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Singer/Songwriter Megan Birdsall Sings Again

Steve Kraske sits down with Megan Birdsall to discuss what it's like to work with jazz greats, her upcoming CD, and the facial reconstruction surgery that almost ended her career.

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Vocalist Megan Birdsall began singing jazz in Kansas City in 2002 as a featured vocalist with Greg Richter and David Basse at The New Point.

She soon became favored by many other KC notables including Dan Doran, Rob Whitsitt, and Mark Lowery. Later that year she fronted her own jazz trio called Birdsong, and in 2004 began to sing lead for Kansas City's power house blues band The Nortons.

In 2006 as she began preparing for her second record, Little Jazz Bird, featuring national jazz luminaries such as Mike Melvoin, Mike Metheny, and Paul Smith, she was diagnosed with a degenerative arthritic jaw condition that threatened her career and her life. She required maxio-facial reconstructive surgery to move her jaw off of her windpipe.

Steve Kraske sits down with the 29 year-old to discuss what it's like to work with jazz greats, her upcoming CD Over the Time, and the facial reconstruction surgery that almost ended her career.

Stephen Steigman is director of Classical KC. You can email him at Stephen.Steigman@classicalkc.org.
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