Nora Germain releases new book: Go For It: Surviving the Challenges of Becoming an Artist

Jazz violinist and author Nora Germain has been playing the violin for over 25 years and performing professionally since 2010. She studied at Idyllwild Arts Academy, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, and University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. She is currently based in Los Angeles. She has performed and/ or recorded with many of the world's greatest musical talents including Jon Batiste, Postmodern Jukebox, Sam Smith, Lewis Capaldi, Tommy Emmanuel CGP, John Altman, Jacob Collier, Martin Taylor MBE, JMSN, KNOWER, Jeff Goldblum, Dee Dee Bridgewater and many others. In addition to playing on over 100 recordings of many genres, she has also released ten of her own jazz albums as well as an inspirational book. She has appeared on episodes of The Late Late Show with James Corden and The Ellen DeGeneres Show accompanying other artists, and performed at the Eckhart Tolle Foundation and as a musical volunteer for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. A musician of many facets who is only at the beginning of her career, Nora has been called the best jazz violinist in the world. The sky is clearly not the limit for Miss Germain.

Go For It: Surviving the Challenges of Becoming an Artist is ‘a creative mindset book about being (a woman) in music, learning jazz, playing violin specifically, improvisation, and so forth’

In "Go For It: Surviving the Challenges of Becoming an Artist," we have a rare invitation to explore the life and mindset of a young jazz violinist, from childhood to leader in her craft. We are taken on a journey through heartache and loss, through success and humor, and into the practice room and recording studio. Within these stories and memories we're taken on a journey of our own, a journey that welcomes any person, musician or otherwise, to explore what it takes to improvise and to transcend. Both candid and passionate, "Go For It" asks us tough creative and spiritual questions, shares wisdom from a wide array of luminaries, and reignites our love of the arts.

Nora Germain Website click here

Take a trip into cosmic space with guitarist and composer Veda Bartringer, who presents ‘Deep Space Adventure’. Joined by some of Luxembourg’s most acclaimed young musicians, this is not your usual guitar jazz album; lovers of tradition-rooted contemporary projects, rejoice, and buckle up!

From Saxophonist and European Big Band Contest 2022 Best Soloist winner Julien Cuvelier and Belgian rising star drummer Maxime Magotteaux to bassist Boris Schmidt who previously graced the stage next to Randy Brecker, Eef Albers, and Avi Avital, all of Bartringer’s band members started playing music when their ages were in the single digits, and their musicianship is incontestable.  

Bartringer, in her own right, shows herself to not only be a gifted guitarist, but also a creative and mindful composer and bandleader, leaving lots of space for her band members to shine. From a beautiful bass solo on Search For Light, the album’s first full-length track after opener Lift Off, Bartringer’s own solo work doesn’t come to the fore until the third track on ‘Deep Space Adventure’, No Edge in the Sky. Providing, indeed, lots of space for an atmospheric blend of contemporary jazz that takes the listener from launch into orbit, the group’s sophomore offering is structured the way a dream journey into astral territories would likely go. 

While ‘Deep Space Adventure’ is by no means a typical jazz guitar record, the bandleader has found subtle ways to make her mark and set the tone throughout her compositions. There is a feminine sensitivity previously uncommon to the genre, perhaps best explained by her studies in lyrical singing and classical guitar and piano, encompassing many different directions and aspects of this journey around the cosmos. 

Veda Bartringer took an interest in music at a very early age. At the age of 8, she started learning the piano and only a few years after, she discovered the guitar. At 16, she started lessons in classical singing. These 3 instruments keep inspiring her to this day. At 17, she discovered the world of jazz. In Luxembourg, she took lessons with David Laborier, Jacque Pirotton, Pit Dahm, Pol Belardi and Erik Teuwens.

In 2017, she was accepted to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels to study Jazz Guitar. In 2022 she completed the Bachelor degree and in 2022, she finished the master’s degree in the same conservatory. During her 5 years of study, she had the chance to learn from the guitarists Victor Da Costa and Fabien Degryse and other musicians like Fabrice Alleman, Manu Hermia, Pete Churchill and Arnould Massart. The guitarist was introduced to different music cultures, such as Brazilian music, Indian music, but also fusion and funk music. She participates in various different Luxembourgish and Belgian projects, such as her duo with Joel Rabesolo, the project Lumens but also her own solo project.

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The Magpie Suite - an evocative and transformative musical journey for expanded jazz orchestra and 4 voices - was born from a moment of awe. During a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in January 2018, composer Sarah Jerrom observed a gathering of magpies and crows performing a dance in the middle of a winter storm. 

