Richard Skipper Celebrates...: jazz

Showing posts with label jazz. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Cabaret Month: Anna Danes and MORE!

The key to success is emotional stability.

-Warren Buffet

Happy March 21st, 2018!
March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 285 days remaining until the end of the year.
In my continuation of celebrating Cabaret Month, today I would like to introduce you to someone that I have fallen in love with! I love her voice!! Anna Danes.
Discovering a new life, fresh purpose and her true inner voice after years of keeping up appearances in an unfulfilled existence she called a “gilded cage,” Anna Danes is truly flying high. The emerging jazz vocalist and songwriter captures the inspirational philosophy that continues to propel her forward in the opening lines from “Find Your Wings,” the gorgeous piano-vocal ballad that is the title track and centerpiece to her new full length album.

Speaking both to her soul and to millions of women who seek the courage to liberate themselves and follow their deeper creative passions, she sings, “When you feel that you don’t fit/You’re not understood one bit/Find Your Wings/You can rise above the fray/Sing what you can’t seem to say/Find Your Wings.”

The Polish born, San Diego based multi-faceted artist and performer’s advocacy for passion-pursuing and dream chasing has caught on quickly. Upon its release, Find Your Wings debuted at #1 on the iTunes jazz chart. Soon thereafter, it placed on two Billboard charts, reaching #13 on the Traditional Jazz chart and in the Top 25 on the Jazz Albums chart. The collection, a follow-up to her well received 2013 debut Longing, was produced by Dave Darling (Brian Setzer, Tom Waits, Jack Johnson, Motley Crue) and recorded with top L.A. session musicians in Capitol’s Studios A, where greats like Frank Sinatra and Nat “King” Cole once held court.

A true Renaissance woman who has used music as a springboard to become a motivational speaker, budding author, noted philanthropist and live show producer in the San Diego area, Anna recently created a vision board for the way she wants her career to unfold.
It includes images of her flying out of LAX to a multitude of destinations, stages with microphones and large audiences, the Hollywood Bowl, NYC skyscrapers, Grammy Awards, even the cover of Time Magazine. Bold? Yes! Yet none of these hopes and dreams seemed remotely possible just a few years ago, when her marriage was breaking down and the onetime stay at home mom was trying to literally find her wings and start over at the age of 43. Recording her second album in the place where the legends worked their timeless magic was the ultimate confirmation that she had succeeded in re-inventing herself while sharing those long latent musical gifts with the world.

“I could feel my jaw literally drop, walking in there where these icons created their magic and realizing that this was my time to make my mark,” Anna says. “It was truly an incredible trip and dream come true.
Our incredible production team brought in old mics from all the greats that worked with them in the past, we used a Yamaha that Nat had played. I recorded ‘That’s All’ with Richard Shelton, one of the world’s premiere Sinatra singers, in grand Frank style, using his old mics in the middle of the Studio A, Sinatra style!
“For me,” she adds, “the moment went deeper than recording a wonderful track in a historic setting.

For a girl who spent the first part of her childhood in Communist Poland under a repressive regime, it was a moment that reminded me of the freedom and unlimited potential we can reach in America.

It was also a connection to the classic Hollywood movies I watched in those days, growing up with big dreams and fantasies while living in a small apartment in Poland, of what it would be like to be onstage dressed in sequins.”
Darling helped Anna realize her vision to create a recording in the style of the classic 1975 Tony Bennett/Bill Evans album that she heard for the first time a few years ago. “I loved the sparsity of the music and how strong Tony’s vocals were, how absolutely magnificent Bill’s playing was,” she muses.

“I thought that if I were to make another album it would be like that, strong and simple, with exceptional musicians who could tell their own story on their respective instruments.”
Having quickly developed her strengths as an authentic storyteller, lyricist and songwriter, Anna’s initial concept was to create an album of all original songs. Darling had hooked her up with veteran songwriters Cindy Alexander and Mary Harris, which resulted in powerful pieces that doubled as spiritual affirmations and declarations of the joy of finding new love – true emotional progress from her debut album, which centered on her longing for true connection.

Ultimately, Anna and Darling decided on the perfect balance – six originals and six golden standards that would reflect her new outlook on life while establishing a link to the history of jazz even as she was adding her own stamp on the genre.

“Find Your Wings is about me having found my passion and purpose and being set free on this exciting new path of music, which allowed me to leave my cage of self-doubt,” she says.

“I had a cushy lifestyle and could have taken the path of least resistance and stayed in it.
Five years ago I was a pale shadow of myself, dressed nicely for all the world to see but empty inside.”

