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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:52 PM PDT
Laurie Antonioli is a jazz singer who has garnered a reputation as a true original as well as an innovative collaborator in the sophisticated world of eclectic jazz. With four albums currently in release, she is now soliciting funding through an Indiegogo campaign for her newest project, "Songs of Shadow, Songs of Light: The Music of Joni Mitchell."
The campaign launched on Tuesday, October 22, 2013 and is scheduled to conclude on Sunday, December 1, 2013. Antonioli is requesting $38,000 in order to cover immediate expenses for recording, mixing, and mastering, with a stretch goal of an additional $19,000 to cover promotion and distribution expenses. Donors can contribute from $10 on up, with "perks," or rewards for donations, ranging from digital downloads and copies of the new album to rare Joni Mitchell memorabilia. Large-scale donors will receive invitations to special concerts and can even attend the recording sessions at the legendary Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.
Although not a household name, Antonioli has indisputably established herself as one of the important jazz singers of her generation. The vocalist that Bobby McFerrin refers to as "truly one of my favorite singers" has decades of experience performing and/or recording with noted jazz artists including Richie Beirach, George Cables, Joe Henderson, and Cedar Walton, as well as McFerrin. With a distinctive style that incorporates elements from other musical traditions as well as jazz—folk, rock, pop, country, and world music—Antonioli's new album represents a natural extension of her creative body of work, but with strong crossover appeal for contemporary music fans.
Although much of the set list includes familiar Joni Mitchell tunes such as "River" and "Both Sides Now," the band is also creating an arrangement for a relatively unknown song, "Eastern Rain," which Mitchell performed but never recorded.
Antonioli and her band have been performing their Joni Mitchell arrangements at all the major jazz venues in the Bay Area, to overwhelming response. "We're seeing new faces in the audience—people who want to hear Joni's music," explains Antonioli. "We're doing something that people understand and want to hear, not just music for the niche market we've inhabited for most of our careers. This is music for everyone. We knew we were on to something and that we had to get into the studio and record so that we could share this music with everyone."
Antonioli's band is made up of first-call musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area: Matt Clark (piano), John Shifflet (bass), Jason Lewis (drums), Sheldon Brown (reeds), and Dave MacNab (guitar). Guest artists for the recording include Grammy-nominated vocalist Theo Bleckmann and multi-reed instrumentalist Paul McCandless, a three-time Grammy Award winner who plays oboe, bass clarinet, English horn and soprano saxophone and who is best known for his work in the pioneering jazz group "Oregon."
"Songs of Shadow, Songs of Light" will be recorded in mid-December, with a planned release date of spring 2014. For more information, visit igg.me/at/SongsofShadowSongsofLight or lauriantonioli.com.
 
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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:44 PM PDT
Angelique Kidjo, the Benin born, Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter has signed with 429 Records and is gearing up for an incredible 2014. She's preparing for the release of Eve, a vibrant new collection of songs dedicated to the power of African womanhood, particularly those women she grew up with in her native Benin; as well as planning a tour of the United States and promoting the release of her autobiography, Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music. Produced by Patrick Dillett (David Byrne, Fatboy Slim), Eve, named after her mother, is a joyous musical ode to the pride, beauty and strength of African women and their worldwide socio-cultural influence. The recording showcases Kidjo's extraordinary musical vision as realized by remarkable players as well as women's choirs from several African villages in Benin and Kenya singing in a wide array of native Beninese languages including Fon, Yoruba, Goun and Mina. Joining Kidjo is an exciting mix of new and well-known musicians including Dr. John, Rostamm Btmanglij (Vampire Weekend), The Kronos Quartet and the Orchestra Philharmonique du Luxumbourg. Anchoring the album are guitarist Lionel Loueke, drummer Steve Jordan, bass great Christian McBride and Senegalese percussionist Magatte Sow. The singer is releasing Eve in conjunction with the release January 7th of Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music, an autobiography written with Rachel Wenrick and published by Harper Collins. Angelique Kidjo's Eve will be released on 429 Records January 28th.
