My second live performance video, "No Moon at All", has been posted on YouTube!!  It was recorded at the Metropolitan Room in July of this year and features David Cook (piano), Eric Halvorson (drums), and Jeff Hanley (bass).  Michael Barbieri did the lights and sound.

As I mentioned when I posted the first video from this date, if it is not obvious by a quick glance at the embedded video, I was very pregnant at the time.  In spite of all the physical challenges involved when singing in the last trimester, I'm very happy with the way this video turned out.  It will certainly do for now, until the time when I can make a non-pregnant video!!  I hope you enjoy it!!

I am pleased to announce that I have finally put up my first live performance video on YouTube!!  It's "The Nearness of You", also the title track of my first CD.  Joining me on this selection are David Cook (piano), Eric Halvorson (drums), and Jeff Hanley (bass).  It was recorded at the Metropolitan Room in July with lights and sound by Michael Barbieri.

If it is not obvious by a quick glance at the embedded video, I was very pregnant at the time.  In fact at 7:30pm five weeks after this video was recorded, I was in the triage room at the hospital!!  In spite of all the physical challenges involved when singing in the last trimester, I'm very happy with the way this video turned out.  It will certainly do for now, until the time when I can make a non-pregnant video!!  I hope you enjoy it!!

ps - I will be publishing the second video from this performance, "No Moon at All," on December 7th.

Lately, I've been watching Soul Train reruns on Centric.  Most of the episodes I have seen date from when I was my children's ages.  It's amazing to hear the music and to see the fashions from that time, and realize that that's what people were listening to and wearing when I was a baby!!  It's also interesting for me to hear in that music so many musical ideas that I utilize today whether it's arrangements or instrumentation.  I have often considered that many people my age play what could be described as neo-soul or soul jazz, because when we were babies, funk and then disco were so popular.  I suppose I think about these things more because I have two children, but it's amazing the extent to which we, as babies, internalize what surrounds us, and then employ these ideas in some form in our work decades on.

I often wonder what music will influence my children the most.  I grew up listening to a lot of Top 40, and that music - country rock, singer-songwriter, r&b/funk/disco, punk - had a strong impact on what I do today, even though I sing a lot of standards.  My older son at almost three years old is already expressing his preferences for music, and not surprisingly, they reflect me and my husband's taste.  However, there are obviously things about his listening experience that are different from ours.  When we were kids, hip-hop was a nascent music, outside the mainstream.  Now, it's incorporated into children's tv shows.  I spent my childhood sitting around a record player, a radio, and a tape recorder.  My son watches videos on youtube and plays with Garage Band, although he doesn't know what he's doing yet!!  Someday, I'm sure he will look at me in disbelief as I explain how a record player worked with the needle and the grooves on the record, etc. 

There exist in this world champions of standards singing in all of its various forms.  One of those people is Bruno Pollacci.  Based in Pisa, Italy, Bruno puts together three online broadcasts - Dubidubidu (a sweetly titled program of Italian jazz vocalists), AnimaJazz (instrumentalists), and A Voice, A Soul (standards singers from all of the world).  I am delighted that both The Nearness of You and I'm in Heaven Tonight have received spins on A Voice, A Soul. 

I'm in Heaven Tonight debuted on this program over the summer with "On the Street Where You Live" (A Voice, A Soul n. 109).  (Yes, I know this isn't the most timely post, but I'm doing some post-natal catch up of some pre-natal work.)  This broadcast includes some very well-produced tracks with a strong traditional pop bent.  I invite everyone to listen to this program, especially those of you who like traditional pop interpretations. 

Bruno has made it very easy to access this broadcast.  No more passwords!!  Just click on the link below.  When you get to the page, go to the left column and scroll down to A Voice, A Soul n. 109.  Click on this and the program should automatically start in your default music player.

A Voice, A Soul n. 109

Recently there have been a spate of very interesting articles about music, the music business, and culture in general.  This interview, conducted by Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, is my favorite of the bunch - a really thoughtful, concise, and articulate assessment of the current situation of independent musicians and record labels by two Chicago independent record label owners.  These people have a wonderfully appropriate sense of humor, which you need in this business, and provide some funny quotes: "rearranging the chairs on the Titanic," "You have to have more passion than sense."  If you are someone in the business who is in need of a cathartic laugh in recognition or someone who wants learn more about what it's like to be an independent musician and/or someone operating an independent label, I recommend this quick and enjoyable read.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/09/bloodshot-records-celebrates-15-years-an-interview-with-coowners-rob-miller-and-nan-warshaw-.html

For the week of August 20, 2009 I'm in Heaven Tonight was #25 on the Roots Music Report's Top 50 Jazz Weekly Radio Chart.  Apparently last week the CD was #14!!

http://www.rootsmusicreport.com/index.php?page=charts&name=jazz