2017 August Mag.

 {Photo Credit: Cerese Dolman - Graphic Credit: Cerese Dolman}

http://www.kathleenbertrand.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGl7G5Dig20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbHY_m7Q75Q

http://bronzelens.com/

Multifaceted recording artist and writer Kathleen Bertrand is a native Atlantan and Spelman College graduate, whose performances have ranged from two Olympic Games to performances before two presidents, and appearances at jazz festivals world-wide. Bertrand toured and recorded as vocalist with jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers.

This three-octave vocal artist has received numerous honors including the Kuumba Award given by East Point/College Park Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, the inaugural Impact Award from Black Women In Jazz, as well as recognition by the United Negro College Fund as one of “Atlanta’s Legends” and by Spelman College with its distinguished “Alumnae Achievement Award for the Arts & Entertainment.” Most recently, she was named the 2015 “Jazz Vocalist of the Year” by the Black Women in Jazz organization. She has been an invited performer at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on three occasions and has made multiple appearances at the Atlanta Jazz Festival (AJF), including as a 2012 headliner and this year as part of the AJF’s Main Stage tribute to Nina Simone. In September of 2015, she performed to a sell out crowd at the historic Blues Alley in Washington, DC.

As a songwriter, she penned the national theme song for the 100 Black Men of America – What They See is What They’ll Be – as well as several songs on her CDs All of Me, No Regrets, Reasons for the Season, New Standards, and Kathleen’s most recent CD Katharsis, which was released in June 2011 and is still receiving nationwide and world-wide airplay, including 14 weeks on the UK Soul Chart top 30, 6 weeks in the UK Soul Charts Top 10, and 2 weeks at #1.

She has recently returned to the studio in preparation for her next CD release. Bertrand has opened for many of America’s finest jazz artists, including Ray Charles, Will Downing, Rachelle Ferrell, Najee, Roy Ayers, and Kenny G. Her fan base includes radio and internet listeners across the USA as well as in England, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, New Zealand, France, the Netherlands, and Brazil among others.

She is the Founder and Executive Producer of the BronzeLens Film Festival. The BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, Georgia is a non-profit organization, founded in 2009, that is dedicated to bringing national and worldwide attention to Atlanta as a center for film and film production for people of color. In fact, the mission of the BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, Georgia is two fold: to promote Atlanta as the new film mecca for people of color; and to showcase films and provide networking opportunities that will develop the next generation of filmmakers.

Photo Credit: Cat Max Photography https://styleblueprint.com/atlanta/everyday/kathleen-bertrand-faces/