Chet Baker would be Proud!

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Tom

Double Entendre: A Tribute to Chet Baker

A Tribute to Chet Baker featured six of the area’s top jazz musicians performing an evening of Baker’s signature songs. including the timeless There Will Never Be Another You and his famous Let’s Get Lost.

Chris Brown played trumpet and flugelhorn, Kim Oler was on vocals (and piano as the mood struck). Nick Bariluk did the heavy lifting on piano with Bob Leonard on drums, David Snyder on bass, and David Hirschman on guitar.

Here are a few photos from the show – just click on any one for a slideshow:

Photos by Tom Hearne

A Tribute to Chet Baker – Cool Jazz!

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Tom

Double Entendre: A Tribute to Chet Baker

Voices Cafe is proud to present a change of pace for November: a musical homage to the “Cool Jazz” legend, Chet Baker. A Tribute to Chet Baker features five of the area’s top jazz musicians performing an evening of Baker’s signature songs including the timeless My Funny Valentine, There Will Never Be Another You and his famous Let’s Get Lost. The Tribute concert will explore Baker’s emotive, cool jazz approach. The band includes vocalist Kim Oler, trumpet player Chris Brown, pianist Rob Silvan, bassist John Mobilio, and drummer Bob Leonard.

Don’t miss Cool Jazz in the intimate setting of the Sanctuary – candle lit tables, jazz, friends – everything but the smoke-filled room!

Chet Baker was an elusive icon. A leader of the West Coast school of cool jazz in the 1950s, he had a restrained, intimate playing style on trumpet and flugelhorn. His singing was just as intimate, with a remarkable voice that was delicate, plaintive, evanescent. Though his life was haunted by addiction and ended much too soon, Baker is revered as one of the original voices in jazz. His matinee-idol good looks were not lost on filmmaker Bruce Weber. He rightfully focused on Baker’s musical influence in his highly acclaimed documentary, Let’s Get Lost, (1988).

In the Tribute, Kim Oler will sing songs that are associated with Baker and which have become regular inclusions in his own concerts, including, That’s All, Time After Time, and There Will Never Be Another You.

“Chet was such a monumental talent, it will take two of us to recreate his stuff,” laughs trumpet player Chris Brown, remarking how he and Oler will combine to cover Baker’s horn and vocal talents. “Chet Baker’s music is an antidote to the brash, aggressive world we’re surrounded by,” adds Brown. “His music makes it’s own world. It’s a wonderful world to live in.”

MUSICIANS WHO PERFORM THE TRIBUTE:

Chris Brown in addition to playing trumpet and flugelhorn, Chris is an acclaimed sound engineer and producer, recording many of Paul Winter’s CDs as well as jazz greats like Jack McDuff and Al Gray. A Bethel resident, he was classically trained at Oberlin College and has been playing jazz for more than 30 years.

Kim Oler has a 27-year career both singing songs from the American Songbook and and writing music for theatre, television and cabaret. He is the winner of two Emmy Awards, two Richard Rodgers Awards and the 2002 BMI Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in the Musical Theater. He is also composer of the hymn “For the Earth Forever Turning” in the UUA hymnal.

Nick Bariluk, pianist, has just released a new album of jazz standards, Wide Open Dreams, with his group New England Sky. He records and produces talent in his Danbury, Connecticut studio. He has worked internationally with such major talent as Pat Metheny, Randy Brecker, Grover Washington Jr. and Herbie Hancock drummer Mike Clark. He has also composed music for over 30 films and PBS documentaries,

Bob Leonard, a formidable drummer, has played locally with New England Sky as well as Chris Brown and Nicole Pasternak. He is a veteran of the Woody Herman Orchestra, Dave Liebman’s band and many others.

David Snyder, bassist, has been active in the jazz world, primarily in New York City since the early 80s. His diversity has allowed him to work with artists like Rosemary Clooney and Patti Page. David studied with bassist Michael Moore, and taught as an adjunct professor at New York University.

The Nields fill the house…and home…the ‘Full Catastrophe’!

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Tom

THE NIELDS March 9th, 2013

The Nields sang to a full house at Voices Cafe on Saturday, March 9th. With humor and insight they recounted many aspects of the ‘full catastrophe’ of life – a touching tribute to aspiring parents and the twisted trail of enlightened living.

