Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 117

Smooth Jazz; CD Release: Heather Powell - A Haze of Grays and Blue (True Groove Records - February 24, 2015)

CD Release:
Heather Powell - A Haze of Grays and Blue
(True Groove Records - February 24, 2015)

• Get the CD

New Yorker Heather Powell has a beautifully clear voice that lights up this album of jazzy adult contemporary songs released on True Groove Records. She can shape her vocals to the song with a sweet, liquid edge that can really caress the notes - it's no doubt what attracted True Groove head and veteran bluesman Tomás Doncker. He co-wrote and co-produced all the tracks and plays guitar throughout the album.

Her technique sounds so effortless I was sure within a few notes it was a trained voice. It turns out Heather has a degree in theatre and spent seven years in Europe and the United States as a member of the U.S. Army where she led soldiers and managed army health clinics. Towards the end of her career in the services however she became the commander and headliner of the Army’s inaugural theatrical company. On her return to civilian life, she took up music.

She can go from a whisper to a clear high note and the songs feature a sweet girl chorus to back her up here and there. The lyrics cover sentimental ground suited to her dulcet tones. The tracks range from sweet to soulful and True Groove has high musical standards -the backing band is flawless and multi-layered.

Remember the Love has a nice swing reminiscent of old RnB radio hits, complete with a backing male voice for some rich harmonies. Blue Light is a nice, slow torch song. The album title comes from the song Awaken Me, a nice, moody tune with a great horn line - a perfect showcase for her vocals with a slow, relentless rhythm.

I live in perpetual darkness
A haze of grays and blues...


There are flashes of contemporary jazz with nice hooks and interesting chord progressions. Falling is a bit of a throw back to that golden RnB era again, ideally suited to her vocal range and facility and accompanied by sighing strings. Distance combines sexy rhythms with observant lyrics in a grown up look at love and See Me is another in the same vein. They use the strength of her voice  - that lovely tone and superb control - to its best effect. Unstoppable breaks the pattern with a kind of Broadway tune vibe to a simple piano riff.

If you enjoy smooth jazz and adult contemporary you'll love Heather's voice and the nice production values of this release.

In addition to the CD, Heather is currently writing her first musical, called Lipstick and Camouflage.

Heather Powell - vocals, Tomás Doncker - guitars, Josh David/Kevin Jenkins - bass, Michael J. Faulkner - drums, Mo Roberts - drums on "Distance", Nick Rolfe/Manu Koch - keyboards, Alan Grubner - violin, cello, viola: Violin and String Arrangements, Mac Gollehon - Trumpet, Trombone, Daniel Sadownick - percussion

Tracklisting:
1.  Unexpected, 2.  Black and White Thinking, 3.  Remember the Love (ft. Kevin Jenkins), 4.  Blue Light. 5.  Awaken, 6.  Wishing, 7.  Falling, 8.  Distance, 9.  Unstoppable, 10.  See Me

Websites:
official: heatherpowell.net
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HPowellMusic
twitter:  @hpowellmusic

Performer-illusionist Geoff Sobelle February 18 to 22 2015 in Toronto #artlive

From a media release:

Canadian Premiere #artlive
The Object Lesson
Geoff Sobelle (United States)
February 18–22 2015
Harbourfront Centre Theatre

TORONTO - Award-winning performer-illusionist Geoff Sobelle unpacks our relationship to everyday objects in this hilarious, heartbreaking solo performance and installation.

A towering junk-pile anchors Sobelle's stage as he skirts around it, rifling through to procure physical relics of his memories and awaken our own. Over the course of the show, these objects guide his heartfelt narrative – and quirky, expressive performance – about life, love and memory. Join us for this meditation on the things we keep and the things we throw away.

Sobelle, an actor and co-founder of the theatre group Rainpan 43, has received accolades for The Object Lesson from the prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe to the New York Times. The show's Canadian debut at World Stage 2015 marks Sobelle's return to Toronto after performing and choreographing HOLOSCENES for last fall's Nuit Blanche.

