Hello good readers! I thought I'd write up a quick post tonight with some previews of what I have planned here at Merry & Bright for this season. I hope you've enjoyed the blog so far. I always feel very privileged to be able to bring you artist interviews, and I have one or two more of those planned. There are a few more CD reviews/artist stories coming up, and most likely the random, miscellaneous stuff that I like to add in here just for grins. But what else?
Music Giveaways! Yes, I have one CD giveaway contest coming up for sure, and perhaps even a vinyl giveaway contest. You won't want to miss these, folks. As in the past, all it takes to enter is a quick trip to the artist's website to find an easy-to-locate piece of information, and send it back to me in e-mail. I'm tellin' ya - don't miss out on the chance to win some good Christmas music. Details coming soon.
How about music shares? I usually start those up after Thanksgiving, and this year is no exception. It's an interesting lot this year, with a story behind them. Yes, all the shares have something in common (well, besides being Christmas music, from vinyl, out of print). So, keep an eye out, or as they say in Merry old Slovenia, "Pazi tukaj za več informacij"!
Monday, November 21, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Artist Interview: Thisbe Vos
Jazz singer/songwriter Thisbe Vos is one of the darlings of the Christmas Music blogosphere. I've written about her 2015 album "A Jazzy Christmas" (here). Good friend Stubby also reviewed her album over at Stubby's House of Christmas. This year, Thisbe's song "When Moonlight Hits the Town" made the list at Day 68 over at "200 Days of Christmas" on Facebook. Her status as "Christmas Music Darling, First Class" is not only well deserved, it appears to have been confirmed by unanimous acclamation! (at least by Stubby, Matt, and me)
We all love everything about "A Jazzy Christmas". The amazing thing is, all three of us agree that not only can Thisbe really sing a Christmas tune, her songwriting and arranging are the stuff of jazz standards. "A Jazzy Christmas" is quite simply one of the best Christmas albums, and one of the best jazz albums, in my collection.
Thisbe is also an artist that is connected to her fans. "A Jazzy Christmas" was crowdfunded in 2014, and through that effort I have been able to stay in touch with Thisbe since her album was released to her backers. Since I think so much of this record, and believe that every Christmas music lover should have their own copy in their collection, I decided to get back in touch with Thisbe this year, and have her share some of her thoughts about "A Jazzy Christmas". So, without further ado, here is my interview with Thisbe Vos about "A Jazzy Christmas" and also her other extraordinary albums, "Sophistication" and "Under Your Spell".
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Merry and Bright: Hello Thisbe! Thank you for the opportunity for this interview. “A Jazzy Christmas” is one of my absolute favorite Christmas albums. I’m excited to share some information about you and the album with my readers. "A Jazzy Christmas” was broadly released in 2015, but was available to crowdfunding supporters in late 2014. Tell us about the crowdfunding experience and what the campaign meant for you as an artist.
Thisbe Vos: The crowdfunding campaign was a great experience and the support from the fans was really moving. I had crowdfunded another album two years earlier, and I was hesitant to do it again, thinking that people might not want to participate another time. But the support was even better than on the previous album, and we pulled it off in a flash—the whole thing happened in about two weeks. It was very inspiring to see that so many people were so behind the project.
MB: After its official release, “A Jazzy Christmas” soon became an award winning album, bringing home the IMEA 2015 “Holiday Album of the Year” award against some stiff competition. Please share your thoughts about this fine recognition for your album.
TV: The IMEA is a wonderful organization that I can’t say enough about. Those guys are really rooting for independent artists and I feel that they back us up however they can. Being recognized with that award meant a lot to me, and I feel that it also validated the fans and everyone who contributed to making the album possible.
MB: You and your band have achieved a wonderful, flawless, classic jazz sound. Who are your major influences as a jazz musician?
TV: I am personally a great fan of the classic jazz singers—Peggy Lee, Doris Day, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone also, and especially Ella Fitzgerald. Ella is my all-time favorite, and I have secretly stolen many phrasings from her. I also really like that warm, personal, intimate sound that she brings across, as if you up close and personal with her, and it’s almost like she is singing to you as the only person in the room.
MB: And how about for Christmas music? Favorite performers? Favorite songs? Was Christmas music a big part of your life growing up?
