Kait Dunton

Kait Dunton is a California native who, after many years living in Charlottesville, Virginia and Denton, Texas, has now come full circle to live and work in her hometown of Pasadena, California. Kait developed an affinity for jazz at a young age rather ironically: by sight-reading compilations of jazz standards and solos arranged for the piano. Browsing through local record shops (most notably Opus, in Old Town, Pasadena, now, sadly, long gone the way of most independent record stores) led her ear to classic jazz recordings like "Somethin' Else" and "We Three". Not until attending college at the University of Virginia in 2001, however, did she encounter and learn the fundamentals of improvisation under the tutelage of jazz trumpeter and composer John D'earth - also the director of the UVa Jazz Ensemble. He and Kait struck up a fortuitous friendship, the source of many improvisation, composition, and life lessons, as well as Kait's eventual decision to apply to graduate school for jazz studies. Encouraging her to play and write freely in her individual style, John was an early catalyst and the original mentor to the imaginative and engaging composer and performer that Kait is today.