Summary: Calabasas, Calif. (15 August 2014): Singer-songwriter Kiki Ebsen stubbornly refused her famous father’s repeated suggestions to learn how to sing jazz standards. Rebelliously she insisted upon forging her own path as a solo artist and accompanying keyboardist-vocalist with a bevy of A-list pop stars. Eleven years after the passing of her dad, actor Buddy Ebsen, Kiki will pay tribute by releasing exactly the type of collection he fervently urged her to record, “Scarecrow Sessions” on September 30 on the Painted Pony Media label. The material comes from The Great American Songbook, a stunning original (“Missing You”) penned by the song and dance man turned movie and television star, and songs associated with his career, including an ill-fated starring role in “The Wizard Of Oz.” The first single prefacing the acoustic jazz set produced by David Mann, “If I Only Had A Brain,” is the No. 2 most added radio single this week. “We are losing the iconic talents many of us grew up with. By recording these songs, I hope not only to honor my father’s memory and his love of jazz, but to create a musical statement that is truly my own. I’m connecting his past to my present in a way that will no doubt leave me forever changed,” said Ebsen, who completed the album as a Father’s Day offering after a successful Kickstarter campaign. “Through this journey I have discovered my voice. A simple yet beautiful tone that emanates from a true place in my heart; a place of lightness and ease.”