TV: I grew up in The Netherlands and I did hear them in commercials and in stores, but not so much on the radio. I always liked them from the moment I first heard them though, and a lot of those songs really convey the warm, happy atmosphere that I really love about Christmas. It is that same warm atmosphere that we tried to encapsulate in this album (although with a bit of a swinging twist to it in quite a few of the songs). Bing Crosby of course comes to mind. I also love the song “Santa Baby.” A couple of years ago I actually got to meet one of the writers who wrote that song, which was a very interesting experience.
MB: Many reviews of “A Jazzy Christmas” have a common theme: your songwriting. Four of the songs on “A Jazzy Christmas” were written by you, including one co-written with pianist Gary Matsumoto, and the reviewers enthusiastically wrote that they all sound like Christmas standards. They all fit alongside the greats of the genre and conjure up Christmas imagery of Winter, snow, and the joys of the season. You’ve achieved a timeless quality with these songs (“It Must Be Christmas Time”, “It’s Beginning To Snow”, “When Moonlight Has Hit the Town”, and “Christmas is Everywhere”). What’s your secret Thisbe? Share a little with us about your approach to songwriting, especially these Christmas songs, that make them fit in so well with the classics.
TV: I guess I’ve just listened to a lot of those classic Christmas songs over the years, and I feel a very deep connection with that warm, intimate feeling that Christmas songs are supposed to convey. It was a bit different than writing the jazz songs that I have written before, and I did have to use some imagination as I wrote most of those songs in Southern California in the spring and summer. But I have listened to so many oldies, and so many Christmas songs in my life, that I felt I was able to get into the spirit of things and do something that was original but is still very much about the essence of what those songs are about.
MB: Your previously released albums, “Sophistication” and “Under Your Spell” have six and seven Thisbe Vos compositions respectively. And just as on “A Jazzy Christmas”, your own songs blend beautifully with the standards. Having a band with some major chops certainly helps produce this classic sound. Tell us a little about your band.
TV: Thanks for bringing that up—I am ridiculously fortunate that I get to record with some of the best jazz musicians in the world. After moving to Los Angeles I was lucky enough to run into Henry Franklin, a world-class bass player who has literally played with almost everyone you can imagine during his 50-year career. He sort of took me under his wing, and I got to know a lot of great musicians here in the local jazz scene either because he directly introduced me to them, or because I met them through someone that he knew. We record at the studio of Nolan Shaheed, who is himself an incredible trumpet player who has played on all my albums and whom I also perform with live sometimes. I’ve been trying to use the same guys on all of my albums as much as possible and they are all great—it would take up a lot of them to do them all justice individually but I love them all.
TV: Sometimes they are—for example, Gary Matsumoto (the pianist) came up with the bluesy rendition of Silver Bells. I asked him “What can we do with this?,” and he just started playing that bluesy version almost without even thinking about it. But that version of Deck the Halls in three was my own idea; it was a bit risky like you said. Some people love it, some people hate it. I thought it would be interesting to do something a little different. I like it a lot myself, and I’ve performed it live also that way. It’s cool to surprise people and do something with a familiar song that they don’t quite expect.
MB: What’s next for Thisbe Vos? Do you have any more albums in the works? Any touring plans? I don’t make it to SoCal often, so sure would like to see a Thisbe tour coming my way.
TV: I’m performing locally [Los Angeles area] quite a bit right now—a tour could always happen but I have no definite plans yet as of this moment. That could of course change though. I do plan to make another album—I’ve considering an orchestral album or an intimate vocal, bass and guitar album. It might end up being a combination of the two.
MB: Thisbe, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions and enlighten us about “A Jazzy Christmas”. Seriously, when I got my copy of the CD in 2014, I couldn’t stop playing it (the other 350 or so Christmas CDs in the house lost some playing time), and it provided the background music for Christmas morning in our home. I hope that there’s “Another Jazzy Christmas” coming someday. So – thank you again for sharing some of your time with us at Merry and Bright.
TV: Thanks very much! I really appreciate that. Thanks for all you do in promoting the wonderful genre of Christmas music, and you know, maybe I will make another Christmas album some day....
We all love everything about "A Jazzy Christmas". The amazing thing is, all three of us agree that not only can Thisbe really sing a Christmas tune, her songwriting and arranging are the stuff of jazz standards. "A Jazzy Christmas" is quite simply one of the best Christmas albums, and one of the best jazz albums, in my collection.