The six standards on Find Your Wings are all “dear friends” already in her repertoire – “I Will Wait For You,” “It’s Crazy,” “I Want to Be Around/Cry Me A River,” “That’s All” and “In The Wee Small Hours.” The six originals are powerful snapshots of her life from around the time she wrote them. “The Voice,” a co-write

with Alexander, is about life at the end of her marriage, while “Mr. OMG,” co-penned with Harris, reflects on life after separation.
The others – “Long Distance” (co-written with Darling), “See You in L.A.” (with Alexander) and “I Love You,” a hypnotic a capella piece written by Anna that closes the set – are life with a new love and falling in love for the first time in a long time.
Although the title track, Find Your Wings, is universal in its emotional impact, Anna says she initially had herself and her daughter in mind when she wrote it. Ironically, the singer initially

discovered her latent vocal gifts via vocal lessons she had won in an auction and originally gave to her daughter, who had expressed a strong interest in music.
When her daughter wanted to quit after a few lessons, Anna stepped in and took one herself. The teacher, upon hearing her voice, said, ‘Wow, where did you come from?’ One of the teachers, veteran pianist, arranger and composer Larry White, became Anna’s mentor, helping her stay in tune, develop a unique style, find suitable songs and reach her potential. As composer, performer and producer, White guided the creative process of recording Longing.
In addition to her career as a singer, Anna produces private and public events as well as the very successful Jazz on Cedros concert series in San Diego that has celebrated sold out shows since its inception in 2014. She is currently writing her first book – also titled “Find Your Wings” – which chronicles her incredible journey from Poland to Canada and Southern California, through her careers as a lawyer and business manager for her husband, and the amazing unfolding of her musical artistry.
It is also a book of motivation and inspiration.

Anna recently began producing another ambitious project, The Jazz Divas, bringing together 15 of San Diego’s top jazz singers and presenting them in a glamorous Vanity Fair cover-style photoshoot held at the San Diego Symphony. Magazine editorials, a documentary and a “Jazz Divas” show based on the concept are currently in the works. She is also an avid philanthropist for causes that support women, children and the arts, with a seat on the board of the San Diego Symphony.

“When I first discovered my gift,” Anna says, “it was such a great feeling being able to sing, and I felt free and liberated for the first time in my life. I believe everything happens at the right time, and lived through so many geographic and emotional upheavals, I can bring truck-fuls of experience into every lyric I share. It’s a lot to have dealt with – three immigrations, losing my entire family, going through divorce, and illness – but from all that I’m able to bring a genuineness and honesty that comes with time and wisdom and not be afraid to show any of it. There’s a dignity that comes from being yourself and letting people know that it’s okay to be vulnerable – because we’re all in this together.”

Enjoy our interview...

What keeps you going in the creative process?
Life unfolding around me! My songs have been largely autobiographical - for me that’s the only way to go.

I cannot write about things that are not intimately familiar to me, that have not left a mark on my heart somehow. I get inspired by love, like most of us. I get inspired by beauty and nature - and hope. And every day, even the cloudy ones, are an opportunity to see something new, exciting or just through a different lens. I get excited by life, yes! And even the pain moves me because you have to deal with it and the best way to resolve pain is to create art with it and deliver an uplifting message that others will hopefully relate to.

What, other than music, has inspired you recently?
I’m a very visual and creative person, so my surroundings are key to inspiring me on a daily basis. My house, which is filled with tons of color and folk art, puts a smile on my face every day - that’s my baseline.
From there, I get inspired by a variety of things. Recently, I wrote a couple of blogs about a photoshoot I had in the Hollywood Hills - full on Old Hollywood glamour, under the Hollywood sign - and I discussed what “sexy” means to me. Nowadays, sexy gets lumped with trashier things - we tend to forget that sexy is healthy, normal and feminine for a woman.
I am making jazz sexy again - just being myself, glamorous, confident, curvy, never over-revealing, but always honest. You can read the blog here - it got published recently: keysandchords.com/news-blog/anna-danes-is-making-jazz-sexy-again

Who are your biggest musical influences?
I grew up with disco in the 1970’s in Poland! ABBA was a huge influence then. Also listened to a lot of adult contemporary music because of my parents: Streisand, Manilow, etc. Jazz came into my world when I was in my 20’s and I instantly fell in love with Ella Fitzgerald, the warm tone of her voice and its incredible power. Next came Sinatra. I can’t stop listening to that man.

Every time I turn Siriusly Sinatra on, I discover yet another song he did that I never heard of, a new way to phrase things, a new way express an emotion - and be unapologetically yourself.