Kidjo's accolades include a 20 year discography, thousands of concerts around the world and being named "Africa's premier diva" (Time Magazine) and "the undisputed Queen of African Music" (Daily Telegraph). Kidjo's 2008 recording Djin Djin won a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album and her last studio recording Oyo was nominated in the same category. She has enjoyed a long history of notable collaborations with greats from the jazz and pop worlds—including Carlos Santana, Bono, John Legend, Josh Groban, Peter Gabriel, Branford Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Roy Hargrove and Alicia Keys. In an expansive career marked as much by extraordinary musical achievement as passionate advocacy and philanthropy for her homeland of Africa, Angelique Kidjo has found many ways to celebrate the rich, enlightening truth about the continent's women beyond the media spotlight.
Says Kidjo: "I've spoken for many years about the beauty of African women, and I don't need to talk anymore about it because on this recording I am letting the voices of the women show their beauty to the world," she adds. "Eve is all about showcasing the positivity they bring to their villages, cities, culture and the world."
Eve track listing:
1.M'Baamba (Kenyan Song)
2.Shango Wa
3.Eva (featuring ASA)
4.Interlude: Agbade
5.Bomba (featuring Rostam Batmanglij)
6.Hello (featuring Trio Teriba)
7.Blewu
8.Kamoushou
9.Kulumbu (featuring Dr. John)
10.Interlude: Kletedjan
11.Ebile (featuring Kronos Quartet)
12.Awalole (featuring the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg)
13.Bana (featuring Yvonne Kidjo)
14.Orisha
15.Interlude: Wayi
16.Coari
 
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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:39 PM PDT
Christmas, the first recording for Nnenna Freelon backed by the John Brown Big Band, features fresh, brand new arrangements on classic tunes, and is sure to keep you swingin' for the holidays!
Nnenna Freelon's mother was a lover of Christmas—the story, the anticipation, the excitement, but most of all, the gathering of her family around her. In her passing, she left her daughter with a gift that has resulted in a dream fulfilled and a holiday album that will extend a mother's love of Christmas to listeners everywhere.
Venerated jazz vocalist and six-time Grammy nominee Freelon had long wanted to record a holiday album, but couldn't garner enough interest from her label. So she did what most people do in need of a little help, she turned to a loved one. With a small inheritance received from her mother, she approached John Brown, a long-time member of her musical family, director of Duke University's jazz program and leader of John Brown's Big Band. The two, who have shared the stage and collaborated often during their twenty-year friendship, have now joined together to release Christmas, a selection of holiday songs. Brown produced the album and will release it on his own label, Brown Boulevard.
For Freelon, Christmas has always been a time of church and family, "The secular and the sacred were all a part of the celebration. And I love that it's the one holiday where singing is in the forefront. The music is part of the celebration and definitely one of the elements that make the holidays special. The songs bring up memories of family, childhood, traveling, good food—the parts of the season that warm the heart and the home."
Her favorite holiday albums have always been big, brassy creations from artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. She certainly could have created an album that mirrored the vibes of these Christmas classics, but that was not her artistic vision or her personal style. Freelon has built a career on looking at standards from a non-traditional point of view. And since no body of material has been covered more than holiday music, the songs proved to be the perfect setting to stretch Freelon and Brown's abilities to explore new arrangements and present new takes on traditional songs.
The two artists made their lists of possible tracks independently (both of which she describes as "very, very long!") then worked together to narrow them down. According to Freelon, deciding which songs to include was sort of like cooking a holiday meal, "You assemble everything, start throwing things together, and as a dish starts to take shape, you taste and see what it needs. You might take something out or put a little more in, until finally you come up with a combination that feels right."
The final ten songs are an eclectic mix of classic and modern, secular and non-secular and one track that while never considered a holiday tune, has been creatively transformed into one.
If anything proves the spirit of Christmas lives in the heart with no regard for the month on the calendar or reading on the thermometer it is this—when Freelon, Brown and John Brown's Big Band arrived at legendary music man Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium Studios in Kernersville, NC, the state was experiencing its hottest summer on record. So with temperatures soaring, Freelon and the band began the work of conjuring a musical family Christmas in June.
The album kicks off with "Swingle Jingle Bells," a new way to dash through the snow even more quickly thanks to a brisk arrangement by legendary saxophonist Frank Foster. Foster, who passed away during the album's production, was close to both Freelon and Brown. According to Freelon, "Swingle Jingle Bells is incredibly special to me because Frank is no longer with us, and we had no idea that would be the case at the time. So it's very special that we will always have this piece of his spirit with us." After his passing, Foster's widow entrusted his life's work to Brown's jazz program at Duke University as she felt, in his hands, Foster's legacy would be secure and his work continued to be heard.