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
"[It's] really tactile and hands on. You get to touch the materials and make your own stories before the show starts. In two words... Moving and unpacking." — Tina Rasmussen, Artistic Director

Ntjam Rosie Returns With Her Finest Album To Date ‘The One’ Is Out On Gentle Daze Records on February 17 2015

From a media release:

Ntjam Rosie Returns With Her Finest Album To Date
‘The One’ Is Out On Gentle Daze Records on February 17th, 2015

• Check it out

Ntjam Rosie, the Cameroon-born, Dutch-based Afro-European artist who has become a tastemaker both with her music and her fashion sense, is set to make a big mark in 2015 with her fourth album, The One. The singer and songwriter, who arrived in Holland from a small village in Cameroon at the age of nine, is now based in Rotterdam and has been turning heads in her adopted home country. A truly independent woman, who runs her own record label, Gentle Daze, Ntjam’s striking creativity in the world of fashion has made her into a style icon. Meanwhile, her blend of soul, jazz, folk, gospel and world music is now set to reach a wider audience than ever before.

The fourth installment in an increasingly distinguished album catalogue, The One is a huge creative step forward. That’s both in terms of its confident, seductive songwriting ethic and because it marks Ntjam Rosie’s debut as a producer of her own work. It has invigorating elements of India.Arie’s roots-fuelled R&B, Patrice Rushen’s sultry jazz, and even the vocal independence of Beyoncé, all in an atmospheric soundscape that is purely her own.

The new record follows 2013’s At The Back Of Beyond, which was warmly received creatively and commercially, and inspired Ntjam to perform throughout Holland and across Europe. “That was an album that was a part of me, and that needed to explore my poppy side,” she says. “I’m grounded in jazz and soul, and pop. But as a songwriter, I really needed to go through that album to learn how to play the guitar, to see and hear what kind of songs I would write, and also to put the guitar on the palette — literally being able to pick the guitar up to write.”

The songs for The One were written around the time Ntjam got married, in January 2014, and was made with her regular band and engineer Vincent Helbers at her side. Martin Fondse added strings, and there are guest appearances by friends and fellow artists Pink Oculus, Eric Vloeimans and Ronald Snijders.

Her graduation as a cosmopolitan, 21st century woman and musician included nominations both for Holland’s Edison Awards, twice, and the Elle Personal Style Awards; playing the North Sea Jazz Festival, and gigs from Thailand to Turkey and Estonia to China.

Ntjam has already started to introduce The One during her live shows, and looks forward to touring it more in 2015. The future is bright. The future is Rosie.

Migrant Media Dreams: An Evening with Documentary Filmmaker Min Sook Lee Thursday February 12th 2015 in Toronto

From a media release:

Migrant Media Dreams: An Evening with Documentary Filmmaker Min Sook Lee
Thursday February 12th 2015 from 7-8:30pm
Eaton Lecture Theatre (80 Gould Street)

TORONTO - As Canada shifts its immigration policy to promote temporary, rather than permanent immigration policy, Toronto filmmaker Min Sook Lee has been tracking the effects of these changes on migrant workers’ lives.

The Hacking the Culture Speakers Series at Ryerson University, a project of The Studio for Media Activism & Critical Thought, presents  Min Sook Lee talking about how her films about/with migrant workers are used as a tool in the movement for migrant worker justice. She will show excerpts  from different films, will discuss her process, and the artistic and political choices that inform her work. After her presentation, Lee will be joined by Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers for a conversation and open question and answer period. The event is FREE.

Min Sook Lee’s filmography includes: the Gemini nominated El Contrato (Cesar E. Chavex Black Eagle Award), which looks at the lives of Mexican migrant workers in Ontario, and  and Hogtown,  an analysis of the politics of policing in Toronto’s city hall (Best Canadian Documentary Prize, Hot Docs Festival).  She is the co-creator behind the comedy series She’s The Mayor. Min Sook’s latest documentary The Real Inglorious Bastards received a Canadian Screen Award for Best History Documentary in 2013. She teaches documentary filmmaking at Ryerson University and is currently in production on a new feature documentary Migrant Dreams, about the lives of migrant women workers in Canada.