At the time, Jerrom was working on deeply personal composition defying the stigma and taboo surrounding pregnancy loss. This experience not only captivated her but also set the narrative trajectory for this new piece. The complex world of magpies became a rich metaphor woven throughout the suite’s musical narrative.The suite, which had its premiere on April 6, 2023 in Toronto, is a masterful blend of storytelling and music, guided by the folkloric nursery rhyme One for Sorrow. It takes the listener on a journey through the eyes of its main character, Woman/Magpie, exploring profound themes such as feminism, infertility, grief, hope, and love. 

Each of the suite’s eight movements offers a distinct musical experience, seamlessly integrating elements of classical and jazz performance. A quartet of vocalists led by Jerrom adds another dimension to these dynamic and immersive soundscapes. Magpie is a tour de force, an emotional odyssey, a narrative of resilience, transformation, and the magic of storytelling through music.

As you can see, all the elements are there to develop a dramaturgy, a blend of jazz and classical music. This work is contemplative, questioning, engaging our intellect. It’s music to be shortened on stage or enjoyed privately in its discographic form, and a real favorite for the quality of this creation.

Personnel: 

Sarah Jerrom - Voice, Compositions, Narrative

Conductor: Christian Overton

Voices: Laura Swankey, Galen Sedlak, Jackson Welchner

Woodwinds: Laura Chambers (fl, afl, picc); Chieh-Ying Lu (ob);

Tara Davidson (as, ss, fl); Mike Murley (ts, ss, cl); Kirk MacDonald (ts, cl); Shirantha Beddage (bs, bcl)

Trumpet & Flugelhorn: James Rhodes (lead); Kevin Turcotte, Brian O’Kane

French Horn: Olivia Esther

Trombone: William Carn, Zach Smith, Emily Ferrell, Tom Richards (bs tbn)

Piano: Nancy Walker

Bass: Rob McBride

Drums: Ernesto Cervini

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The award-winning Oregon-based jazz singer-songwriter Halie Loren is proud to release her new full-length album Dreams Lost and Found out now via Nettwerk/Justin Time Records. This collection of songs explores themes of longing, seeking, and seeing with new eyes — the falling away of old illusions and outgrown desires, finding new visions for love and life, allowing some dreams to die to make space for new dreams to be born. The album captures the live essence of her music, that has led to tours and performances for audiences worldwide. The 14-song effort sees Halie lend her take on standards, originals, and her personal favourites.  

Halie adds: “This album marks my return to a more jazz-oriented musical sound, but forged in a completely new environment of creativity (quite literally, in that I traveled to Montreal to record for the first time) that brought my improvisational spirit to the forefront—in no small part inspired by collaborating with masterful musicians Taurey Butler on piano, Morgan Moore on bass, Sam Kirmayer on Guitar, and Jim Doxas on drums. Though I have performed for years with most of these amazingly talented people, we’ve never before recorded together… to me, it was like we were dancing on the edge of the unknown when creating these songs. It felt very alive in the moment, and I think that comes through the music”

Halie is excited to celebrate her new album release with a run of shows in the Pacific Northwest as well as other stops scheduled (and more to be announced soon) where she’ll entertain crowds with album standouts like “Sukiyaki (You Took Your Love Away)”,  “Stop This World” and “For All We Know” and more. Find the full list of tour dates below and for more information visit www.halieloren.com. 

Halie Loren is an international, award-winning jazz singer/songwriter. She brings a fresh and original perspective to time-honored musical paths, channeling her innate understanding of connectedness across musical boundaries to forge bonds with diverse audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe. Her multi-genre and multi-lingual musical blend across her ten albums to-date has earned several national and international awards in multiple genres as well as significant critical and chart success along the way, with her albums consistently reaching #1 on the Billboard Japan, iTunes (Canada and Japan) and Amazon jazz charts.  

An award-winning songwriter since her early teens, Halie began garnering international acclaim as a recording artist when her debut jazz album They Oughta Write a Song was named the Best Vocal Jazz Album of the year at the 2009 JPF Independent Music Awards. She was subsequently signed for distribution in Asia by JVC/Victor Entertainment and in North America with Canadian-based jazz label Justin Time Records. Loren's accolades in more recent years include an Independent Music Award for her original song “Thirsty” in 2011, a Best Vocal Jazz Album 2012 award in Japan’s Jazz Critique Magazine for her album Heart First, (which also reached #1 on Canada’s iTunes Jazz chart), and a total of four Billboard #1 albums on Japan’s jazz charts since 2013. Her video for “Noah”, the 2nd single from her 2018 release From the Wild Sky album produced by UK tour-de-force Troy Miller (Amy Winehouse, Gregory Porter, Diana Ross), won an Emmy in 2019 for Best Music Video as presented by The National Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Southeast Chapter.  

