Jazz vocalists come in varying guises. Most are simply possessed of a pleasant voice, content to sing the melody at the beginning of each tune and leave the actual improvising to their backing musicians. Kate McGarry however is the real deal, wellversed in the nuances of jazz improvisation and not afraid to leave the tune behind and launch herself into the unknown.

It is this ability, coupled with impeccable taste in said backing musicians and an admirably Catholic taste in material, that has made the Massachusettsborn singer the subject of much critical praise over the last few years.

From a large musical family, McGarry learnt her craft at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she studied with the legendary saxophonist Archie Shepp amongst others, earning a degree in African American Music and Jazz. But if she has the technique and musical grounding of a classic jazz singer, the influence of the wider musical culture of America is also evident in her singing, with touches of jazz-folk singers like Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones detectable in her soft, natural tone, alongside pure jazz influences such as Betty Carter and Norma Winstone.

Like all good musicians, McGarry has continued to grow and mature, studying Brazilian, Indian and Irish music, whilst gradually making her presence felt on America's jazz scene.

Based first in LA, and since 1999 in New York, her patience and dedication was rewarded in 2003 when her self-recorded debut album was picked up by leading independent jazz label Palmetto Records and re-released to deserved critical acclaim.

Backed by leading New York musicians, including guitarist Steve Cardenas and bassist Scott Colley, Show Me (Palmetto, 2003) is a slow-burning tour de force of the singer's art, and McGarry followed it two years later with the wonderful Mercy Streets (Palmetto, 2005), which proved that the first album was no fluke.

Alongside a flourishing solo career, McGarry has also chalked up some impressive collaborations, including appearances with the Maria Schneider orchestra, and pianists Chick Corea and Fred Hersch, for whom she sang 'Leaves of Grass', the painist's acclaimed setting of Walt Whitman poems, alongside Kurt Elling.

Kate McGarry, with husband Keith Ganz on guitar, plays the Pendulum at JJ Smyths, Aungier Street, Dublin (1 April), The Cellar Bar, Galway (3 April) and Dolans Warehouse, Limerick (4 April).

>> The proof of the pudding may not be in the recipe, but it's not a bad guide to how it's going to eat.

Pianist Mark Levine is known to jazz students all over the world as the author of two books that have become standard texts . . . the Jazz Piano Book (Sher/Advance, 1990) and the Jazz Theory Book (Sher /Advance, 1995).

For this, Levine's place as an educator par excellence is secure.

The proof that he knows what he's talking about . . . and he most certainly does . . . will be on display in Dublin this week.

Over the years, Levine has performed with many of the greatest names in jazz, including stints with Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw and Cal Tjader, and his compositions have been widely covered.

He arrives in Dublin this week to give a masterclass to the jazz students in Newpark Music School, but time has also been found for him to join saxophonist Michael Buckley, bassist Ronan Guilfoyle, and drummer Conor Guilfoyle for a concert in JJ Smyths on Wednesday night, 28 March.

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