What are your thoughts on today's music industry? Good, Bad, Indifferent
Complex. Still trying to figure it out! And the world of jazz and standards is so much different than the rest of the industry. Jazz is the quiet one that hasn’t been affected as much I don’t think by streaming and other changes.
Jazz lives in the moment so best place to hear jazz is in a live performance. I produce jazz shows in San Diego. They are hugely popular. Are we getting rich on them? No! But is everyone having fun, young and old - you bet! And it’s different every time, from fun to intellectually complex, from age-old familiar standards to in the moment insane

improvisations! Getting back to the bigger music industry question, I was reading Billboard Magazine yesterday and their “Top 100” issue. What blew me away is how much music is simply just big business now.

How did your latest CD come about?
My latest CD is called “Find Your Wings”. I was inspired by Hollywood and all things classic jazz! I was dating a gentlemen in the entertainment industry at the time too - a high up player.

I was inspired by him and his world and our relationship. So I wrote 6 (co-worte 5) songs about it. And then I decided to follow my musical heroes to the heart of Hollywood and record in the footsteps of Sinatra and Bennett at Capitol Studios! The sound of the album drew inspiration for the Bennett/Evans collaboration - strong and sparse. The look of the album was all classic glamour and beautiful, complete with a mural of Marilyn Monroe behind me on the album cover. The other six songs on the album are classic standards, re-worked in a fresh way by some of the best session players in Los Angeles.
Rich Ruttenberg arranged and played piano; Trey Henry on bass; John Ferraro on drums. Dave Darling produced and mixed and Steve Genewick engineered. The album has received countless positive critical reviews and ended up debuting #1 on the iTunes Jazz Chart and Top 25 in ALL of Billboard Jazz. I am quite proud of my “baby”!

What about your career isn’t working?

Music business is tricky, like any part of entertainment. It takes years and years sometimes to get wider recognition. You also have to have a great team around you and know who to trust. I’ve had some trip ups and disappointments, but you just keep going.
Wish I was “there” already, lol! And by that I mean, touring regularly and performing on big stages - that’s the plan!

How did you hear you’d booked your first big gig?
A phone call from the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club three years ago.
They wanted me to sing the National Anthem for Opening Day of Del Mar Racing, 45,000 people in attendance. I am a new immigrant to the US. I’ve never sang the National Anthem before!!!! But I took the gig and went to work and the following week, nailed it!
And then was asked the last two years as well!

What is your favorite event in the entertainment industry?

My shows: Jazz on Cedros, now in its 4th year in Solana Beach.
I bring different talent together at San Diego’s biggest urban winery, and we create a jazz night like no other, full of great music, fun, glamour, wine and gourmet food.
My other favorite event in the entertainment industry - sitting on the couch, watching the Grammys.
I went to the Grammys and the parties last year.
It was better on the couch at home!

If you could have coffee with any living person, it would be...
DAVID FOSTER and I’d convince him to produce for me an EPIC Jazz/Pop record the likes of which have never been heard before, lol, which would smash all of Michael Buble’s and Diana Krall’s records! That’s ALL!

If you could trade places with anybody for a day, you would choose…
I’d kick Tony Bennett off the stage at a sold out Hollywood Bowl summer concert, assuming the LA Philharmonic was backing him up, and take over for the night!

If there were no barriers to entry, what is one thing you would be doing?

Singing, speaking, writing, entertaining, inspiring professionally on very large stages around the world in front of millions.

If you could describe yourself in one word what would it be?
Authentic

What is one instance of knowing you are living in your vision?
Being asked by the San Diego Symphony four years in a row to produce and perform at one of their key fundraisers where glamour and jazz come together!

When can we expect your next CD?
No plans for release date but the songs are starting to write themselves! Was waiting for new stories! Maybe in 2019.

Name one person you would like to see profiled in my blog
Daneen Wilburn - friend and fellow singer from San Diego. About to release her debut album produced by two time Grammy Winner Kamau Kenyatta (Gregory Porter). She’s AWESOME!!! (Editor's Note: Daneen, if you see this, contact me!)

What's next?
Health. I just got diagnosed with breast cancer. First things first and hopefully the music will resume soon.

Anything else you wish included?
Always believe in yourself, live with passion, don’t be scared….and “Find Your Wings”!

Order Anna Danes' Find Your Wings HERE

Richard's Picks For The Day

ScoBar Entertainment is pleased to present DON MOST, as he returns to the Iridium stage with his new show Mostly Swinging, for one performance only, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, at 8:30pm. Best known to television audiences as “Ralph Malph” of the long-running show Happy Days, Don will be joined by his quartet.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Celebrating Joan Crowe and Don Murray!

