Rebecca Martin is nominated best female Jazz singer by the Jazz Journalist Association.


Rebecca Martin was nominated best female Jazz singer of the year by the Jazz Journalist Association. She shares the honor with singers Cassandra Wilson, Gretchen Parlato, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Roberta Gambarini. To see the complete list, click on this LINK.

Rebecca Martin Live Review

A great review of Rebecca’s recent concert at the University of Maine at Augusta. Click on the photo for full text.

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March 9th was a homecoming of sorts for Rebecca Martin. As the acclaimed vocalist and Maine native recalled that night, the last time she performed at the University of Maine Augusta she was a student there, singing Blue Monk with her vocal ensemble. Some two decades — and a professional singing career, performances at the Vanguard and Carnegie Hall, collaborations with a litany of jazz greats, several albums, etc. — later, she returned to Maine to give a free masterclass and concert (thanks to UMA) at her alma matter, with husband Larry Grenadier on the bass and his brother Phil on trumpet. (She also played our local TV program “207″ on the 8th, and a benefit concert for the Hope Association in her hometown of Rumford on the 10th.) The group — which, as Martin delightedly pointed out, was a family band — played about a dozen or more tunes, a wide spectrum of originals and standards that stretched from as far back as her days with Once Blue all the way to unrecorded originals….(click on image for the entire review)

Stanford Jazz Workshop “Songwriter Program” Led By Rebecca Martin with Special Guests Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens.

Dear Friends,

Last year, I had the privilege to begin a song writing program at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. I’m happy to continue the program in 2011 which also happens to be the SJW’s 40th Anniversary. The Songwriting Program will take place on July 31st – August 5th.

To help celebrate, I’ve invited my good friends Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens to be guests for the week.

There is only room for 12-14 students, so sign up now.

It also appears as though Gretchen, Becca and I will be performing a concert at Stanford University opening for the wonderful pianist Taylor Eigsti. Dates TBA.

Below is the tentative schedule. It’s going to be a special week.

Happy spring.

Rebecca Martin Read more

New York Times: “Spare Vocals Illuminate Emotions Underneath”

Read this recent music review of Rebecca Martin by Nate Chinen in the New York Times. Here is an excerpt:

“As jazz singers go, Rebecca Martin exudes the plainest sort of poise, almost radical in its utter lack of flash. When she wasn’t cradling an acoustic guitar on Thursday night at the Cornelia Street Café, she held her arms clasped behind her back, as if to make sure they wouldn’t be a distraction. She sang quietly, favoring slow tempos.

Her embellishments registered on the granular level, in the placement of a phrase or a light catch in her throat. She was unerringly faithful to the melodies of the songs, both standards and originals, but at her best she made them seem less like songs than like articulations of her state of mind….”

Rebecca Martin December 2010 Newsletter

Rebecca Martin with her son, Charlie Grenadier and mother Terry. Photo credit: Bryan Derballa of the Wall Street Journal.

Happy Holidays to all!

Please take a moment to click on the link below and read Rebecca Martin’s December 2010 Newsletter. You will able to read this years notable press, live performances, album information and more.

REBECCA MARTIN
DECEMBER, 2010
NEWSLETTER

Feel free to subscribe to this list at the top of the newsletter page to become a member.

The New York Times Raves….twice in a week.

The New York Times gives enthusiastic reviews of Rebecca Martin’s new album “When I Was Long Ago”, and  in support of her next live performance in New York City on Thursday, December 16th 2010.  Showtimes are 7:30pm and 9:30pm at the JAZZ STANDARD. For tickets, visit this LINK.‎

“The jazz singer Rebecca Martin can sing slow swing with a supreme sense of centering around the pulse, re-designing melodies and making her voice crinkle at emotional points. And when the drumming goes away completely, she grows stronger…the musicians give her molasses swing and empathy and lots of empty space, and she takes care of the rest.”

Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

“On her gorgeously intimate new album ‘When I Was Long Ago’ the singer Rebecca Martin addresses a program of jazz standards as if sifting through treasured momentos”.

Nate Chinen, New York Times

Tickets On Sale Now! Rebecca Martin, Larry Grenadier and Bill McHenry at the Jazz Standard on December 16th.

Rebecca Martin will celebrate the release of her “exquisite” (NPRs Weekend All Things Considered) new album When I Was Long Ago (Sunnyside Records) on Thursday, December 16 at the Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, New York, NY. Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30, and tickets are $20.00. Reservations can be made at 212-576-2232 or via Ticketweb.com

Martin will be accompanied by bassist Larry Grenadier (Brad Mehldau Trio, Pat Metheny) and saxophonist Bill McHenry (Guillermo Klein, Paul Motian), who are also featured on the album.