The album transitions into "Spiritual Medley", which opens with "Children Go Where I Send Thee" and Freelon backed only by a drummer until John Brown drops in on the upright bass. The drums, bass and her vocals build and welcome the rest of the band to the track as Freelon transitions seamlessly into "Go Tell It On The Mountain" followed by snippets of "O Little Town Of Bethlehem," "Joy To The World" and "Angels We Have Heard On High."
"Let It Snow" follows, starting with a few light musical flakes and quickly building to a flurry of swinging horns. Freelon and Brown move on to Vince Guaraldi's "Christmastime Is Here" in a nod to a more recent childhood holiday classic.
Freelon, mother to three grown children, remembers well the excitement and exhaustion that comes along with the holidays for many parents. "I am very well acquainted with early Christmas mornings and tucking sleepy children in bed the night before, who in their excitement keep acting like Poppin' Fresh Dough—jumping out of bed at all hours looking to see if Christmas has arrived."
She took these memories and transformed a standard she's loved for years—Duke Ellington's "I Love The Sunrise." Freelon added an intro and outro to turn the song into a beautiful tribute to the dawn of Christmas day.
"The song struck me as perfectly expressing the sentiment of sleepy parents assembling toys until the wee hours and the sleepy children restless in their beds wondering if their Christmas dreams will come true the next morning. I knew that it was not a traditional choice for a Christmas album, but felt like it expressed the energy, anticipation and excitement that surround Christmas morning," says Freelon.
Freelon believes an added level of excitement and anticipation has been a part of the Christmas celebration since the very beginning and the next two tracks ("O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Little Drummer Boy") reflect that sentiment. "People traveled to Bethlehem because they heard something wonderful happening. Just like today, we travel home for the holidays to celebrate traditions old and new. The holidays are a time of expected traditions, but also of surprise," Freelon expressed.
And Freelon definitely unwraps a few holiday surprises. It takes musical guts to put a new spin on Christmas classic like "Silent Night." But Freelon's bluesy vocal styling and a big dose of Hammond organ, breathe new life into one of the greatest holiday songs of all time, turning it into an unexpected toe tapping, head bobbing good time.
According to Freelon, "We want folks to come away feeling the real friendship that was present in the studio in the way the vocalist and musicians mingle, support and complement each other in the recordings." Nowhere is that more evident on the album than on "Baby, It's Cold Outside." "John's debut as a vocalist creates a track where we have fun with each other as only old friends can," she said.
The surprises continue on "I'll Be Home For Christmas," which turns the slow Bing Crosby standard into a joyful New Orleans style romp. Freelon believes their version resembles a gift whose contents are unexpected, but really, really appreciated, "Sort of like, Oh, wow! You shouldn't have! But I'm really glad you did!"
So in a season that Freelon believes is all about love and home, she and Brown are busy establishing new holiday traditions. The two have concerts scheduled in Durham, Charlotte, Greensboro and Washington D.C. in the weeks leading up to Christmas. They hope these holiday shows will become annual events that allow them to share their music throughout in North Carolina and the southeast.
In summing up the experience of making Christmas, Freelon said, "It was such a gift to be able to have done this [album]—a gift for my mom for giving me the means to do it, a gift to share those moments in Kernersville with the musicians, and a gift John and I were able to give one another other. The ability to put this record out for friends, families, fans and folks we know will dig it is a gift we can pass on. It truly exemplifies the spirit of the season in gifting and receiving. It's a beautiful thing."
"I'm also proud the album is a North Carolina born and bred experience. I've made records in a lot of different places, but to be able to make the record in my home state with a wonderful friend and great musicians was truly an honor. Excellence in the arts is everywhere in North Carolina. The state is emerging as a place that not only nurtures the arts, but also helps them to flourish and I'm very proud of that."
~ brownboulevard.com
 
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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:48 AM PDT
The stellar line up of musicians on this outing include some of the best Soul and Jazz musicians on the planet, a veritable who's who of quality musicianship and consists of members of (or collaborators with) the likes of Incognito, Eric Clapton, Jamiroquai, Amy Winehouse, Sting, Nathalie Cole, Brand new Heavies, etc. The album starts with a duet t with Motown legend Leon Ware. Ware wrote and produced Marvin Gaye's concept album "I Want You" and also "I Wanna Be Where You Are" for Michael Jackson and "Body Heat" with Quincy Jones, among others.