" The trouble with the public is that there is too much of it."
-Don Marquis, American journalist (poet and dramatist, 1878-1937)

Happy Last Day of July!
How did THAT happen!?!?! I didn't even make it to a beach this month. I made it to a pool ONCE! And even then, I had to cut it short. I cut it short because I was heading into the city for a night of music. Music is what keeps me going when the world is falling apart around me. What a crazy month July was with the outcome of The Casey Anthony trial, the murder of an 8 year old Brooklyn boy, the debt ceiling debate, the Norway massacre! That's just this July!

Now, the highlights of July 2011 for me including singing at The Salon, seeing David McBride at The Metropolitan Room, celebrating Marriage Equality at The Nyack Seaport, seeing Baby Jane Dexter at The Metropolitan Room, being at Ann Hampton and Liz Callaway's cd release launch at Barnes and Noble and getting the cd, BOOM!, getting married!

Wow what a month!!(This is David McBride's incredible trio!)

As we creep into the dog days of summer, I am looking forward to dinners with friends, Jane Fonda, The Kong Show at The Iguana, Audie Moran's wedding, FOLLIES!, and Vickie Phillips in Vickie Schlepped Here!

As I've written on numerous occasions, I ALWAYS have music playing! Once again, I believe that if everyone would begin every day with a show tune, there would be no violence in the world.
I have a LOT of cds. 85% of them, I have bought. %10 percent of them are given to me by friends and then 5% of them are given to me as gifts. No matter which of these categories my cds fall in to, many of them just pile up in my closet until I can get around to listening to them in their entirety or downloading them into my Ipod which is always on shuffle. Such is the case with the cd I pulled to listen to this AM in its entirety, Joan Crowe's BIRD ON THE WIRE.

My apologies to Joan but this is the first time I got around to listening to this. I was blown away! Joan, THIS IS GREAT! From the moment that I heard the opening strains of Fever, I was hooked. And when I heard the closing notes of Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss, I was disappointed, because I did not desire this to end! Everyone, order this cd! I have known Joan a loonnngggg time. I have no idea how many years. All the years in my life as far as my friends are concerned are a blur. I do remember that I met Joan through Sue Matsuki, an incredible performer in her own right and someone I have written about previously. Sue is even the godmother of Joan's two kids, fast becoming young adults. What a sexy mama she is!

Order Joan Crowe: Bird On The Wire Here

Joan Crowe started her musical career in cabaret but “caught the jazz bug” when she opened for Joe Lovano in 2002. On her Debut Jazz CD, BIRD ON THE WIRE, she is joined by Tedd Firth on Piano, Jay Leonhardt on Bass, Scott Neuman on Drums, George Walker Petit on guitar, and Justin Flynn on Sax Her shows combine Jazz with a bit of comedy "sprinked in". . She performs regularly with her band, High Society Rhythm. Her credits include performances at The Rainbow Room, The Oak Room in Grand Prospect Hall , The Carnegie Club, Trumpets Jazz Club, The Manor, The Hackensack Cultural Arts Center, Westchester Conservatory of Music, Rockland Center for the Arts, The Emelin Theatre, Archie’s Place, The Plaza Hotel, Don’t Tell Mama, Brunelli’s, Eighty-Eights, Orchard Street and The Globe, Harry’s of Hartsdale, Coyote Flaco, Zuppas, Danny’s Skylight Room, The Duplex, Judy’s Chelsea, The Cinegrill in Los Angeles, Odettes, Teddy Cares, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the ASCAP songwriters’ showcase, and the Mable Mercer Cabaret Convention at Town Hall. She is very proud of the money she has raised for Breast Cancer and other charities performing one of her four Cabaret shows: Women of Note, a tribute to Women Songwriters. Time Out New York selected her as “Critic’s Pick” for her cabaret show, Shooting Stars, which earned her first MAC Award nomination in 2000. Her show As the Crowe Flies was dubbed “Fabulous!” by Bloomberg Radio, and “Hilarious!” by the Associated Press and earned her a second MAC Award nomination. The Devil in Miss Joan, a hysterical look at good and evil” garnered her the coveted MAC Award for Musical Comedy in 2002. Before she switched to singing, she was well known to daytime viewers in a recurring role on All My Children, Joan has also appeared on screen in Working Girl and An Eye For An Eye, with Sally Field. Classically trained with a MFA from the Asolo State Theatre and a BFA in Theatre from Indiana University at Bloomington, her acting credits are extensive.
She has performed Regionally at the Asolo State Theater, Kennedy Center, Indiana Repertory, The Phoenix. Her New York acting credits include Dance Theatre Workshop, Altered Stages and Theatre Works USA. She’s married to actor/producer Robb Pruitt.