Hacking the Culture Speakers’ Series will continue until March 2015. Upcoming speakers include contemporary interdisciplinary artist Reena Katz on March 5th, and a workshop with feminist gaming collective Dames Making Games (March 19). Hacking the Culture is a free event that encourages open dialogue and invites the public to look critically at the global mediascape and investigate how artistic practices can challenge power and privilege in society.

The Studio for Media Activism & Critical Thought is a new research centre housed in RTA School of Media. The Studio links media theory, cultural work, and activism.

Indie Pop with Brazilian Beats: Complicated Animals Debut EP "In This Game" February 10 2015 Release

From a media release:
 
COMPLICATED ANIMALS TO RELEASE DEBUT EP
IN THIS GAME IS OUT FEBRUARY 10, 2015

• Buy the CD

Complicated Animals is Monica da Silva and Chad Alger. Their debut EP In This Game (out February 10, 2015 on Socialite Fiasco Music) features 6 songs in the duos’ self-coined Indie Nova genre. The style mixes breezy, Indie Pop with a touch of vintage Brazilian Bossa Nova.

Complicated Animals’ debut release In This Game was written and recorded over the past year in a cabin in the woods along the lakeshore in Michigan. The duo is the new collaborative lovechild of Brazilian American songstress Monica da Silva, and musician/producer Chad Alger.

Inspired by the changing seasons, and their mutual love for vintage films and music, Monica and Chad really wanted to get back to the art of songwriting on In This Game. “We really wanted the songs to unfold like a story would,” says Chad. They took their time to carefully choose each and every sound that has gone into their new collaboration, making sure that the songs evolve like the seasons. “It was also important to us to paint the picture in the listener’s mind of a specific room, space or sound- from the reverb of a large vintage church to the creaky floors of an old cabin.”

Monica and Chad released their first album together, Brasilissima, under Monica’s name in 2011. The album featured songs in both English and Portuguese, and was produced by Chad and Monica’s brother, Bruce Driscoll (Blondfire, Avicii, Freedom Fry). The first single, “Aí Então” gained attention from music critics and blogs, and caught the ear of Jacob Edgar, owner of Cumbancha Records and resident world music compiler for Putumayo World Music. The track was chosen from tens of thousands of artists, to be featured on the Putumayo World Music compilation “Brazilian Beat”. Another track from their CD, the upbeat, psychedelic inspired “That’s Not The Way” was later chosen by the music director of ESPN to be played during the programming of The World Cup 2014.

In This Game - Tracklist: Roadmap, O Que Passou, Phoenix, Bees Take To Honey, Drive Around In Cars, Sempre Aqui

WE HAVE STORIES TO TELL… An Evening with Lisa Gay Hamilton, Tonya Pinkins and Lillias White February 9 2015 in NYC

From a media release:

WE HAVE STORIES TO TELL…
An Evening with Lisa Gay Hamilton, Tonya Pinkins and Lillias White
Moderated by Angela Bronner-Helm

Monday, February 9, 2015
7pm-8:30 pm
Doors open at 6:30 pm

The Pershing Square Signature Center
The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre
480 West 42nd Street at 10th Avenue
New York, NY 10036

 • The event is free and open to the public. Click here for reservations.
• Seating is limited. Reservations will be confirmed on a first come, first served basis.

"All right, when I tell my daughter stories at night, invariably a few things happen. Number one, I use my imagination. I always start with life and I build from there. And then the other thing that happens...she always says, 'Mommy can you put me in the story?' It starts from the top up, so I'd like to thank Paul Lee, Shonda Rhimes, Besty Beers...and Pete Nowalk…for thinking that a sexualized, messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old dark skinned African-American woman who looks like me." ---Viola Davis, Acceptance speech after receiving the SAG Award for Best Female Actor in a Drama Series

Three award-winning African-American female actors are appearing simultaneously in separate productions on the New York stage: LisaGay Hamilton in The Liquid Plain, Tonya Pinkins in Rasheeda Speaking, and Lillias White in Texas in Paris. All three plays delve into the politics of race, gender and respectability.

