Julia Korena

The Oregonian describes my style as "elegant jazz-folk" but the Oregonian has never heard me sing anything grittier than "Twisted". I've been entertaining NW audiences since the 80s. After many years, many stages, many bands, many styles, my sound is now a homogenous blend of jazz, blues, country, folk and rock. Somehow I try to make it all fit and hope to pull it off. Toting a Yamaha stage piano and my pipes, I appear solo, as guest artist, duo, trio, or with full band. I'm sort of a music vagabond right now and it's kind of fun. After the release of my self-titled CD last year, I gigged regularly in the Portland area as front for the "Julia Korena Band". The band's focus was mainly the original material from the CD. Now I've taken a turn towards roots music. Everyone seems quite excited about this genre and I'm joining the bandwagon. Not that I'm a sellout, but I'm open-minded and I like to explore. Let's not forget too that I, like everybody else, just want a gig!I cut my teeth as keyboardist and vocalist at "The Spinning Wheel" in Canby, Oregon, appearing nightly with house act "Virgil Lee's Country Band" for many moons. Nothing could have been better training, as we had weekly jam sessions and players regarded our joint as a favorite down-dirty honky-tonk. Next I toured extensively with an all female act known as "Girls Night Out", an eclectic show that played as far east as New Ulm, Minnesota, as far North as Petersburg, Alaska...and many points inbetween, including the very dusty Dubois, Wyoming, when the whole band was sick and lost our voices and oh my...I'll spare you the details. We were lucky to leave that town with our lives let alone our pay! The next project was a weekend warrior casuals band called "The Night Owls". This band was your typical chameleon band that really tried to please everybody all of the time.... Sinatra, you bet! Southern rock, no problem! Huey Lewis, oh what fun! The Doors, piece o' cake! Polkas, well all right! It was during this period that I completed my music education, which started off at Mt Hood Community college studying jazz with bad-ass cats who still play 'round town now. I earned a BA from PSU and license to mold musical minds. I've been a part time music educator ever since and work by day for the Beaverton School District (my students call me Ms. Babcock). And somewhere in this life history, I got married and had two beautiful kids, Nicholas and Ashton. Next came "The Jumpstart Bluesband", specializing in happy blues at lightning fast tempos. My keyboard chops grew by leaps and bounds during this period. I don't think we played anything slower than 140 bpm. There were brief stints with vocal jazz groups "Just Friends" and "Vox Matrix". There were several years that I did not participate in the local music scene at all. Then, alas, I got divorced and returned to my shelved music career, a little older, a little more seasoned, but BETTER.And after all this, I decided I wanted to perform what I myself create and set off on the journey of completing my first album. From concept to manufactured CD took about 4 years but I consider it my life's work. I have a tangible legacy to pass on now. The award-winning CD has met with positive reviews and much acclaim and includes many fine local musicians.