The YaYas and Carolanne Solebello postponed due to Nemo

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Tom

The Nemo storm had many unfortunate effects. Among them was the need to postpone our concert for February: The YaYas and Carolann Solebello. We are working hard to find a new date for this great combination! Stay tuned…

The YaYas

With a style that’s hard to define and a charm that quickly wins over an audience, the best way to describe the Ya Yas is to read some of the accolades that audiences have given

“The YaYas write first rate songs which have a timeless feeling. They are beautifully sung – delivered with both skill & charm.”

“The songs of this trio are wise and moving, the melodies poignant. …”

“…smart, tuneful, loose and fun.”

“The YaYas write first rate songs which have a timeless feeling. They are beautifully sung – delivered with both skill & charm.”

…AND Carolann Solebello

Best known as a founding member of the female trio Red Molly, Carolann now flies solo, playing American roots with a New York accent. She recorded three CDs with Red Molly, including “James” (2010), which peaked at #4 on the AMA chart. Her latest solo record is “Threshold” (2011).

“Solebello’s multi-instrumental chops, her gift for songwriting and versatile vocals run the gamut from country, bluegrass, gospel and contemporary folk… She is in total command of her art and exudes a confident, effortless approach throughout.” ~ Jim Hynes, Elmore Magazine

Martha Redbone and William Blake Center Stage

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Tom

Even after all the accolades, the articles, the Grammy nominations, etc, who knew what to Martha Redbone at Voices Cafe expect when Martha Redbone and her band took the stage? Did they expect the humility? the warmth? the presence? the energy with which the poetry of William Blake is translated into the melodies and heart-arches of our times and all times?

The answer: no one knew exactly what to expect – and everyone was blown away!

In our first concert of 2013, Voices Cafe was proud host to Martha and her band on Saturday, January 12th.

Take this opportunity to share your stories from that night by commenting below.

Click on any of the photos for a slideshow…

About MarthaRedbone…

VILLAGE VOICE

“Poised to be Americana’s next superstar”

TIME OUT NEW YORK
“Martha Redbone is a charismatic indie-soul diva whose sound is a just-right mix of retro and modern”

TIM JOHNSON, Director of the Smithsonian Institute; National Museum of the American Indian
“Martha Redbone’s journey back to the source of American music — and to her ownheritage — has conjured up an artistic triumph. The Garden Of Love poignantly reveals a musician at the top of her game, vocally, intellectually, and spiritually. One not only hears the voice of the Bard, in this case William Blake’s legendary prose arranged and phrased brilliantly, but also the very origins of American music arising from the blend of American Indian, African American, and English folk music traditions. It’s the dawn of a new day for this fascinating artist, and we’re all the beneficiaries of her confident, and yet sensitive, quest.”

…and, THE NEW YORKER

“In a brilliant collision of cultures, the powerful blues and soul singer Martha Redbone has recorded an album called “The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake,” which was produced by John McEuen, of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In it, the mystical, humanistic words of the eighteenth-century English poet are fused with the melodies, drones, and rhythms of the Appalachian string-band music that Redbone absorbed as a child from her grandparents, in Black Mountain, Kentucky.”

Martha Redbone is also a leader and activist. Here is some addtional material from her website:

“Alongside her career as a recording artist and songwriter Martha Redbone has maintained a steady involvement with causes she believes in utilizing her celebrity in Indian Country for fundraising and leadership.

Ms. Redbone holds an annual Traditional Music Workshop within the United Houma Nation’s Cultural Enrichment Summer Camp program teaching grade school age children the music from her Choctaw and Cherokee heritage as well as incorporating the tribe’s own Houma-French language.

Martha has given talks on subjects ranging from Indigenous rights to the role of arts in politics at many institutions including New York University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and on Native Identity during the Native Theater Festival at the Public Theater in NYC. Her album “Skintalk” is part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian as an example of contemporary Native American music. She is featured in NMAI’s current exhibit “Up Where We Belong- Native Americans in Popular Culture”.”

Voices Café

Folk concerts for Social Justice, sponsored by The Unitarian Church in Westport

Chet Baker would be Proud!

A Tribute to Chet Baker – Cool Jazz!

The Nields fill the house…and home…the ‘Full Catastrophe’!

The YaYas and Carolanne Solebello postponed due to Nemo

Martha Redbone and William Blake Center Stage