Singer/Songwriter Lauren Kinhan has been creating genre-merging music for years as evidenced in her latest collection of songs. Avalon is another fine example of how she comfortably bridges the jazz and adult alternative worlds. The last 18 years of her career have taken her all over the world and allowed her to work with some of the industry’s great artists. Parenthood influenced the album’s thematic depth and provided a beautiful filter in which to experience this growing repertoire. Avalon speaks elegantly to solitude, love, life, loss and JOY!
Legendary Phil Ramone describes Lauren as a true songstress, “She is musical, lyrical, and really delivers vocally.” Phil produced Lauren’s debut release, Hardly Blinking, in 2000. Avalon is a good look at some of the mile markers since then. Her versatility in singing and contributing original music is evidenced in her years with New York Voices, and co-founding Moss and JaLaLa. Moss, made up of Luciana Souza, Kate McGarry, Theo Bleckmann, Peter Eldridge and Lauren, released their self titled CD in 2008 to rave reviews. In 2010, it was included in DownBeat’s Best CDs of the 2000s. JaLaLa is short for Janis Siegel, Laurel Massé and Lauren, and they released their tribute to Johnny Mercer, That Old Mercer Magic, in 2009. “Spring, Spring, Spring” was selected from their CD to be on the soundtrack of Clint Eastwood's documentary of Mercer titled, The Dream’s on Me.
Avalon features some of Lauren’s closest friends who happen to be some of New York’s finest musicians. It is a rich project with well crafted arrangements highlighting Lauren’s supple voice and prose while leaving room for great instrumental moments. Ben Wittman, the singer-songwriter “whisperer,” co-produces this project brilliantly. Peter Eldridge, fellow New York Voices band mate, plays piano and co-pens some songs. Jonatha Brooke joins her on “Here After” while Rob Mounsey adds an exquisite string arrangement. Romero Lubambo guests on “Until You’re Mine” and “Here is My Avalon” and Donny McAslin and Joel Frahm add their signature horn handiwork. Andy Ezrin is also featured on piano and B3 organ. The sophisticated and nuanced attention to detail is present throughout the recording.
Lauren has been serving as a Board of Governor for the Recording Academy since 2008 and sits on their sub committees for Education, Jazz and Grammy Career Day. She is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music.
New York Voices
Celebrating their 20th Anniversary in 2009 is just one milestone in this vocal groups illustrious career. New York Voices has been creating their elegant four part harmony, merging jazz, Brasilian jazz, pop, classical and original compositions into one big vocal concept. They have earned their stripes in the jazz arena with their performances on the Grammy-Award-winning Count Basie Orchestra CD Live at the Manchester Craftsman Guild and Paquito D’Rivera’s Brazilian Dreams. Their practiced art form moves seamlessly in and out of many schools, borrowing from the Vocalese legacy of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross and Manhattan Transfer while interpreting their own version of voices emulating instruments and original words speaking the poetry of it’s time.
Formed in 1987 by Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Kim Nazarian, Caprice Fox and Sara Krieger, released their debut CD, New York Voices, in 1989 for GRP Records. They completed three more projects — Hearts of Fire, What's Inside and The Collection. Sara Krieger left the group and was replaced by Lauren Kinhan in 1992, and her first contribution picks up with What’s Inside. In 1994, Caprice Fox left the group, forever fixing NYV as the quartet it is today.
They have tipped their hat to the Big Band Swing era with Sing, Sing, Sing, paid homage to a great American singer/songwriter on New York Voices Sing the Songs of Paul Simon, created a Holiday program and Swing Program for Symphony orchestras, and interlaced their original compositions between jazz standards and contemporary covers on A Day Like This. The four voices are the through line in whatever they produce.
In 2010 they were presented in the Legends of Jazz series with Jon Hendricks and Manhattan Transfer — the first time all three artists have shared the stage.
For more information about the Voices and their tour schedule, please visit newyorkvoices.com.
Moss
“This jazz vocal supergroup has just created the greatest vocal fusion of jazz, rock and folk music since the first record by Bobby McFerrin 26 years ago.”
–Jeff Simon, Buffalo News
Individually, they are five phenomenal and distinctive vocalists: Theo Bleckmann, the effusive German-American meistersinger known for his brilliant collaborations with Meredith Monk, Steve Coleman, and Laurie Anderson; Peter Eldridge, an eclectic vocalist, composer, and member of the New York Voices; Lauren Kinhan, known for her charismatic voice, genre bending originals, and her dedicated years as a member of the New York Voices; Kate McGarry, a vocal polymath at home with the folk tradition and the Big Apple bandstand; Luciana Souza, the Brazilian whose repertoire ranges from bossa novas and Elizabeth Bishop to Steely Dan.
Together, they are MOSS, A vocal supergroup that intertwines jazz, classical, pop, folk, electronica, world music, and poetry into an arresting and unique sonic species of art. On their debut recording, they are supported by electric guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Tim Lefebvre; drummer/percussionist Ben Wittman, and acoustic guitarist Keith Ganz (with Eldridge on piano and keyboards).
