LAUREL MASSÉ FANSITE: febrero 2010

16.2.10

Laurel Massé - Special Guest

Wendy Lane Bailey
At
the Metropolitan Room
With
Michele Brourman – Music Director
Laurel Massé – Special Guest
February 26th at 9:45 PM
February 27th at 7:30 PM
$20.00 Cover / 2 Drink Minimum

The Metropolitan Room
34 West 22nd Street
New York, NY
Reservations: (212)206-0440

No themes, no gimmicks. Just great songs, sung well. Wendy Lane Bailey and arranger/composer Michele Brourman have combined their musical sensibilities in a program of the best in lyric-driven contemporary song with a strong feminine point of view. Joining them as special guest will be singer Laurel Massé, founding member of Grammy award-winning vocal group The Manhattan Transfer.
The Metropolitan Room dates are a continuation of a partnership that began in the spring of 2009. Brourman, who is best known as the composer of songs like “My Favorite Year” and for her work with Amanda McBroom, and Bailey had been talking about working together for several years. “When we finally got together, we had about ninety songs to look at, and we had a wonderful time narrowing the list down to the ones we eventually put in the set. It’s wonderful working with someone who has flawless musical taste, even better when they write great songs too!” says Bailey. In addition to songs by Brourman and McBroom, songs by Joni Mitchell, June Carter Cash, Gretchen Peters, Cole Porter and Marshall Barer are part of the set. Familiar tunes are given new settings, and obscure tunes feel like old friends.

From the Metropolitan Room, Bailey heads down to Washington, DC for an appearance at Blues Alley. Next, she and Brourman will head into the recording studio to lay down tracks for a CD scheduled for release later this summer. Her website is .

http://www.makinmusicny.com/events/wendy-lane-bailey-at-1

5.2.10

JAZZ ON THE VINE SPECIAL PREVIEW Concert with JaLaLa, Feb 6!

JAZZ ON THE VINE has scheduled a special preview event for Saturday, February 6 at 3 p.m., at the gorgeous Steinway Series' Raphael Winery. It will feature the incredible group JaLaLa, the leaders of which are three female vocalists who are/were with Grammy-Award winning, world-famous vocalist-led jazz groups: Lauren Kinhan with New York Voices, and Janis Siegel and Laurel Masse with Manhattan Transfer. The JaLaLa group is, as you would expect, backed by top-notch piano, bass, drums and horn players. Their sound is a contemporary and equally talented version of the legendary Andrews Sisters. Until recently the opera world had its 3 Tenors ... and now the jazz world has JaLaLa.

http://www.liwinterfest.com/liwinterfest/?src=liwinterfest.com

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs064/1101910326477/archive/1102984811485.html

4.2.10

JaLaLa Sings!

Lauren Kinhan, Laurel Massé, Janis Siegel

Thursday, February 4th 7:00 PM

Gerald Veasley's Jazz Base

Reading, PA (610)777-2310

Information and reservations

Saturday, February 6th, 3 PM

Jazz on the Vine Long Island Winterfest

Peconic, Long Island, NY

(631)765-1100

Information / reservations

Sunday, February 7th 2:30 PM

The Towne Crier Café

130 Route 22 Pawling, NY

(845)855-1300

Information / reservations

"Blue Skies" Song of the Day on NPR! Share comments!

February 2, 2010 - A ukulele's plucky strum kicks off a buoyant new version of the 1926 classic "Blue Skies." The musician is Killian Mansfield, whose innate optimism didn't fade when he began fighting cancer at age 11. Five years later, he died of the disease — on Aug. 20, 2009 — but the gifted string musician lived long enough and stayed strong enough to fulfill a dream: recording a CD whose proceeds would benefit the integrative therapies he embraced, from acupuncture to aroma therapy. The album, Somewhere Else, came out 16 days before Mansfield's death, and has built a following slowly ever since.

Mansfield took up the ukulele in 2007, after his cancer made it too difficult for him to play the violin. He appreciated the instrument's light weight and ease of play, and was drawn to its percussive quality: A ukulele can set the beat, and that's what it does in "Blue Skies." Mansfield's mom was originally scheduled to sing the song, as she had done many times with her son while he was entertaining fellow patients at the National Institute of Health. But Mansfield and his friends had many music-business connections. So the vocalist is Manhattan Transfer's Laurel Masse, whose luscious chops are complemented by a jaunty clarinet and mellow, slightly melancholy bass line, all part of an arrangement that Mansfield himself cooked up. But, really, his ukulele is what propels the song; it's the insistent sound of a young man who, as his mother remembers, loved playing music for people and believed that as long as you're alive, you might as well look on the bright side.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123268337

Suscribirse a: Entradas (Atom)

LIVE: JaLaLa @ The Egg, 6/5/10

The name JaLaLa is a clever use of the first two letters of the first names of the three internationally acclaimed songbirds fronting the fabulous trio.

Janis Siegel, Laurel Masse and Lauren Kinhan are certainly no strangers to the jazz community. Their considerable vocal talents have long been an integral part of such world-renowned ensembles as Manhattan Transfer (Siegel & Masse) and the New York Voices (Kinhan).