Thisbe is also an artist that is connected to her fans. "A Jazzy Christmas" was crowdfunded in 2014, and through that effort I have been able to stay in touch with Thisbe since her album was released to her backers. Since I think so much of this record, and believe that every Christmas music lover should have their own copy in their collection, I decided to get back in touch with Thisbe this year, and have her share some of her thoughts about "A Jazzy Christmas". So, without further ado, here is my interview with Thisbe Vos about "A Jazzy Christmas" and also her other extraordinary albums, "Sophistication" and "Under Your Spell".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merry and Bright: Hello Thisbe! Thank you for the opportunity for this interview. “A Jazzy Christmas” is one of my absolute favorite Christmas albums. I’m excited to share some information about you and the album with my readers. "A Jazzy Christmas” was broadly released in 2015, but was available to crowdfunding supporters in late 2014. Tell us about the crowdfunding experience and what the campaign meant for you as an artist.
Thisbe Vos: The crowdfunding campaign was a great experience and the support from the fans was really moving. I had crowdfunded another album two years earlier, and I was hesitant to do it again, thinking that people might not want to participate another time. But the support was even better than on the previous album, and we pulled it off in a flash—the whole thing happened in about two weeks. It was very inspiring to see that so many people were so behind the project.
MB: After its official release, “A Jazzy Christmas” soon became an award winning album, bringing home the IMEA 2015 “Holiday Album of the Year” award against some stiff competition. Please share your thoughts about this fine recognition for your album.
TV: The IMEA is a wonderful organization that I can’t say enough about. Those guys are really rooting for independent artists and I feel that they back us up however they can. Being recognized with that award meant a lot to me, and I feel that it also validated the fans and everyone who contributed to making the album possible.
MB: You and your band have achieved a wonderful, flawless, classic jazz sound. Who are your major influences as a jazz musician?
TV: I am personally a great fan of the classic jazz singers—Peggy Lee, Doris Day, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone also, and especially Ella Fitzgerald. Ella is my all-time favorite, and I have secretly stolen many phrasings from her. I also really like that warm, personal, intimate sound that she brings across, as if you up close and personal with her, and it’s almost like she is singing to you as the only person in the room.
MB: And how about for Christmas music? Favorite performers? Favorite songs? Was Christmas music a big part of your life growing up?
TV: I grew up in The Netherlands and I did hear them in commercials and in stores, but not so much on the radio. I always liked them from the moment I first heard them though, and a lot of those songs really convey the warm, happy atmosphere that I really love about Christmas. It is that same warm atmosphere that we tried to encapsulate in this album (although with a bit of a swinging twist to it in quite a few of the songs). Bing Crosby of course comes to mind. I also love the song “Santa Baby.” A couple of years ago I actually got to meet one of the writers who wrote that song, which was a very interesting experience.
MB: Many reviews of “A Jazzy Christmas” have a common theme: your songwriting. Four of the songs on “A Jazzy Christmas” were written by you, including one co-written with pianist Gary Matsumoto, and the reviewers enthusiastically wrote that they all sound like Christmas standards. They all fit alongside the greats of the genre and conjure up Christmas imagery of Winter, snow, and the joys of the season. You’ve achieved a timeless quality with these songs (“It Must Be Christmas Time”, “It’s Beginning To Snow”, “When Moonlight Has Hit the Town”, and “Christmas is Everywhere”). What’s your secret Thisbe? Share a little with us about your approach to songwriting, especially these Christmas songs, that make them fit in so well with the classics.
TV: I guess I’ve just listened to a lot of those classic Christmas songs over the years, and I feel a very deep connection with that warm, intimate feeling that Christmas songs are supposed to convey. It was a bit different than writing the jazz songs that I have written before, and I did have to use some imagination as I wrote most of those songs in Southern California in the spring and summer. But I have listened to so many oldies, and so many Christmas songs in my life, that I felt I was able to get into the spirit of things and do something that was original but is still very much about the essence of what those songs are about.
MB: Do any of your four compositions have specific inspirations? Memories or experiences that turned into the music we hear on the album?