“I was on a train from New Jersey a few years back, and I bumped into Peter Eldridge. We had talked about working together …” recalls Luciana Souza. “[W]e fantasized about a project where we could join other like-minded singers to write, study, rehearse and blend our different styles of singing, creating a collective sound … [H]ere we had a group of intelligent, open-minded, and unique singers.” Subsequent meetings in Souza’s Upper West Side apartment led to their first gig in 2005 at Manhattan’s Joe’s Pub. They’ve also performed in greater Los Angeles and at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York.
Dramatis Personae
Theo Bleckmann
Bleckmann moved to New York City in 1989, after meeting jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan. His recordings include Looking Glass River (in duo w/Kirk Nurock, Traumton, 1995), No Boat (in duo w/Ben Monder, Songlines, 1997), Origami (Songlines, 2001), Static Still (in duo w/John Hollenbeck, GPE, 2002), Anteroom (Traumton, 2005), Las Vegas Rhapsody (Winter & Winter, 2006), At Night (in duo w/Ben Monder, Songlines, 2007) and Berlin: Songs of Love and War (Winter & Winter, 2007).
Peter Eldridge
Besides six studio recordings with the New York Voices, Eldridge has released three solo projects; Fool No More (Rosebud Records, 2001), Stranger In Town (Rosebud Records, 2001) and Decorum (Rueben’s Tunes, 2005). He has worked or recorded with artists such as Fred Hersch, David Byrne, Medredith Monk and Bobby McFerrin, and was recently invited to join Kurt Elling, Mark Murphy and Jon Hendricks in Four Brothers. His compositions have been recorded by Nancy Wilson, Paquito D’Rivera and Jane Monheit.
Lauren Kinhan
Lauren Kinhan joined New York Voices in the early 90s. Her solo CD, Hardly Blinking (Orchard, 1999) was co-produced by Phil Ramone, Frank Filipetti, and Rob Mounsey. She’s also recorded on Ornette Coleman’s Sound Museum: Three Women (Verve, 1996), and she collaborated with Japanese guitarist Jiro Yoshida on Guitar and The Moon (King Records, 2000).
Kate McGarry
After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Kate McGarry moved to California, where she worked with pianist Hank Jones, and sang in numerous commercials and films, before relocating to New York in 1999. She sang on Fred Hersch’s Walt Whitman project, Leaves of Grass (Palmetto, 2005), and has performed with bandleader/composer Maria Schneider. Her solo CDs include Easy to Love (Vital, 1992), Show Me (Palmetto, 2003), Mercy Streets (Palmetto, 2005), and The Target (Palmetto, 2007).
Luciana Souza
Luciana Souza has worked with many artists including Danilo Perez, Hermeto Pascoal and Kenny Wheeler, and she’s featured on Herbie Hancock’s Grammy winning River: The Joni Letters (Verve, 2007). Her CDs include An Answer to Your Silence (NYC Records, 1999), The Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Other Songs (Sunnyside, 2000), Brazilian Duos (Sunnyside, 2002), North and South (Sunnyside, 2003), Neruda (Sunnyside, 2004), Duos II (Sunnyside, 2005), and The New Bossa Nova (Verve, 2007).
JaLaLa
John Herndon Mercer, aka Johnny Mercer, was more than just a lyricist of popular song; he was a true American poet and That Old Mercer Magic! is an amazing new project from three equally amazing ladies called JaLaLa; Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer, Laurel Massé (an original founding and former member of The Manhattan Transfer) and Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices fame.
Siegel, a nine-time Grammy winner, seventeen-time Grammy nominee and one of the founding members of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer jumped at the chance to do a full project of Mercer songs. The most difficult challenge of the project, which is a testament to Mercer’s true genius, was picking just 12 songs that would encompass a well-rounded representation of his popular compositions, said Siegel. Yet the easiest part for Janis was creating the vocal group JaLaLa in collaboration with two of her favorite singers Laurel Massé and Lauren Kinhan, both being acclaimed vocalists whether singing in harmony or showing off their solo chops.
Standout tracks are; “Spring, Spring, Spring” from the Tony-Award-winning Broadway musical Li’l Abner and “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby,” which starts off with an underutilized verse and then shifts into a funky party gear with a New Orleans feel featuring Lew Soloff on trumpet. Fans new and old will also enjoy the signature “Dream,” which was highlighted in the Oscar-nominated musical film Daddy Long Legs that featured Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron, one of the few songs that Mercer penned both music and lyric. Another Mercer classic, “Moon River,” written with Henry Mancini for the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, is given a heartrending wistful treatment by Laurel Massé and Frank Vignola, then languidly glides into “Moon Country,” a Mercer/Hoagy Carmichael collaboration. JaLaLa will certainly please the legion of Mercer fans while irresistibly enticing today’s music listening generation with That Old Mercer Magic!