When she set out to record her new album of standards, Martin resolved to seek out each songs original vocal read and to unearth their original arrangements and lost verses.

The resulting collection of eleven songs is most extraordinary, absolutely delightful and thoroughly unforgettable, (All About Jazz) and a perfect showcase for Martins warm, unguarded voice (New York Times).

In his four-star review of When I Was Long Ago in renowned French magazine Telerama, critic Michel Contat writes that Martin raises the bar with this album, and praises her voice, which he pronounces as expressive as Joni Mitchells.

For more information about Rebecca Martin, please contact Regina Joskow [regina@missingpiecegroup.com] at the Missing Piece Group, (862)234-0801 or Patrice Fehlen [patrice@septembergurl.com] at September Gurl PR (718)768-3859.

Michel Contat Gives ‘When I Was Long Ago’ Four Stars in Telerama, France

“When I Was Long Ago” was given a four star review by the important writer Michel Contat in Telerama Magazine  today.

You can read it by following this LINK

Rebecca Martin Honors Her “Elders” on Latest Release “When I Was Long Ago”


New Collection of Standards Shines a Light on Original Arrangements, Lost Verses

When acclaimed singer-songwriter Rebecca Martin set out to make an album of standards, she resolved to seek out each song’s original vocal read, which proved to be quite a challenge, but one well worth taking on. “As a songwriter and singer, I found that many of the beloved old classics have been changed a great deal…Verses, lyrics and arrangements have been deleted or changed, in some cases quite dramatically.” She reflects “Going back to the earliest vocal read to hear what might have been the author’s original intention was a real education,” and she urges other musicians to “think of these songs as ‘elders’ instead of ‘standards’ to remove the heroic connotation and allow there to be space for the songs to simply be.”

The resulting collection of eleven songs, When I Was Long Ago, is  “most extraordinary, absolutely delightful and thoroughly unforgettable” (All About Jazz), and a perfect showcase for Martin’s “warm, unguarded voice” (New York Times).  Martin says, “It’s an honor to sing a song that spans 75-plus years. I think of this as an ancestral project. Working with this intention brought new meaning to these old songs.”

Spare, haunting accompaniment is provided by bassist Larry Grenadier (the Brad Mehldau Trio, Pat Metheny) and saxophonist Bill McHenry (Guillermo Klein, Paul Motian) on classics such as “Lush Life,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Willow Weep for Me” and “But Not For Me” as well as some lesser-known gems such as “Cheer Up Charlie,” “No Moon at All” and “Kentucky Babe.”

For an in-depth discussion of the songs on When I Was Long Ago, please go to http://bit.ly/dyQSgO.

Martin’s journey began in Rumford Point, Maine. In the early 1990s, she moved to New York to pursue a career in music. She and Jesse Harris formed the group Once Blue (EMI Records). Though no one knew it at the time, the signing turned out to be quite prescient, as the band also included guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, bassist Ben Street and drummer Kenny Wollesen, all of whom soon became among the most sought-after and highly-regarded musicians in the jazz world. After Once Blue disbanded, Martin embarked on a solo career that has yielded six critically lauded solo albums of original compositions and standards, and a collaboration with Paul Motian that inspired the The Guardian to proclaim that Martin “may even upstage Norah Jones and Madeleine Peyroux.

The release of When I Was Long Ago places her squarely in the company of the great interpreters of song she reveres. As the Portland Press Herald summed it up, “There’s so much more on this disc of classic material, which may soon be thought of as a classic itself. It is that good.”

When I Was Long Ago (Sunnyside, August 31, 2010)

For All We Know (1934) J. Fred Coots/Sam Lewis

But Not For Me (1930) George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin

Lush Life (1938) Billy Strayhorn

No Moon At All (1948) Redd Evans/David Mann

Cheer Up Charlie (1971) Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse/Walter Scharf

Low Key Lightly (Lucky In Love) (1959) Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (1931) Harry Barris/Ted Koehler/Billy Moll

Someone to Watch Over Me (1926) George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin

I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (1939) Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart

Willow Weep For Me (1932) Ann Ronell

For more information about Rebecca Martin, please contact Regina Joskow at Missing Piece Group (862.234.0801) regina@missingpiecegroup.com or Bret Sjerven at Sunnyside Records (646-519-3560) bret@sunnysiderecords.com