Joan Crowe’s debut album “Bird on a Wire” walks an electrifying line, fusing jazz with a nest of musical styles. Whether putting a gospel groove to Leonard Cohen’s song for the title track or a Reggae beat to the obscure Beatles’ tune, I’m Only Sleeping; this album exemplifies her creative flights of fancy. She puts her sensual, soldering iron to work when she melds Peggy Lee’s Fever with Diane Shure’s I Caught a Touch of your Love. Her jazzy renditions of Never Never Land and Everything will make you believe that this lullaby and pop tune were always meant to swing. She will seduce you with her sexy, soulful voice on the country ballad Every Night I Sleep with an Angel, then have you tapping your feet to her original tune, Petite Southern Woman. Her smokey voice feels almost translucent on the sentimental The Way You Look Tonight and aches with longing on the haunting I Cover the Waterfront. This MAC award winner for comedy allows her wry sense of humor to enchant you throughout, but it comes through particularly strong on the whimsical Boom Boom, and Twisted.
Joan weaves a unique artistic home by building her musical nest with a little jazz, a little country and a dose of whimsy all held together with an honest voice, and a genuine joy of singing. This lovely Crowe walks a fine line indeed balancing on this wire!

These reviews are from: Bird on The Wire (Audio CD), AMAZON.COM
I've had the pleasure of seeing Joan Crowe perform her singing magic a number of times.
She has the unique ability to sing a beautiful, heartfelt piece and then entertain you with her great sense of humor in between songs. It's always a great time.

I heard about this singer while in New York City recently. They told me she was a hit at Birdland.
Listened to a pod cast and now bought the CD. Keep your eye on this talent.

Thank you, Joan, for all you give us!

Today is also Don Murray's 82nd birthday! I've had a crush on Don ever since I saw him in BUS STOP at The Regency Theatre in 1983!

Donald Patrick "Don" Murray (born July 31, 1929) is an American actor and director.

Murray was born in Hollywood, California.
He attended East Rockaway High School (class of 1947) in East Rockaway, New York where he played football and track, was a member of the student government and glee club and joined the Alpha Phi Chapter of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. From high school he went on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Murray had a long and varied career in films and television, including his role as Sid Fairgate in the long-running prime-time soap opera Knots Landing from 1979 to 1981. He was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor in Bus Stop (1956) in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe.

He starred as a blackmailed United States senator in Advise & Consent (1961), a film version of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Allen Drury that was directed by Otto Preminger and cast Murray opposite Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton. He also co-starred with Steve McQueen in the film Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) and played the ape-hating Governor Breck in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972).

In addition to acting, Murray directed a film based on the book The Cross and the Switchblade (1970) starring Pat Boone and Erik Estrada, and he scripted two episodes of Knots Landing ("Hitchhike" parts 1 & 2) in 1980.

Murray starred with Otis Young in the ground breaking ABC western television series The Outcasts (1968-69) featuring an interracial bounty hunter team in the post-Civil War West.

Murray decided to leave Knots Landing after two years to concentrate on other projects, although some sources say he left over a salary dispute. The character's death was notable at the time because it was considered rare to "kill off" a star character. The death came in the second episode of season three, following up on season two's cliffhanger in which Sid's car careered off a cliff. To make viewers off doubt the character would actually die, Murray was listed in the newly created credit sequence for season three; the character survived the plunge off the cliff (thus temporarily reassuring viewers), but died shortly afterwards in hospital.
But THIS is what started it for me!

Happy Birthday, Don! And THANK YOU!
WIKIPEDIA WAS A MAJOR SOURCE OF THIS BLOG!

"If I have offended one person, I have offended one person too many" Here's to an INCREDIBLE weekend for ALL!

GO SEE A LIVE SHOW TONIGHT!

Become A Facebook friend of mine!
Follow me on Twitter
If you've seen one of my appearances/shows, add your thoughts to my guestbook at www.RichardSkipper.com

Tomorrow's blog will be a YOU TELL ME...I'm open to suggestions!

Please contribute to the DR. CAROL CHANNING & HARRY KULLIJIAN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS:
http://www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm

And help us get Carol Channing the 2011 Kennedy Center Honor!
Contact me for details!
TILL TOMORROW...HERE'S TO AN ARTS FILLED AUGUST!
Richard Skipper, Richard@RichardSkipper.com