With a unique voice full of sensuality and strength, Portuguese born, and classically trained singer Guida de Palma can soar in high notes just as easily as when she is singing Bossa Nova tunes. At times she will make you think you are listening to Flora Purim or even the soul sounds of The Emotions. Nevertheless, she claims as her major influences names such as Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Joyce, Chico Buarque, Marcos Valle, Gilberto Gil, Elis Regina, Azymuth and Ed Motta.
Guida de Palma was only sixteen when bass legend and fallen angel Jaco Pastorius hopped on stage to join her during her very first gigs in Paris. Blessed by this almost divine collaboration, Guida went on singing her way onto various stages across Europe. With her crew of Latin Funketeers, she played support to prestigious performers ranging from Cab Calloway, Defunkt and Gilberto Gil. Freshly arrived in the UK, and alongside prestigious names like Tina Turner, Terence Trent d'Arby, Lala Hathaway and Chaka Khan, Guida featured in the BEF's "Music of quality and distinction".
She also joined Californian sax player Ronnie Laws for his European tour, culminating in Montreux Jazz Festival's rapturous closing night. Also involved in production, Guida, a certified sound engineer, assisted legendary producer Juni Morrison of P Funk and Ohio Players fame in recording tracks with George Clinton. After working with Dodge City Production, DJ Dorfmeister, Dzihan & Kamien, DJ Disciple and Boyz from Brazil, Guida has evolved from a pure live performance mindset to one of club culture.
Jazzinho, for those not familiar with the Portuguese language structure, is a hybrid word deriving from Jazz and the Portuguese suffix, "-inho" which denotes small.
Tracks: A Seed in you - Feat. Leon Ware / Abraço da Bossa / Papão / Autumn Monsoon / April's Fool / Celebration / Whispers In The Darkness / Ready To Feel Again.
 
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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:32 AM PDT
Young Hammond B3 organ whiz Kevin Coelho earned renown for his outrageously precocious debut album, 2012's Funkengruven - the Joy of Driving a B3, which he released at age 16. JazzTimes called Funkengruven "an auspicious debut" with "the essence of funk and groove," while All About Jazz described it as "both viscerally moving and intellectually satisfying." For all the praise for his initial recorded effort, Coelho has taken man-sized strides with his second album, the aptly titled Turn It Up, to be released October 8, 2013, via Chicken Coup/Summit. A feast for fans of vintage sounds, Turn It Up finds Coelho - now 18 - venturing a brace of organ-trio classics ("Georgia on My Mind," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," Jimmy Smith's "Root Down"). Yet the already-enterprising organist also puts a funky soul-jazz spin on the Beatles' "Come Together," War's "The World Is a Ghetto" and even Prince's very first single, "Soft & Wet." That's not to mention two playful, swinging Coelho originals. For the sessions, the organist reunited with guitarist Derek DiCenzo and drummer Reggie Jackson, his partners from Funkengruven and also the usual trio mates of Coelho's mentor, B3 master Tony Monaco, who says about his protégé: "Kevin is a fascinating, brilliant young musician who is growing up fast."
With his new album, Coelho was "chasing a club vibe," he says. "The organ in jazz is a club instrument, after all, having gotten its start on the Chitlin' Circuit. That's why I called it Turn It Up, because the record was meant to have that dancing spirit, that groove-to-the-music, turn-it-up vibe. While making this album, I wanted it to be fun - to make music that people would put on in the car for a long drive or something you'd play when you've had a hard day and want to feel better. Take 'Come Together,' 'The World Is a Ghetto' and 'Soft & Wet' - they're the kind of songs that people really connect with and jam out to. The original versions were very grooving and melodically compelling, so it felt easy to incorporate them into the organ-trio world, transforming them a bit but trying to retain the essence of what makes people feel good - because when listeners feel good, that makes me feel good as a musician."