TV: Some of them do. For “It Must Be Christmas Time,” I did go back to my childhood days of Christmas in The Netherlands where all the streets are decorated and there are Christmas markets etc. Christmas in Europe can be quite fun. For “It’s Beginning To Snow,” I totally went back to that moment as a kid when it’s evening and it starts softly snowing for the first time that winter, and you’re so excited because you know it’s going to be so much fun in the morning. (There wasn’t a ton of snow when I grew up, so when it did snow, that was quite special.) “When Moonlight Has Hit The Town” was inspired by the feeling I used to get at night when I was walking through the streets of Amsterdam, or my home town of Huizen, and it was cold and quite but there was this huge moon and you could see all the lights on inside the houses and people having dinner, etc. Or it’s freezing outside and nobody is in the streets, but you walk into a restaurant and it’s warm and full of life; people talking and enjoying themselves. There were some very cool, “wintery” types of moments like that that I thought of when writing that song.
MB: Your previously released albums, “Sophistication” and “Under Your Spell” have six and seven Thisbe Vos compositions respectively. And just as on “A Jazzy Christmas”, your own songs blend beautifully with the standards. Having a band with some major chops certainly helps produce this classic sound. Tell us a little about your band.
TV: Thanks for bringing that up—I am ridiculously fortunate that I get to record with some of the best jazz musicians in the world. After moving to Los Angeles I was lucky enough to run into Henry Franklin, a world-class bass player who has literally played with almost everyone you can imagine during his 50-year career. He sort of took me under his wing, and I got to know a lot of great musicians here in the local jazz scene either because he directly introduced me to them, or because I met them through someone that he knew. We record at the studio of Nolan Shaheed, who is himself an incredible trumpet player who has played on all my albums and whom I also perform with live sometimes. I’ve been trying to use the same guys on all of my albums as much as possible and they are all great—it would take up a lot of them to do them all justice individually but I love them all.
MB: As impressive as your original tunes are the arrangements of the traditional songs. Putting a new spin on an old classic Christmas song can be risky, a hit or miss. “Deck the Halls” is an especially wonderfully arranged song with an almost playful variance on the cadence and rhythm. Are the arrangements the result of collaboration with you and your band?
TV: Sometimes they are—for example, Gary Matsumoto (the pianist) came up with the bluesy rendition of Silver Bells. I asked him “What can we do with this?,” and he just started playing that bluesy version almost without even thinking about it. But that version of Deck the Halls in three was my own idea; it was a bit risky like you said. Some people love it, some people hate it. I thought it would be interesting to do something a little different. I like it a lot myself, and I’ve performed it live also that way. It’s cool to surprise people and do something with a familiar song that they don’t quite expect.
MB: What’s next for Thisbe Vos? Do you have any more albums in the works? Any touring plans? I don’t make it to SoCal often, so sure would like to see a Thisbe tour coming my way.
TV: I’m performing locally [Los Angeles area] quite a bit right now—a tour could always happen but I have no definite plans yet as of this moment. That could of course change though. I do plan to make another album—I’ve considering an orchestral album or an intimate vocal, bass and guitar album. It might end up being a combination of the two.
MB: Thisbe, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions and enlighten us about “A Jazzy Christmas”. Seriously, when I got my copy of the CD in 2014, I couldn’t stop playing it (the other 350 or so Christmas CDs in the house lost some playing time), and it provided the background music for Christmas morning in our home. I hope that there’s “Another Jazzy Christmas” coming someday. So – thank you again for sharing some of your time with us at Merry and Bright.
TV: Thanks very much! I really appreciate that. Thanks for all you do in promoting the wonderful genre of Christmas music, and you know, maybe I will make another Christmas album some day....
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Thisbe Vos website
Thisbe Vos on Facebook
Thursday, November 17, 2016
CD Review: A Laurie Berkner Christmas
Our good friends at Waldmania sent us a copy of the 2012 release “A Laurie Berkner Christmas” to enjoy and review for all the loyal Merry and Bright readers. And enjoy it we did!
Laurie Berkner has been making kids-focused albums since her 1997 release “Whaddaya Think of That?” and with her band (“The Laurie Berkner Band”) has released eight additional records since, including “A Laurie Berkner Christmas”. Oh, and there are also videos, books, appearances on Nick Jr, and even writing the music and lyrics for an Off-Broadway musical. Laurie was also key in the design of a preschool music program in New York City. So, it’s needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), Laurie is centered in the world of musical expression geared toward an audience of children.
