Description:
Tuesday, March 24th - 7:15pm Show
Bell Stage Main Dining Room
*Special Guest vocalist Audrey Martin
Berkeley jazz singer Audrey Martin knows all about the power of a song to provide hope and spiritual sustenance in dark times. A rapidly emerging talent, she reveals a lifetime of hard-won wisdom with her captivating debut Living Room. Possessing impeccable taste and a gloriously warm and clear voice, Martin has cultivated a highly personal repertoire encompassing American Songbook gems and singer/songwriter treasures from Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Blossom Dearie, and Abbey Lincoln....
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Description:
Tuesday, March 24th - 7:15pm Show
Bell Stage Main Dining Room
*Special Guest vocalist Audrey Martin
Berkeley jazz singer Audrey Martin knows all about the power of a song to provide hope and spiritual sustenance in dark times. A rapidly emerging talent, she reveals a lifetime of hard-won wisdom with her captivating debut Living Room. Possessing impeccable taste and a gloriously warm and clear voice, Martin has cultivated a highly personal repertoire encompassing American Songbook gems and singer/songwriter treasures from Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Blossom Dearie, and Abbey Lincoln.
An album of bracing maturity, Living Room is not the work of a dewy ingÈnue. Rather, like some of eraís most incisive jazz singers, Martin dedicated herself to mastering the art form at mid-life. Possessing impeccable taste and blessed with a gloriously warm and clear voice, she makes every note count. More than setting a mood, Martin renders strikingly vivid scenes, from the beatifically becalmed (ìLazy Afternoonî and ìCalling Youî) to the quietly tempestuous (ìI Never Meant to Hurt Youî and ìWild Is the Windî). Itís not much of a stretch to hear her training and experience as a psychotherapist deeply informing her sensibility as a singer.
ìIím attracted to the chance to communicate the emotion of a lyric sensitively and in a deeply felt way, to find my way in the world of a song so that I am speaking to the listener,î Martin says. ìAs a therapist I hold the deeply felt and personal life stories of my patients, and as a vocalist I get to tell my own story and the stories of others through song.î
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Martin has surrounded herself with a superlative cast, including veteran pianist Larry Dunlap, who produced the album and arranged the material. The rhythm section tandem of bassist John Shifflett and drummer Jason Lewis is equally formidable. Reed expert Mary Fettig, first-call percussionist Michaelle Goerlitz, and versatile guitarist Jeff Buenz round out Martinís cast of collaborators.
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ìWhat attracted me to jazz from the beginning was the room it provides for improvisation and personal expression,î she says. ìThereís freedom to experiment and make the songs my own, and I can work with these amazing musicians who are in communication with one another on the stage, developing new language while at the same time adhering to the tune.î
"A confident, mature singer with a voice that can leave you hanging onto
every word." - TheJazzPage.com
"Martin says a lot in subtle ways. Her delivery is gentle and emotive,
measured and meaningful, and wholly connected to the spirit of each
song." - AllAboutJazz.com
Tonight's trio features:
Mickey McPhillips
Rob Gibson
Denny Berthiaume
DENNY BERTHIAUME,
piano, grew up outside Washington D.C. and Chicago. He is the only non-California native in the group although San Francisco is his home. He has performed with Bobby McFerrin, Diane Schuur, Joe Williams, Ed Thigpen, Stan Getz, k.d.lang, and Joan Rivers. He recorded 4 albums as co-leader of the successful fusion group Solar Plexus. He has appeared at jazz festivals in Monterey, the Russian River, San Jose, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He was professor in literature and music at Foothill College in Los Altos, California (1970-2004) and a published playwright.
Tickets $10.00 on line or $15.00 at the door
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