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Notes from a Labor Day Weekend:
I'm not sure I
know exactly how I found myself cruising MySpace profiles. A
Last.fm pal suggested checking out a singer, and one thing led to
another. Anyway, the samples are there - sometimes as many as a six-pack
of tunes - plenty enough to decide if these singers float your boat.
Yep, there are plenty of not-so-good singers there, too. Go.
Check the MySpace music front page.
We will giggle about the bad ones privately...but we won't talk about them.
Here are three that made the cut for me on this particular day. If you
find others that work for you,
drop me a suggestion! In the interest of
letting you discover some things for yourself, I'll keep my comments to
a minimum, and quote heavily from their profiles/bios.
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Hilary Kole
Working quite a bit in New York City, Ms. Kole's bio says she
"...began her professional career at the legendary Rainbow Room as
the youngest singer ever to grace the stage. From there, she
appeared in a sold-out run at the famed Oak Room at the Algonquin
Hotel, made her concert hall debut at Lincoln Center as part of the
'American Songbook Series' with Jonathan Schwartz, and in June of
2007, appeared at Carnegie Hall during a Tribute to Oscar Peterson.
Hilary has appeared as a headliner in New York City at Birdland,
Iridium, the Jazz Standard, and at Zankel Hall with Michael
Feinstein." |
I find Ms. Kole
a little formal-sounding - in a very pretty, Maureen McGovern kind of
way. If you like that, you'll love her voice. This young woman is silky
smooth, and gives the impression of restrained power. Nice backing with
a group led by Lee Musiker on piano and Sean Smith on bass. Four tracks
to listen to at her MySpace site - "Two For The Road" was my favorite
there - another downloadable (Cole Porter's "Night And Day") at
her
website.
Lisa Marinacci
A Pittsburgh native, Ms. Marinacci counts among her experiences
"Singer, Actress, Writer, Print Model (and) Lyricist." She spent a
three-year stint as a cruise-ship singer. Looks like lately, she's
spent a lot of time around theatres, writing "... the music
for a production of James and The Giant Peach that was performed in
conjunction with the University of Hawaii this past February. In
May, she (appeared) in the west-coast premier (sic) of the musical 'Tales
of Tinseltown' at the Crossley Theater in Hollywood, California,
and in August starred as "Peppermint Patty" in 'Snoopy, The
Musical.'"
Four tracks at her MySpace website
from the 2004 album, "Waiting For
Spring" - my favorite was "Too Darn Hot." Jazz guitarist Joe Negri
adds nice touches throughout.
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Maria Pia DeVito
This was the one that came as a suggestion from one of my
MySpace pals. I'm a sucker for singers in English with an
accent, so I liked Ms. DeVito immediately. Interesting
credentials - from her bio: "Singer, composer, arranger, she
study (sic) lyrical and contemporary singing and begins her
on-stage activity in 1976 as a singer and player (plectra,
percussions, piano) in research groups committed to ethnic music
as well as ethnic and non-ethnic polyphony, mostly related to
the Mediterranean, Balkan and south-American areas."
Yikes. "Amelia," one of three available for a listen at her
MySpace profile, is haunting, and although it sometimes has that
"all the words don't fit because we translated it" sound, it
still allows Ms. DeVito's voice to shine through. I don't think
Ms. DeVito's "Forse No" will be for everyone, but with a cup of
coffee in my hand on a Saturday morning, it was an interesting
experiment.
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Hilary Kole -
Three microphones (out of four)
Lisa Marinacci -
Three microphones (out of four)
Maria Pia DeVito -
Two and one-half microphones (out of four)
- Doug Boynton
(09/01/07) |
