This page features a few highlights of my musical adventures over the decades, if you're interested in a listen. (I don't want to add too many in case they slow the site down.) And if anyone would've told me I'd still be singing well into my 60s, I wouldn't have believed it. I retired, officially, from performance singing late 2022. It's a big goodbye for me. Mine has been a musical life — and I am forever grateful for that.
FRANK BREGAR ORCHESTRA / BIG BAND
We recorded this big band sampler in 2010. We've been fortunate to enjoy playing outdoor concerts throughout the Grand Valley of Western Colorado ever since. I retired from the band in 2022 due to health issues resulting the loss of most of my singing voice. But, I'm happy to report that a new generation of big band singers are keeping the band and the music alive and well for a long time to come!
Recorded this in 2006 with Gary Smith and Paul Schneider (RIP)! They were so wonderful and patient with me! I love singing these old standards especially with such accomplished and delightful musicians!
From the Album The Blue Side of Jazz Produced by Gary Smith. Paul Schneider, Clarinet. Recorded 2006 in Grand Junction, Colorado for Orchard Records
I love singing torch songs. This is one of my favorites. Recorded this as a vocal demo in 1997 in a beautiful studio in Santa Ynez, California, produced by Ian Bernard (RIP).
Music has always been part of who I am, influenced my life, influences that inspired me to create the Magda Lena Blue Mystery Series of novels drafted during NaNoWriMo a few years ago. Magda Lena Blue and her world, her jazz cafe in the middle of nowhere outside some dusty high desert town — a best-kept-secret gathering place for all kinds of mischief, local to global.
I recorded Country Blues in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1986 with some pretty heavy hitter musicians of the time, including Hargus "Pig" Robbins (RIP) on piano. The record did well, going to #2 on the Independent Record Charts where a lot of new country artists were introduced back then. However, within a year of the record's release, before my next single was to be released, I realized fame was not for me and walked away. I was too vulnerable and at the mercy of too many other people. I was a young single mom with a little one approaching school age and I was too overwhelmed with — everything!
That said, the recording sessions, the musicians, the songwriters, the engineers — were incredible! I'm so happy I got to live those experiences! My 15 minutes of fame as a country artist!
OCEAN OF TEARS video clip from our Frank Bregar Orchestra outdoor big band concerts summer 2022 in Fruita and Palisade, Colorado. My last concerts before retiring from performance singing. Recorded with iPhone.
I made this 45-second music video out of frustration at we, the People, only getting three minutes to somehow convey years of work and standing when testifying on legislation. The way the legislators always say "thank you for your testimony" with the same rote rhythm began to sound like a cadence over which I added some harmonies by stacking my vocals. I started off irritated but had so much fun making the little music video that I ended up recharged!
It has evolved into the basis for an Idea I have for a musical screenplay I keep toying with. The Creative Writing program I'm in at Western Colorado University also has a screenwriting section so I'm hoping to pick up some insider pointers in that area in between my nature writing classes!
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Mama Blue, Thank You For Your Testimony: February 2024. Production and Vocals by Krystyn Hartman using an iPhone.
Krystyn Hartman