Coelho has evolved as a musician in just the two years since his first release, he says: "I've grown and grown up. Making the first album, I was highly influenced by Tony Monaco - learning at his elbow was a wonderful process. He's a real master of the instrument. But with this new album, I'm more of my own man. I was freer with the instrument, freer to explore different aspects of it. And I approach the tunes with more of an arranger's mind now rather than just as a player. The arrangements are far tighter on this album and subtler, with more detail but also more arc and flow."
As a trio, Coelho, DiCenzo and Jackson had more gigs under their belts by the time it came to record Turn It Up, the organist points out: "We were tighter as musicians and as people. I'm a lot more attuned to what Reggie's feel is now, so I'm better at anticipating what he's going to do rhythmically. He really knows how to drive the music - his time is so solid. Even if he does some crazy polyrhythmic thing, he always brings it back to the '1.' Derek is all about feel and atmosphere. He thrives on a vibe. I've never heard him play the same thing twice - he's always throwing something different at you. Working with him has made me a better player, and I know now how to give him more space to do his thing."
Along with his organ-trio work, Coelho has joined the Bay Area soul-funk band the St. Valentinez as a keyboardist, with the group playing everything from Stevie Wonder to Jay-Z. "They're an incredible group and playing with them has really expanded my world," he says. "I spent all my years as kid studying old jazz and records from the '60s and '70s, but thanks to these guys, I've been listening to a lot more modern R&B, rock and neo-soul, which has given me fresh ideas beyond the soul-jazz idiom. Plus, headlining clubs in the Bay Area with the St. Valentinez has made me think differently about life as a musician. There are two paths, basically. You can aim to fulfill your own intellectual curiosity with music, pursuing a vision that satisfies your creative drive first. Or you can play music for others, for an audience - in other words, be an entertainer. Of course, it's all about balancing the two sides, experimenting and entertaining. Today, though, I'm leaning toward playing for an audience, thinking about what I'd like to hear as a listener and hoping that other people dig it, too. That was the aim with Turn It Up - I want people to dig it."
Coelho, who was born on August 29, 1995, started studying classical piano at age 6. He fell in love with the sound of the Hammond B3 when he first heard a recording of "Green Onions" by Booker T & the MGs, and he eventually graduated to adoring the records of jazz organists Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Smith and Don Patterson. Coelho began his jazz and organ studies at age 11; along with Randy Masters and Tony Monaco, his jazz teachers include noted Bay Area Hammond B3 player Wil Blades and keyboardist Peter Horvath. The young musician has also had master classes with Larry Goldings and Bennet Paster, among others. In 2010, Coelho attended and performed at the Eastman School of Music Summer Jazz program as a rare freshman to be admitted. He participated in and performed at the Stanford Jazz Workshop for seven years running, winning the Outstanding Soloist award multiple times. He was also honored with the prestigious Shape of Jazz to Come award and the Merit Scholarship. Previous winners of the scholarship include Julian Lage and Taylor Eigsti. Coelho performed at the San Jose Jazz Festival in 2011 and 2012, and also played in the Stanford Jazz Festival in 2011 and 2013 with Robben Ford and Henry Butler respectively. Over the past few years, he has played clubs and corporate events across the country with such musicians as Akira Tana, Jason Lewis, Chester Thompson, Darrell Green, Nicholas Payton, Donald Harrison Jr., Brian Pardo, Bruce Forman, Barry Finnerty, Calvin Keys, Brandon Etzler and Joe Cohen among others. Along with headlining Bay Area clubs such as Slims and the Milk Bar as keyboardist with the band St. Valentinez (which he also manages) and performing some of the Bay Area's best venues with his organ-trio, Coelho is a freshman at Stanford University, studying computer science.
 
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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:15 AM PDT
ANOUSHKA SHANKAR - TRACES OF YOU
Grammy®-nominated sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar's seventh album, Traces of You, marks a significant step along her pathway as a musician and woman. Having lost her legendary father, Ravi Shankar, during the recording process, it was inevitable that her loss became the central focus of the song writing. However, the record also juxtaposes her loss with the joy of raising her young son, Zubin.Shankar enlisted the help of multi-award-winning musician Nitin Sawhney to produce her music, which exists in an undefinable space between genres, always with the Indian music Anoushka loves so dearly at its roots. Traces of You features Anoushka's half-sister Norah Jones as the sole vocalist on several songs and showcases Anoushka's ever increasing versatility and lyricism on the sitar. Anoushka will be embarking on a US tour kicking off Nov 7 in Birmingham, AL. ~ giantstep.net
U-NAM / NIVO DEUX - C'EST LE FUNK
U-Nam is back with a new original single that will really get you dancing! With his latest single, U-Nam is teaming up to help introduce the smooth jazz group NiVO DEUX. NiVO DEUX recently made their debut with "Love's No Distance" (a fusion of smooth jazz and 80s electro) and they have had rave reviews. The single recently did quite well in the Smooth Jazz charts this past summer. As part of this new collaboration, however, U-Nam and NiVO DEUX are shifting gears to bring on the "Funk".