“A Laurie Berkner Christmas” is no exception. It’s bright, full of energy, lively, and fun! And, like other artists promoted by Waldmania, her music is enjoyable for all, parents included. Laurie’s Christmas album is a completely happy and spirited collection of songs for the holidays. Her music has a definite lean toward the kiddies in sound and performance, but still is an album for all ages.
The album opens with a version of “Jingle Bells” that Laurie enhances and makes her own, setting a tone that makes you smile that carries through the entire album. Her performances of traditional Christmas songs like “Little Drummer Boy”, “I Saw Three Ships”, “Christmas is Coming”, and “Frosty the Snowman” are familiar for the youngsters, with several including the voices of kiddies helping out.
Two of the standouts among the traditional songs are “Children Go Where I Send Thee” and “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”. “Children…” is re-visioned and re-arranged so that all ten verses are performed, but some are strategically combined to keep the song to 3:13 in length, without losing the counting aspect so popular with children, and also keeping the heart of the song intact. Laurie is joined by Brady Rymer on vocals to turn it into a vibrant duet. “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” is an absolute highlight for me. Laurie slows the tempo a bit, and instead of a fast-paced list of demands for the jolly old elf, the singer is a bit more contemplative and humble, wanting to assure that her siblings' Christmas desires are known to Santa, while hers are whatever Santa sees fit to leave. These are the traditional lyrics, but Laurie’s performance puts a new and extraordinarily caring, pleasing spin to them.
The true gems of the album are Laurie’s original compositions “Santa’s Coming To My House Tonight”, “Candy Cane Jane”, and “Christmas Lights”. “Santa’s Coming To My House” perfectly captures the exuberance and restless excitement of Christmas Eve night, anticipating Santa’s midnight visit. Who among us doesn’t remember trying and trying to get to sleep on Christmas Eve, but the excitement is just too much? “Santa’s Coming To My House Tonight” will bring those memories flooding back. “The Kids” (as credited) provide some pretty awesome backing vocals ("wiggle wiggle wiggle" "ho ho ho") really making the song complete.
“A Laurie Berkner Christmas” is another tremendous example of children’s Christmas music done very well. Kids will love it, and parents will too. I don’t know much about how the world of children’s music marketing works – I expect that for an artist to be successful you have to be truly multi-media with digital music, videos, live performances, and a gig on national children’s television programming sure does help. But I suspect that it’s a pretty tough niche business. The folks at Waldmania are doing it right, with a group of artists that focus on creating music for kids but without sacrificing their musical integrity, and putting every ounce of their inspiring talent into what they do. The Waldmania group and the artists that they represent have earned my respect and admiration.
So, need a Christmas music CD for that long minivan drive to Grandma’s house this holiday season? “A Laurie Berkner Christmas” may be just right. It's chock full of happiness, fun, and smiles!
Laurie Berkner has been making kids-focused albums since her 1997 release “Whaddaya Think of That?” and with her band (“The Laurie Berkner Band”) has released eight additional records since, including “A Laurie Berkner Christmas”. Oh, and there are also videos, books, appearances on Nick Jr, and even writing the music and lyrics for an Off-Broadway musical. Laurie was also key in the design of a preschool music program in New York City. So, it’s needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), Laurie is centered in the world of musical expression geared toward an audience of children.
“A Laurie Berkner Christmas” is no exception. It’s bright, full of energy, lively, and fun! And, like other artists promoted by Waldmania, her music is enjoyable for all, parents included. Laurie’s Christmas album is a completely happy and spirited collection of songs for the holidays. Her music has a definite lean toward the kiddies in sound and performance, but still is an album for all ages.
The album opens with a version of “Jingle Bells” that Laurie enhances and makes her own, setting a tone that makes you smile that carries through the entire album. Her performances of traditional Christmas songs like “Little Drummer Boy”, “I Saw Three Ships”, “Christmas is Coming”, and “Frosty the Snowman” are familiar for the youngsters, with several including the voices of kiddies helping out.
