TIMKAT Entertainment, Inc's Page

TIMKAT Entertainment was founded in Denver in 2007 with the idea of promoting, booking, and supporting excellent independent jazz, soul, and acoustic artistry. Borne from the love of jazz of a father and daughter musical team, TIMKAT has grown to include album distribution as well as booking of live performances.

FOUNDERS' BIOGRAPHIES:

TIM BALLARD (1948-2009) was a jazz master (vocal, saxophone, piano) whose career spanned four decades and who entertained audiences on a countless volume of music in many genres, including classic jazz, smooth jazz, soul, R&B (including Motown), rock, and timeless standards. A 15-year veteran of the Las Vegas music scene, Tim's name graced many major hotel and casino billboards, such as Bally's, Mandalay Bay, Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, Flamingo Hilton, the historic Desert Inn, and the MGM Grand. Tim was also the mainstage draw at the former Hotel San Remo for the majority of those years.

Prior to moving to Las Vegas in 1992, Tim's music was an integral part of the Dallas jazz scene for over a decade, allowing him to collaborate with producer Dave Zoller and great jazz pianist and trombonist Randy Wensel. Tim also owned and operated his own successful jazz nightclub, 'Tim Ballard's', and featured local jazz combos, smooth artists, vocalists, and it was there that he even fronted a 17-piece big band as vocalist himself. Finally, Tim was also voted Best Jazz Vocalist for several years' running in the 'Spotlight Magazine' reader's poll and was featured on the cover of the prominent jazz magazine 'Texas Jazz'. He released two albums, 'Singing Positive to the People' (1978) and 'Easy Does It' (1991 2007 reissue), the latter of which is available for sale on this site. Tim sadly lost his battle with lung cancer and lymphoma, and passed away peacefully on June 8, 2009 in Dallas; however, his memory and music live on through TIMKAT.

KATHRYN SHUT is an accomplished jazz pianist, living and working in the Denver, Colorado live music scene, and grew up surrounded by music and musicians. Classically trained in the piano at age 8, and switching to jazz motifs by age 14, Kathryn also learned to play woodwinds such as clarinet and all saxophones, and has been a prominent member of several jazz orchestras such as The Colorado Jazz Workshop. Kathryn currently co-leads a classic jazz combo called Lost Soul (see MySpace.com/denverlostsoul) and was the pianist in the long-standing vocal ensemble, The Amy Kay Combo, which performed at both the D-Note and Bliss Cafe in Arvada, Colorado for almost two years.

Finally, in addition to collaborating with Tim Ballard, Kathryn has also worked with Latino film and music stars Daniel Valdez ('Zoot Suit','La Bamba','The Westside Oratorio'), Rosana DeSoto ('La Bamba','Mambo Cafe'), and Jesse Borregos (TV's 'Fame', 'Blood In, Blood Out'), as well as with Denver musicians Keith Oxman, Linda Theus-Lee, Mike Evans, John Hines, Chris Brown, Kevin MacInness, Bill Wissing, Jared Johnson, Jean-Luc Davis, Amy Kitteringham, Mark Brostrom, Bill Huston, and many more. She is also currently an active ghost business letter writer and Stateside promoter for vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Diana Winter (MySpace.com/dianawinter), and producer, Fabio Balestrieri (MySpace.com/fabiobalestrieri). Kathryn continues to own and operate TIMKAT and is always open to promoting and distributing the music of new jazz, soul, and acoustic talents worldwide.

In late 2009, TIMKAT is now working on an online "jazz boutique" whereby contracted artists may have a home to sell their music to the public, and jazz fans and pop culture junkies have a place on the Net to call home. The website is http://timkat.ecrater.com.