On Monday, February 9, at 7pm in The Pershing Square Signature Center, these women will talk career, craft and placing themselves in the story. Acclaimed journalist Angela Bronner-Helm (AOL Black Voices, Essence) will moderate this illuminating conversation about claiming and changing the narrative.

WE HAVE STORIES TO TELL is presented by Signature Theatre, The New Group, and The York Theatre Company in association with Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online and Project1Voice.

Photo credits: poptower.com (LisaGay Hamilton), Serge Nivelle (Tonya Pinkins), KenWerther.com (Lillias White)

Hard Rock EP Review: Return For Refund - Self Titled (Independent - September 20, 2014)

EP Review:
Return For Refund - Self Titled
(Independent - September 20, 2014)

• Buy the Album

Toronto's Return For Refund sound assured and well immersed in their hard rock niche on their self-titled EP released last fall. They got a lot of buzz during Indie Week 2014 and with good reason. They set the bar high for musical chops - and it's really nice to hear a real rock drummer adding rhythmic interest to the standard song form.

Vocals are another strong suit for the band. Singer Drew Clementino has got that rock edge but his voice is still melodic. The power is there when he needs it. He's backed up with some exuberant guitar wizardry from Sasha Molotkow. There's a nice interplay between the members of the band that speaks to their ease with each other musically.

The met after Drew auditioned for a few bands that didn't fit with his sound. Then he tried out for a cover band and felt what he calls an instant chemistry with Sasha. Later that same night, Drew went to an open mic and ran into Sasha again.

“We ended up playing a bunch of Blues songs like Mustang Sally and Red House. He played guitar and I sang. We just immediately hit it off,” says Clementino.

The songs cover the usual hard rock territory and the lyrics cover familiar relationship-oriented terrain.. On TV Light, there are some moments reminiscent of Iron Maiden - those repetitive melodic and rhythmic patterns.

Drew shows a nice vocal range in songs like Between My Sheets. It's a track with a distinct grunge-era influence; it's moody and based on a repeated guitar line. Yolo is a highlight of the EP with its inventive sense of rhythm and melody. Some is Better Than None is another great track, displaying a jazzy complexity and jangling guitar sound that neatly contrasts with an insistent drum line.

The EP has been well received by campus stations around the country, charting on several of them and getting regular airplay. It's not surprising - the EP gives you a nice taste of well produced and well executed hard rock.

Drew Clementino (Vocals, Guitar, Sasha Molotkow (Guitar, backing vocals), Karlis Hawkins (Drums, Backing vocals)
Tracklisting: 1) The Fields 2) TV Light 3) Between The Sheets 4) Yolo 5) Some Is Better Than None 6) Those Bombs

Websites:
www.returnforrefund.com
www.facebook.com/r4rband
www.twitter.com/r4rband

Box Set - Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection February 24, 2015

From a media release:
   
Smithsonian Folkways
Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection
February 24, 2015

• Order the Lead Belly Box Set

Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, the first career-spanning box set dedicated to the American music icon, will be released on February 24, 2015. The 140-page, large-format book includes 5 CDs with 108 tracks (16 previously unreleased), accompanied by historic photos and extensive notes.

• Listen to a Sneak Preview of Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection including the previously unreleased song “Been So Long (Bellevue Hospital Blues)” at the link.

NPR’s Ann Powers says, “This is a powerful time to hear Lead Belly's voice again.” Read more from NPR and listen to the previously unreleased song, “I’m So Glad, I Done Got Over.”