Along with recording and songwriting successes, Halie’s live performances have brought her around the world several times, with performances on 4 continents thus far, including tours across the U.S., Canada, France, the U.K., Japan, Italy, Egypt, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Egypt, and Haiti. Her concerts range from intimate clubs to grand halls to festivals, from solo to classic jazz trio to lush orchestral collaborations.

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US Vocalist Lizz Wright Marks Illustrious 20 Year-Career With New Studio Album Featuring Angelique Kidjo & Meshell Ndegeocello

Acclaimed vocalist Lizz Wright encapsulates an illustrious 20-year career as one of the great modern American singers with new album, Shadow, the studio debut on her label Blues & Greens Records (with licensing/distribution through Lightyear Entertainment/Virgin Music), set for release on April 12, 2024.

On Shadow, Wright pens five originals with special guests Angelique Kidjo and Meshell Ndegeocello appearing on two separate songs (“Sparrow” and “Your Love”). Renowned for her singular writing style across six critically-acclaimed studio albums, Wright also beautifully weaves into her recordings unforgettable renditions of songs by artists she loves. Shadow’s producer and longtime collaborator/music director Chris Bruce(Seal, Bettye LaVette, Sheryl Crow) with Wright brought “Sweet Feeling” by Candi Staton into her world as part of the pre-production process of listening to an array of songs. 

Wright comments, “I first heard Candi Staton as a child because of her gospel singing, which my father loved. I didn’t realize that she also sang contemporary music until years later. Her voice is like no other and sounds honest and at home in anything she sings, no matter the genre.”

On “Sweet Feeling,” Wright digs her heels into the blues without apology. Making a home in the blues city of Chicago, she signals that now is the time and place to lean back and be in it. Wright says, “I’m excited to be singing the blues more now. It has a boldness, but it also comforting. Singing the blues in Chicago is like finding sap in a great old tree. The blues is in the spirit of the city.”

For the music video of “Sweet Feeling,” Wright sings on stage at the legendary Green Mill jazz club on Broadway in Uptown, Chicago. Sweeping views of the Chicago skyline, Lake Michigan and the iconic ambience at the Green Mill set the backdrop for Wright’s performance. The filming aesthetic of “Sweet Feeling” pays tribute to both past and modern Chicago blues. Video credits include: Angelo Valentino Margentina (Director Of Photography), Halley Buenrostro (Cinematographer), Carlos Bernal (VHS Camera Operator), and Monica Haslip (Art Director).

Blues & Greens Records is Wright’s innovative label venture designed to position artists to build sustainable and wholesome careers. Blues & Greens Records seeks to create a healthy ecosystem for artists as it uplifts and centralizes humanity in the music business with wellness offerings and sound business practices at the forefront. 

Click here for Lizz Wright website

Louise van den Heuvel is a dynamic Dutch bass player and composer. 

She's known for blending modern music technologies and effect pedals in her compositions rooted in the contemporary electronic/jazz scene. 

Louise founded the up-and-coming Belgian electronic jazz trio Dishwasher_, collaborated with renowned artists on stage such as Zwangere Guy & Lander Gyselinck and Bruno Vansina Orchestra, and is part of Stéphane Gallands ‘The Rhythm Hunters’,The Gallands, and the neo soul group STACE. For her latest project, Sonic Hug, Louise composed the whole repertoire by herself. 

The self-titled album, recorded with producer Koen Gisen, features a stellar line-up of some of the leading figures in the Benelux (jazz) scene: Hendrik Lasureon keys, Daniel Jonkerson drums and Sam Comerfordon reeds (live replaced by Werend Van Den Bossche). 

The band is set to play a Jazz Lab tour in April and May 2024 after their album release on 5th of April 2024 via W.E.R.F. Records.Her own creations expose themselves as elaborated melancholic songs filled with elegant grooves, crystalline vocals and experimental jazz excursions. She’s brilliantly using her own musical voice, literally, since you will also hear her sing (for the first time!) on some of the tracks. 

Surrounded by three musicians in the front of the new Belgian jazz generation (known from acts such as schntzl, Bombataz, Profound Observer, OttoKintet, Dishwasher_,KinGajo, ...) Sonic Hug became a very personal, unique new project. Influenced by the sounds of Scandinavia and artists such as ADHD, Nala Sinephro, Floating Points, Y Otis and Joni Mitchell, the vibe of Sonic Hug is etheric, elegant, melodically narrative, and always searching for a grasping groove.

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