The song, driven by funky guitars "à la Nile Rodgers," features an energetic horn section reminiscent of EWF, Kool & The Gang and even Miami Sound Machine. Up and Coming Smooth Jazz Saxophonist Shannon Kennedy adds her voice with her soulful and sexy tenor sax playing throughout the song, while U-Nam is doing his thing - mixing very funky riffs and intricate jazz licks. "C'est Le Funk" has a little it of something for Funk fans and Smooth Jazz fans alike. It's even got the touch that will appeal to those currently digging the funk revival spearheaded by artists such as Daft Punk and Bruno Mars.~ www.unamusic.com | www.nivodeux.com
CHARLES WATERS QUARTET - CHROMA COLOSSUS 13 VISIONS OF THE CITY
A really great set from reedman Charles Waters – and one that returns to one of our favorite jazz sub-styles of the postwar years – the "city portrait", a musical picture of New York – served up here in a batch of music that's as vivid as the city itself! The title's a reference to Waters' attempt to match the harmonic sequences of the city – something he does quite well in the album's tones and pulses – a journey begun in post-911 New York, but which takes a much warmer feel towards the end. Waters plays tenor and clarinet – and the quartet features Chris McIntyre on trombone, George Rush on bass, and Andrew Barker on drums. Titles include "City Limits", "Central Park", "Port Authority Buss Ride Blues", "Broadway Truce", "Brooklyn Bridge", "Rush Hour", and "Times Square Black Out". (Includes MP3 download with bonus digital track.) ~ Dusty Groove.
 
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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:48 AM PDT
Suzanna Smith Halfway Between Heaven & LoveSuzanna Smith has been a creative force on the rich Bay Area jazz vocal scene since 2005 -- as a performer and songwriter as well as founder/producer of San Francisco's long-standing Savanna Jazz vocal jam session and co-founder of the nonprofit Bay Area Jazz & Arts, Inc. Her constant efforts to nurture local jazz have redounded to the benefit of many artists, including Smith herself. With Halfway Between Heaven & Love, to be released by the singer's Ink Pen Records on November 19, Smith delivers one of the year's most impressive vocal projects, an intoxicating mix of original tunes and beautifully rendered standards.
"There is an essential, profound difference between being a singer and being an artist," writes CD co-producer Kitty Margolis in her album notes. "In today's oversaturated music-scape it's wise to be patient when making the maiden recording voyage until one has something unique and compelling to say. Halfway Between Heaven & Love was undeniably worth the wait."
Accompanied by some of the most creative figures on the Bay Area scene, Smith combines the confessional imperative of a singer/songwriter with the rhythmic acuity of a jazz chanteuse. She wrote the lyrics for nine of the album's 13 tracks while collaborating on the music of five songs with pianist/keyboardist Michael Coleman.
Suzanna Smith The album opens with a graceful bebop medley as Smith's clever lyrics link Tadd Dameron's "Lady Bird" and Miles Davis's "Half Nelson." Featuring the album's core trio with Coleman, bassist Brandon Essex, and drummer Hamir Atwal, the piece immediately establishes Smith as a singer of rare poise and presence.
Smith and Coleman's "Paper Boat," "The Man That Broke the Dragon's Heart," and "Comet" more than hold their own alongside the American Songbook gems -- "Hooray for Love," "Alone Together," and Michel Legrand's "Summer Me, Winter Me." Smith closes the album as she started, with an original lyric set to a modern jazz classic, Dexter Gordon's Latin swinger "Soy Califa."
"I'm always looking for ways to play within the boundaries of a song's 'container,'" Smith says. "I think of songs as rooms and the longer you live within them, the more you can move about without bumping into things. I love when I reach that point with a song."