Jazz/Pop CD Release: Arthur Fowler - What's Keeping Me Going (Indie - February 14, 2014)

CD Release:
Arthur Fowler - What's Keeping Me Going
(Indie - February 14, 2014)

• Order/Buy the CD

Milwaukee born/Tokyo resident Arthur Fowler describes himself and his sound as acid folk singer/songwriter but I think that's a little too narrow a definition. His upcoming release features a range of styles from straight up jazz to bluesy to pop to rootsy folk.

Arthur ended up in Tokyo via a stint in Spain and has played with jazz bands and other ensembles in Spain, all over the U.S. and of course in his now home of Tokyo.

His lyrics are self aware and reflective and he sings in a nimble tenor with a pleasing soft edge and a nice range into his high end. There's a nice rhythmic pulse that fuels the groove running through the songs on this collection and he's paid a lot of attention paid to the musicianship. His own chops are solid, with some lovely fluid guitar lines in the first and title track, What’s Keeping Me Going. You can hear global influences even beyond his own American/Japanese cross-cultural story, including Afro-Cuban drums and Latin guitars.

The songs are rhythmically more complex - and interesting - than you'd expect from folk, more melodic than you'd expect from pure jazz. Arthur regularly collaborates with acoustic folk and rock band AJA, with one of Tokyo’s foremost Irish fiddlers, multi-instrumentalist Jim Ediger, and bassist Alan Gleason. It results in some some interesting instrumentation. Please try faatures harmonica. He goes gypsy-jazz-ish on Room Full of Mirrors that features Jim Ediger on accordion.

Hu is a nice laid back jazz song in a moody mournful minor mode with Japanese guitarist Kei Takasugi on lead. The album as a whole is lit up by a superb sense of musicianship - these are creative, inventive next level musicians and that's a big part of the appeal of the album.

Twilight Breeze is a melodic jazz composition - free flowing and dynamic  an instrumental piece that showcases the guitar in an extended jazz riff. The New York Song has an -appropriately - cool east coast swing to it. Melodically the songs are also quite interesting; in Here I Am the swing goes a little Latin-ish. He goes from that to a harmonica infused bluesy rendition of the Neil Young song For The Turnstiles. Splash is a melodramatic country-blues tune that features Matthew Skoller on harmonica.

Guitars and Vocals:  Arthur Fowler
Electric Bass:  Kiyo Tahara
Acoustic Bass: Alan Gleason
Accordion and Fiddle:  Jim Ediger
Electric Guitar on “HU”: Kei Takasugi
Percussion arrangement and performance:  Kikuko Yasui
Harmonica:  Matthew Skoller
Backing Vocals on the songs “Love the Music”,

Recorded and mixed by Seiki Kitano (Bang On Recordings)
Mastered by Keiko Ueda at MTC Mastering, Tokyo

Track listing:
1. What’s Keeping Me Going  Arthur Fowler
2. Please Try  Arthur Fowler
3. Love the Music  Arthur Fowler
4. Room Full of Mirrors Jimi Hendrix
5. HU  Arthur Fowler
6. Twilight Breeze  Arthur Fowler
7. The New York Song    Arthur Fowler
8. Here I Am    Music by Jw Hammond, words by Arthur Fowler
9. For the Turnstiles      Neil Young
10. Splash  Arthur Fowler
11. On the Verge  Arthur Fowler

Websites:
http://artfowler.com
https://www.facebook.com/tokyoartfowler
https://soundcloud.com/arthur-fowler

dérangé Concert Series 'All Folked Up': intersection of Opera, Jazz, Folk & Canadian Contemporary February 12 2015 in Toronto

From a media release:

Off Centre Music Salon presents their inaugural dérangé concert
ALL FOLKED UP
February 12, 2015

curated by Nico Dann & Ilana Zarankin
featuring Shepherds Heard, Hobsons Choice, Inna Perkis and Boris Zarankin with host Nate Renner

TORONTO (January 28, 2015) – Off Centre Music Salon celebrates its 20th Anniversary season by launching dérangé - a two-concert pilot project at the intersection of Canadian Contemporary, Classical, Jazz and Folk Music celebrating a more "out of line," interdisciplinary and creative approach to performing this repertoire. The first of these two concerts, ALL FOLKED UP, takes place on Thursday February 12, 2015 at 7 pm (with a pre-concert lobby reception beginning at 6:30pm) at Toronto’s The Music Gallery, 197 John Street.

