The singer-songwriter, with just voice and guitar, presents a new and revelatory song cycle.
“Following the thread” is the phrase singer-songwriter Rebecca Martin uses to characterize her free-minded approach to composition. And it’s the method by which she developed the 13 songs on SHE (Sunnyside), her first solo album. Accompanied by her own guitar, Martin unfurls a cycle of tunes marked by a bracing, bittersweet intimacy, offering profound insights into loneliness, inchoate desire and hard-won perseverance.
“It didn’t occur to me earlier on to do a solo recording,” says Martin, who first emerged in the mid-1990s as the musical partner, with Jesse Harris, in the indie pop-jazz band Once Blue. Later collaborations with Guillermo Klein and Paul Motian had a major impact on Martin’s songwriting and informed SHE as well.”
https://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-05-at-18-37-29-Rebecca-Martin-Makes-Her-Solo-Stand-JazzTimes.png769856rebbymasterhttps://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/rm04brown.pngrebbymaster2025-03-05 23:40:302025-03-05 23:42:17Rebecca Martin Makes Her Solo Stand – Jazz Times
In a bag of old tapes, I came across a couple of Video 8’s of my old band Once Blue.
Once Blue was popular in New York City back in the 1990’s led by Jesse Harris and I. It featured the musicians Ben Street (Acoustic Bass), Kurt Rosenwinkel (Electric Guitar) and Kenny Wollesen (Drums). We were signed to EMI Records in 1994 and would go on to release two albums: Once Blue (1995) and a re-release of the same album with bonus tracks (2003).
At a time before phones and social media, there isn’t any video documentation of this band. I’m very glad to have found these and to be able to share them with you.
https://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/onceblue.jpg10821897rebeccamartinhttps://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/rm04brown.pngrebeccamartin2024-06-05 12:59:342025-02-26 19:41:44From the Archives: Once Blue (1994-1995)
Rebecca Martin’s first solo recording “Thoroughfare” (1998) is available on vinyl.
$40 (plus shipping/handling costs)
“On her album, I painted a picture in my mind of how I hear these great songs, a picture so vivid and sharp in color and detail. Voice as instrument, it must be a harp. Song as tree, it must be an oak. Band as players, gardeners of sound and texture. Thoroughfare…plays in my car every time I head home from London in the night.” – Chris Difford of Squeeze
“…Martin’s sound is literally impossible to categorize. Through her voice, she makes every song a tapestry of word and sound that captures the subtlest of emotions and reveals observations of life that many of us miss in our daily trek….Rebecca Martin is indeed an artist that stands alone, both as a singer and as a compassionate human being.” –John Schoenberger, AAA Track. From “The Independence of Rebecca Martin”
Rebecca Martin – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar Steve Cardenas – Electric and Acoustic Guitar Larry Grenadier – Acoustic and Electric Bass Kenny Wolleson – Drums, Percussion, Harmonium, Marimba, Vibraphone
https://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Screenshot-2023-06-02-at-6.52.10-PM.png14101502rebeccamartinhttps://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/rm04brown.pngrebeccamartin2023-06-02 19:29:162025-02-26 19:45:18ON VINYL “Thoroughfare” by Rebecca Martin
https://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screen-Shot-2022-10-23-at-11.05.42-AM.png10481176rebeccamartinhttps://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/rm04brown.pngrebeccamartin2022-10-23 15:01:092025-02-26 19:40:36Rebecca Martin and Larry Grenadier To Perform in Spain, Italy, France and Netherlands December 2022
“Rebecca Martin is a singer/songwriter with a small but devoted following. After Midnight is a unique project for her, a collaboration with a well-established orchestra from Portugal. Martin’s husband, bassist Larry Grenadier, is a featured soloist.
Martin is a rarity among jazz singers: a true composer. But her songs are performed infrequently by others, perhaps because they are so specific to her. They are real-time dispatches from the front lines of life in the 21st century. They document the circumstances of her soul. They deal with common subjects like love, with uncommon insights into love’s ongoing paradoxes (“In the Nick of Time”). Often she writes about the fragile dynamics of the creative process itself (“Don’t Mean a Thing at All,” “All Day Long She Wrote”). Her language never concedes the obvious.
The orchestra is a continuous source of beauty on this album. It surrounds Martin with an envelope of complementary impressionism. Its lush textures and rich colors deepen the rapt atmosphere that is Martin’s natural habitat.