Last Saturday night, vocal sparks ignited the pyrotechnic vocal-fun at The Egg in Albany when these three distinct voices joined forces to sing, swing and scat their way through an uninterrupted set of originals, American jazz, Broadway standards and the classic Johnny Mercer songbook. (JaLaLa’s debut album is a tribute titled, “That Old Mercer Magic!”)

Backing the three chanteuses was a crack rhythm section featuring bassist Steve LaSpina, drummer Deric Dickens and long-time Manhattan Transfer music director/pianist Yaron Gershovsky.

http://www.nippertown.com

Birdland

JALALA = Janis Siegel, Laurel Masse and Lauren Kinhan…three gals who know from vocal groups. Janis has been with the Manhattan Transfer since the beginning. Laurel was part of the original Transfer. Lauren is one of the New York Voices. Happily, they have joined forces for this fabulous vocal klatch called JaLaLa. They sold-out Birdland on Monday night, showing off with their signature harmonies and gorgeous solo vocals, but a dazzling highlight came during the encore. The trio had planned a re-interpretation of the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross masterpiece, “It’s Sand, Man,” but Janis had spied the song’s creater and King of Vocalese, Mr. Jon Hendricks, sneak into the club to catch the act. They invited him onstage (left) to add some extra-special hip to the scene, making it one of the more historic moments we’ve witnessed! Thanks, Ja, La, and La for an amazing night!

http://castpartynyc.com/

LAUREL MASSÉ

Laurel Massé, founding member of Grammy award-winning vocal group Manhattan Transfer, toured internationally for seven years with the group and recorded five albums. In 1979, a serious automobile accident forced her departure. After two years of convalescence, she began touring again both in the States and in Europe. She has released four solo CDs. The first two, Alone Together and Easy Living, both hit the Billboard Jazz charts; the third, Again, was a People magazine pick. Feather and Bone, her 2000 release, was picked by audiophile magazine The Absolute Sound as "a recording of extraordinary musical and sonic value". In 2002 she released Ballads.

Coming Out nº1 in Europe

COMING OUT/BRITISH BPI GOLD LP AWARD 1977

Coming Out sold millions of copies in Europe, where a single from the album, "Chanson D'Amour," hit #1 in France and in England, a chart-topper on both sides of the English Channel. On the strength of "Chanson D'Amour," the Manhattan Transfer toured Europe again, including a show at the MIDEM music business convention in Cannes. In a 1977 interview, Alan Paul remembered how that song was chosen and recorded. "The song was written in 1957. We'd been recording all day and we hadn't gotten that far. Just as we were about to leave, Laurel shouted, 'Hey wait a minute, I've got an idea.' She used an Edith Piaf sound in her voice and we recorded it in one take. She wanted to get a romantic French feel behind it."

The Manhattan Transfer Show/CBS TV

Because of the lack of rehearsal time to learn new material, the Manhattan Transfer mined their catalog for over 30 different songs during the show's four-week run - they went through all their recorded material, the stuff that hadn't been recorded yet, enough music to record a new studio album every Sunday night. "We didn't want to get picked up for another season," said Tim, "because we knew that we couldn't do another season. These shows are put together in a week, and this is why television is what it is.

PASTICHE

Pastiche (Atlantic 19163), lived up to its name - a mixture of various musical styles and genres. By this time, the Manhattan Transfer were experimenting with more open voicings and less block harmony, adding new depth to their vocal precision. Between Pastiche's list of Cole Porter and Duke Ellington songs, the Manhattan Transfer collaborated for the first time with JonHendricks, the vocal jazz legend and one-third of the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross vocal jazz group. The collaboration, "Four Brothers," was originally written by Jimmy Giuffre for Woody Herman's Second Herd. For this song, the Manhattan Transfer replicated - using only their voices and Jon Hendricks' lyrics - the melodies of Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Herbie Steward and Serge Chaloff, Woody Herman's sax section.

Pastiche Nº10 in UK and nº 1 in Norway

Pastiche sold well in Europe, but could climb no higher than #66 on the American album charts. Tim, Alan, Janis and Laurel toured Europe, playing concerts in support of Pastiche, and listening to different music in anticipation of using some new ideas for a new album. "We had just come back from Europe," said Alan, "we were in Europe for a couple of months touring, and we were scheduled to open in the Roxy Theater in Los Angeles, and we had all these new ideas and things that we wanted to present to the public."

THE BEGINNINGS

The Manhattan Transfer re-emerged as a four-piece, with Janis Siegel (alto), Laurel Massé (soprano), and Alan Paul (tenor), who found each other in a series of happy accidents. Tim Hauser was driving a cab at the time, and picked up passenger Laurel Masse; they got to talking. Tim met Janis Siegel through a drummer acquaintance. Janis had been performing at the Greenwich Village coffeehouse scene with a group called "Laurel Canyon." Alan Paul had been appearing in the musical "Grease!" (Laurel's boyfriend was a musician in the production, and referred him).