Sunnyside Records will Release Rebecca Martin’s Sixth Solo Album TWAIN on March 26th, 2013

 

Singer/Songwriter and Jazz vocalist Rebecca Martin’s new album TWAIN features a dozen new original compositions and one classic interpretation, all performed in understated acoustic arrangements based around Martin’s indelible voice and supple guitar work, and the subtly inventive support of her husband and longtime collaborator, acclaimed bassist Larry Grenadier.

Martin reflects “My records over the years have become more quiet and introspective, which probably has to do with the need and appreciation for personal space…it makes sense that my reaction to a world that feels speedy, harsh and loud is to offer music that provokes slowness, emotion, and quiet.”

On such melodically arresting, emotionally vivid new tunes as “To Up and Go,” “Don’t Mean A Thing At All,” “Beyond The Hillside,” and “Some Other Place, Some Other Time,” Martin sings with a quietly commanding intensity that lends immediacy to her lyrical insights.

Meanwhile, her distinctive reading of the Duke Ellington classic “Sophisticated Lady” once again demonstrates the uncanny interpretive skills that she previously revealed on a pair of much-celebrated standards albums.

Writing in the New York Times, critic Nate Chinen shrewdly observed that Martin “exudes the plainest sort of poise, almost radical in its utter lack of flash,” and that though she is “unerringly faithful to the melodies of the songs, both standards and originals,” she makes them seem “less like songs than like articulations of her state of mind.”

Raul D’Gama Rose of All About Jazz wrote “Martin is a composer of considerable talent, approaching the repertoire that she serves up like a master-chef, creating rare and fine epicurean fare,” while Jazz Times’ Christopher Loudon likened Martin’s vocals to “Modgliani portraits,” noting that they “share a sharply honed, less-is-more sensibility that, paradoxically, adds to their depth, their denseness and their haunting aftereffects.”

Martin and Grenadier recorded most of Twain in a small bedroom in the apartment of longtime cohort and pianist Pete Rende, who produced, engineered, and mixed the album. “For the most part, what we did and how we felt on that day became the record,” Martin says. That emotional immediacy comes through on the elegantly spare, eloquently direct recording. Martin muses “This record has been a long time in the making. A lot of living and a lot of energy have gone into the creation of this group of songs.”

A New York City record release performance will be announced shortly.

For more information,  contact Patrice Fehlen at September Gurl Music: 718/768-3859 patrice@septembergurl.com

www.rebeccamartin.com

www.sunnysiderecords.com

Rebecca Martin New Recording ‘Twain’ in the Works

Photo by Pat Kepic

 

 

Rebecca Martin is heading back into the studio to make a new recording of originals (and a standard) with Larry Grenadier in March/April. A March 2013 release on the Sunnyside Label has been scheduled.

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 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