The Charlottesville Jazz Society presents Laura Ann Singh and The Fracas Quintet at Visible Records February 22nd at 4:00 pm.
Laura Ann Singh is a multilingual American singer, composer, and recording artist, known for her vibrant interpretations of Brazilian popular music, Latin boleros, and beyond. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed ensemble Miramar, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, and on NPR’s Tiny Desk and All Songs Considered. With Miramar, Singh has toured internationally, from Russia to France. Her jazz work includes a stint with The Doug Richards Orchestra. Laura Ann Singh’s performance on Scott Clark’s 2023 “Dawn & Dusk” got the album attention as one of the Best Vocal Releases of the Year by the New York City Jazz Record, and of Singh Free Jazz Collective said “She has a hauntingly angelic voice, that is at once assertive and fragile.” Soon after the release of Dawn & Dusk Singh began composing her own material, first lyrics to Ornette Coleman’s Broken Shadows, then her own compositions for the Fracas Quintet, which would become her new album ”Mean Reds.” She will debut music from that album at this Charlottesville concert. The band will include Scott Clark on drums, Adam Hopkins on bass, John Lilley on sax, and Bob Miller on trumpet....
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The Charlottesville Jazz Society presents Laura Ann Singh and The Fracas Quintet at Visible Records February 22nd at 4:00 pm.
Laura Ann Singh is a multilingual American singer, composer, and recording artist, known for her vibrant interpretations of Brazilian popular music, Latin boleros, and beyond. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed ensemble Miramar, she has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, and on NPR’s Tiny Desk and All Songs Considered. With Miramar, Singh has toured internationally, from Russia to France. Her jazz work includes a stint with The Doug Richards Orchestra. Laura Ann Singh’s performance on Scott Clark’s 2023 “Dawn & Dusk” got the album attention as one of the Best Vocal Releases of the Year by the New York City Jazz Record, and of Singh Free Jazz Collective said “She has a hauntingly angelic voice, that is at once assertive and fragile.” Soon after the release of Dawn & Dusk Singh began composing her own material, first lyrics to Ornette Coleman’s Broken Shadows, then her own compositions for the Fracas Quintet, which would become her new album ”Mean Reds.” She will debut music from that album at this Charlottesville concert. The band will include Scott Clark on drums, Adam Hopkins on bass, John Lilley on sax, and Bob Miller on trumpet.
Mean Reds (OOYH 038), the debut album by Richmond-based vocalist and composer Laura Ann Singh, was conceived after she first heard Asha Puthli’s incredible contributions to Ornette Coleman’s Science Fiction in 2023. Though a relative newcomer to the improvised music world, the multilingual Singh is internationally renowned as a founding member of the bolero band Miramar, and recently as the featured vocalist in Tomeka Reid’s Ellington project. She has long admired free and avant garde jazz, but knew that her contribution to the genre would not be sound-based or heavily dependent on extended techniques like many modern singers. Her compositional approach, less common in the avant jazz world, is rooted in song. The material on Mean Reds ranges from full on free jazz to experimental rock, and Singh’s strength as an improviser is to never be tied to a specific interpretation of her melodies. The transparent instrumentation of her Fracas Quintet, a chordless quintet of vocals with tenor saxophone, trumpet, bass, and drums (strongly resembling Ornette Coleman’s classic 1960s bands), leaves considerable space for her profound lyrics to be the focal point of the album. Listeners may hear glimpses of Bjork, Joni Mitchell, Annette Peacock, and even The Breeders and Pixie’s Kim Deal throughout the 8 tracks that make up Mean Reds, making it quite unlike anything currently happening in the world of modern creative jazz and improvised music.
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