOS ANGELES NEW TIMES

"Kendra Shank embodies all that a true jazz singer once was and is now."
-Tom Terrell, JAZZ TIMES

"Shank sings with (an)...expressiveness and confidence that allows her to hesitate, pause, accent, or stretch the time in a truly personal, jazz style."
-Paul De Barros, SEATTLE TIMES

"Shank has an innovative approach to her work that gives freshness to even familiar tunes."
-Bob Karlovits, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

"Shank's ability to incorporate her far-flung musical experiences within a jazz context is apparent on her latest CD, the beautifully crafted 'Wish'."
-Andrew Gilbert, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

"...she diligently avoids the mundane..."
-Tom Surowicz, MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

"Shank is among the most interesting and imaginative vocalists in all of jazz right now."
-Rob Hubbard, ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS

"With her supple voice and subtle phrasings, Shank exudes sophistication."
-Calvin Wilson, KANSAS CITY STAR

"On every title she displays a sympathetic feeling for jazz phraseology and, above all else, she knows how to tell a story."
-Barry McRae, JAZZ JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

"Kendra Shank n'imite pas, et ne tire pas la couverture à elle. Elle s'applique à chanter, à être un instrument de plus dans un orchestre de jazz. C'est original, c'est sincère, ça vient des tripes avec juste ce qu'il faut de sophistication."
-Michel Bedin, JAZZ HOT

"Bending the notes like a Miles Davis ballad solo, sometimes ahead of the beat, sometimes behind it, but always on the mark, Kendra Shank's wit, intuitive phrasing and just plain chops make "Wish" a gem."
-Don Hillegas, CUADERNOS DE JAZZ

"Shank's delivery is lithe, snappy, elastic and sensitive where need be."
-THE EDMONTON JOURNAL

KENDRA SHANK APPEARS IN THESE BOOKS:
The History and Tradition of Jazz (7th Edition), 2022, by Tom Larson.
The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide, 2013, by Scott Yanow.
The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide, 2008, Scott Yanow.
The Oxford Companion to Jazz, 2000, Will Friedwald essay
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Guide, 1999, John Swenson.
All Music Guide to Jazz, 3rd Edition, 1998, Scott Yanow.
The Gramophone Jazz Good CD Guide, 1995, Keith Shadwick.