What is folk music? It is music that appeals to the most basic human conditions: love and suffering, loss and happiness… In our northern hemisphere, it is often music that reflects the struggles that the natural world presents to the human being. But the term folk music itself is complicated – it has been adopted in such varied circumstances to designate such wildly different music. dérangé’s ALL FOLKED UP explores the exciting musical possibilities born in the moment of arrangement – or de-rrangement – of a wide variety of folk material.

Featured artists are Shepherds Heard - a cross-border, cross-genre ensemble of Classically and Jazz trained musicians that uses folk music as a point of departure, Hobson’s Choice - a contemporary chamber Jazz quartet blending the improvisation of jazz with an unconventional instrumentation and approach to songwriting and paying homage to such Canadian folk songwriters as Joni Mitchell and Bruce Cockburn, and husband-and-wife piano four hands duo (and Off Centre Music Salon Artistic Directors) Inna Perkis and Boris Zarankin performing Dvorák’s folk-inspired Slavonic Dances.  Ethnomusicologist and guitarist Nate Renner is our host .

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Shepherds Heard is: Joseph Brent (mandolin), Nico Dann (drums), Rebecca Hennessy (trumpet), Michael Herring (double bass) and Ilana Zarankin (soprano). Since April 2013, Shepherds Heard has been arranging and performing a hybrid of folk-inspired classical Art Song and improvised, old-time, country, folk and jazz-context music. While Jazz drummer Nico Dann found himself immersed in a musical scene concerned with bringing the acoustic, song-driven, folk roots of jazz back into the modern idiom, his wife soprano Ilana Zarankin was, herself, championing the repertoire of Classical composers, specifically those of the 19th Century, trying desperately to make peace with an ever-widening and changing world, paying homage to their folk traditions. Shepherds Heard was born of this fascination with the folk in music - what began as the idea to reimagine Joseph Canteloube’s colourful Chants d’Auvergne for a small folk ensemble has grown to include similar treatments of Valery Gavrilin’s Russian folk songs and a handful of Canadian folk melodies.

Hobson’s Choice is: Harley Card (guitar/voice), Michael Davidson (vibraphone), Rebecca Hennessy (trumpet/voice) and Felicity Williams (voice). Hobson’s Choice is a toronto-based, contemporary chamber jazz group that draws on a wide range of influences. Blending the improvisation in jazz with an unconventional instrumentation and approach to songwriting, it stands on its own.

Russian-Canadian pianist Inna Perkis was described by the Weekly Seattle as having “…a commanding musical personality… poetry to every nuance…” Ms. Perkis has performed internationally as a soloist and a chamber musician.” She is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Off Centre Music Salon with her husband Boris Zarankin.

A pianist of international renown, Boris Zarankin was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “pianist of flair, style and exciting virtuosity”. Mr. Zarankin studied at the Kharkov State Conservatory with Regina Horowitz and at the Moscow State Conservatory.

Nate Renner is pursuing his PhD in Ethnomusicology at the University of Toronto. His research concerns the contemporary and traditional music and dance of Japan's indigenous Ainu people.

Food for the pre-concert reception is generously provided by Toronto’s Aviv Restaurant. (www.avivrestaurant.ca)

Off Centre Music Salon presents their inaugural dérangé concert
ALL FOLKED UP
curated by Nico Dann & Ilana Zarankin
featuring Shepherds Heard ensemble, Hobsons Choice, Inna Perkis and Boris Zarankin with host Nate Renner

Thursday February 12, 2015
The Music Gallery, 197 John Street, Toronto, M5T 1X6
7 PM concert (6:30 PM pre-concert reception, catered by Aviv Restaurant)
Regular Tickets: $25 (includes one pre-concert refreshment); Students/Seniors/Arts Workers: $15