Born in Boulder, CO in 1974 and raised in Livermore, east of San Francisco, Suzanna studied computer science and studio art at Wellesley College. There she got deeply involved in the a cappella scene, a passion she brought back to the Bay Area after graduation. After performing around the region for several years in a five-woman ensemble, she eventually decided to pursue vocal studies at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, where she worked closely with Laurie Antonioli, Madeline Eastman, Maye Cavallaro, and Stephanie Bruce. She also studied privately with Kitty Margolis, resulting in a unique mentoring relationship between the two vocalists.
Suzanna Smith As she gained confidence, Smith started sitting in at open mics, which led to regular engagements and invaluable experience. Her reputation spread with a monthly gig at San Francisco's Savanna Jazz, where she also produced and hosted a monthly vocal jam session that ran for three years. She has also performed at many of the region's top clubs and venues, emerging as a startlingly fine singer with a repertoire that's wholly her own.
Smith lives in Oakland with esteemed jazz vocalist Kenny Washington and their infant son Miles. "This has been a big year for me -- having a baby and working hard to release this album," says Smith. "It almost feels like I'm giving birth to two babies. It has been fascinating to see the meanings of my songs shift in the years since I first wrote them. The songs continue to apply, just in new ways, to all the changes in my life. It has also been powerful to see them become personal anthems for other people's life experiences."
Smith's CD release show will take place Friday 11/22 at Oakland's Sound Room, the home of Bay Area Jazz & Arts, Inc. (BAJA). She'll be backed by musicians from her new album, including Michael Coleman, piano; Michael O'Neill, tenor saxophone and clarinet; Ken Husbands, guitar; Brandon Essex, bass; and Jon Arkin, drums.
 
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Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:45 AM PDT
Montreux, 1980, just after Marvin Gaye's concert, the words "a genius", "he was like a king", "his performance was absolutely incredible!" were spoken. This unbridled enthusiasm for the artist from Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, was certain to find an echo in history one day.
And now it has! After the 2004 DVD and CD pack, Marvin Gaye's smouldering soul music has been immortalised in a double LP due for release on 23rd October. Those who missed out on the live performance have not been forgotten, as absentees can now treat themselves to this gem of an anthology.
The double LP of Marvin Gaye's Live concert brings together all his great classics. From his début until 1980, you will find the hits that defined your dating years, such as "Let's Get It On", "What's Going On" or even "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", all in re-mastered sound. Recorded during Marvin Gaye's only visit to the Montreux Casino on 7th July 1980, when he was driving teenagers wild at the 14th Montreux Jazz Festival, only 500 copies of the 78-minute LP are being released, making it a very limited luxury edition.
A few salient remarks from Claude Nobs about meeting Marvin Gaye back in 1980:
"Marvin really knows his music, that's for sure. He has a very clear and defined vision of what his music should be about. The arrangements, the backing vocalists, the musicians… he knows it all. Yes, he had a reputation for being crazy and completely unpredictable, but to me he was a total professional! He was in complete control. He knew which musicians and backing vocalists he wanted, and he also knew exactly how he wanted his music to be produced. He was, quite simply, a genius. He was like a king, and the record companies, particularly at that time, had no idea how to handle this kind of talent, or how to work with an artist as complete as him."
SIDE A: 01 - Time (Claude Nobs introduction) // 02 - Got To Give It Up // 03 - Funky Space Reincarnation // 04 - Come Get To This
SIDE B: 05 - Let's Get It On // 06 - The Tammi Terrell Medley - If This World Were Mine - Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing - Ain't No Mountain High Enough // 07 - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)
SIDE C: 08 - I'll Be Doggone // 09 - I Heard It Through The Grapevine // 10 - Trouble Man // 11 - Distant Lover
SIDE D: 12 - Inner City Blues // 13 - Mercy Mercy Me // 14 - What's Going On
Product information:
- Collection - THE ESSENTIALS - VINYL COLLECTION
- Recorded live during the Montreux Jazz Festival concert – July 1980
- Double LP 180 grams
- Re-mastered sound
- Duration : 78 minutes
- THE ESSENTIALS - VINYL COLLECTION
The Marvin Gaye LP is the very first opus of THE ESSENTIALS – VINYL COLLECTION. A live collection from the great musical legends that have graced the stage of the Montreux Jazz Festival since it first began.
 
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