Martin’s vocal instrument is very fine, but sometimes what a singer can do with her voice is less important than who she is. Martin sings from the heart with plain-spoken humanity. When she takes on well-worn standards like “Willow Weep for Me,” she gives witness, without self-pity, to heartbreak.“Lush Life” is perfect for her. It is a song as stream of consciousness.Martin thinks it aloud, like a diary entry…”
https://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-03-at-3.45.50-PM.png11041108rebeccamartinhttps://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/rm04brown.pngrebeccamartin2022-03-10 21:11:342025-02-26 19:51:18After Midnight Review in All About Jazz
https://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Screen-Shot-2022-11-08-at-3.30.22-PM.png13401590rebeccamartinhttps://rebeccamartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/rm04brown.pngrebeccamartin2022-01-28 13:37:472025-02-26 19:52:02After Midnight is now available (1/28/22)
Rebecca Martin Makes Her Solo Stand – Jazz Times
The singer-songwriter, with just voice and guitar, presents a new and revelatory song cycle.
“Following the thread” is the phrase singer-songwriter Rebecca Martin uses to characterize her free-minded approach to composition. And it’s the method by which she developed the 13 songs on SHE (Sunnyside), her first solo album. Accompanied by her own guitar, Martin unfurls a cycle of tunes marked by a bracing, bittersweet intimacy, offering profound insights into loneliness, inchoate desire and hard-won perseverance.
“It didn’t occur to me earlier on to do a solo recording,” says Martin, who first emerged in the mid-1990s as the musical partner, with Jesse Harris, in the indie pop-jazz band Once Blue. Later collaborations with Guillermo Klein and Paul Motian had a major impact on Martin’s songwriting and informed SHE as well.”
Read more at Jazz Times
After Midnight – Teaser video
From the Archives: Once Blue (1994-1995)
In a bag of old tapes, I came across a couple of Video 8’s of my old band Once Blue.
Once Blue was popular in New York City back in the 1990’s led by Jesse Harris and I. It featured the musicians Ben Street (Acoustic Bass), Kurt Rosenwinkel (Electric Guitar) and Kenny Wollesen (Drums). We were signed to EMI Records in 1994 and would go on to release two albums: Once Blue (1995) and a re-release of the same album with bonus tracks (2003).
At a time before phones and social media, there isn’t any video documentation of this band. I’m very glad to have found these and to be able to share them with you.
ALSO AVAILABLE: Once Blue Live at the Handlebar (1996)
ON VINYL “Thoroughfare” by Rebecca Martin
Rebecca Martin’s first solo recording “Thoroughfare” (1998) is available on vinyl.
$40 (plus shipping/handling costs)
“…Martin’s sound is literally impossible to categorize. Through her voice, she makes every song a tapestry of word and sound that captures the subtlest of emotions and reveals observations of life that many of us miss in our daily trek….Rebecca Martin is indeed an artist that stands alone, both as a singer and as a compassionate human being.” – John Schoenberger, AAA Track. From “The Independence of Rebecca Martin”
Rebecca Martin – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Steve Cardenas – Electric and Acoustic Guitar
Larry Grenadier – Acoustic and Electric Bass
Kenny Wolleson – Drums, Percussion, Harmonium, Marimba, Vibraphone
Side – A
Side – B
Questions? Please contact rebecca@larreccamusic.com
Rebecca Martin and Larry Grenadier To Perform in Spain, Italy, France and Netherlands December 2022
After Midnight review in Stereophile Magazine
“Rebecca Martin is a singer/songwriter with a small but devoted following. After Midnight is a unique project for her, a collaboration with a well-established orchestra from Portugal. Martin’s husband, bassist Larry Grenadier, is a featured soloist.
Martin is a rarity among jazz singers: a true composer. But her songs are performed infrequently by others, perhaps because they are so specific to her. They are real-time dispatches from the front lines of life in the 21st century. They document the circumstances of her soul. They deal with common subjects like love, with uncommon insights into love’s ongoing paradoxes (“In the Nick of Time”). Often she writes about the fragile dynamics of the creative process itself (“Don’t Mean a Thing at All,” “All Day Long She Wrote”). Her language never concedes the obvious.
The orchestra is a continuous source of beauty on this album. It surrounds Martin with an envelope of complementary impressionism. Its lush textures and rich colors deepen the rapt atmosphere that is Martin’s natural habitat.
Martin’s vocal instrument is very fine, but sometimes what a singer can do with her voice is less important than who she is. Martin sings from the heart with plain-spoken humanity. When she takes on well-worn standards like “Willow Weep for Me,” she gives witness, without self-pity, to heartbreak. “Lush Life” is perfect for her. It is a song as stream of consciousness. Martin thinks it aloud, like a diary entry…”
– Thomas Conrad, July 2022, Stereophile Magazine
After Midnight Review in All About Jazz
After Midnight is now available (1/28/22)