Two of the standouts among the traditional songs are “Children Go Where I Send Thee” and “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”. “Children…” is re-visioned and re-arranged so that all ten verses are performed, but some are strategically combined to keep the song to 3:13 in length, without losing the counting aspect so popular with children, and also keeping the heart of the song intact. Laurie is joined by Brady Rymer on vocals to turn it into a vibrant duet. “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” is an absolute highlight for me. Laurie slows the tempo a bit, and instead of a fast-paced list of demands for the jolly old elf, the singer is a bit more contemplative and humble, wanting to assure that her siblings' Christmas desires are known to Santa, while hers are whatever Santa sees fit to leave. These are the traditional lyrics, but Laurie’s performance puts a new and extraordinarily caring, pleasing spin to them.
The true gems of the album are Laurie’s original compositions “Santa’s Coming To My House Tonight”, “Candy Cane Jane”, and “Christmas Lights”. “Santa’s Coming To My House” perfectly captures the exuberance and restless excitement of Christmas Eve night, anticipating Santa’s midnight visit. Who among us doesn’t remember trying and trying to get to sleep on Christmas Eve, but the excitement is just too much? “Santa’s Coming To My House Tonight” will bring those memories flooding back. “The Kids” (as credited) provide some pretty awesome backing vocals ("wiggle wiggle wiggle" "ho ho ho") really making the song complete.
“A Laurie Berkner Christmas” is another tremendous example of children’s Christmas music done very well. Kids will love it, and parents will too. I don’t know much about how the world of children’s music marketing works – I expect that for an artist to be successful you have to be truly multi-media with digital music, videos, live performances, and a gig on national children’s television programming sure does help. But I suspect that it’s a pretty tough niche business. The folks at Waldmania are doing it right, with a group of artists that focus on creating music for kids but without sacrificing their musical integrity, and putting every ounce of their inspiring talent into what they do. The Waldmania group and the artists that they represent have earned my respect and admiration.
So, need a Christmas music CD for that long minivan drive to Grandma’s house this holiday season? “A Laurie Berkner Christmas” may be just right. It's chock full of happiness, fun, and smiles!
Oh hey! Look! Laurie has a new album out too - "Superhero"! I might have to check that out too :-)
Laurie Berkner website
Laurie Berkner Band on Facebook
"A Laurie Berkner Christmas" on Amazon
Waldmania Facebook page
Waldmania website
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
A Literary Treat from 1962
A little treat for you from the December 1962 edition of "Better Homes and Gardens"magazine. "The Very First Christmas Morning" an "original playlet for children to perform" by none other than Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
I had to take these pictures with my iPhone, as BH&G in 1962 was oversized (9x12) and too big for my scanner without damaging the magazine.
How interesting that Kurt Vonnegut contributed a 'playlet'!
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Kantorei KC "To Bethlehem" CD Review and Interview
Kantorei KC is a Kansas City based group of 16 very talented singers, performing and producing classical choral music. Formed in 2009, they have released two CDs, "Sweet Was The Song" and "Music and Sweet Poetry", prior to this year's entry into Christmas music, titled "To Bethlehem". Released earlier this month, and backed by a Kickstarter campaign, "To Bethlehem" contains 17 songs, from the classic and very familar "Silent Night", "Ave Maria", and "O come. O come Emmanuel" to rarely recorded music from centuries past ("Spiritus Sanctus in te", "Magi videntes stellam") to classical music by contemporary composers, such as "Dormi Jesu" by Kim Andre' Arnesen.
The song selections, the magnificent performances, and the recording and sound engineering of this record all combine to produce the most beautiful choral recording I have in my collection. The album was recorded at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Kansas City, and the acoustics soar to heights I've never before experienced. As I noted in the following interview with Musical Director Chris Munce, choral recordings can sound muffled, and efforts to control the sound and reduce any echo result in a bland, lifeless recording. Not so with "To Bethlehem". The sound is astonishing. The singers voices blend and separate and come together and highlight individual parts and do everything that a wonderful choral performance should and I could go on and on about the vibrant resonance and the arrangements and and and.... but I must stop, and you should listen for yourself. Let me restate, it's by far the best choral recording I have in my collection (of which there are many).
Musical Director Chris Munce graciously accepted my offer to interview him on behalf of Kantorei KC about their remarkable new record. Following the interview are links to the group's website and online store. Oh! And, if you live near the Kansas City area, Kantorei KC will be performing a couple of concerts in December. Be sure to check their performance calendar.
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Merry & Bright: Thank you for taking the time to enlighten the readers here at Merry & Bright about Kantorei KC and your “To Bethlehem” album. To start, can you tell us a brief history of Kantorei KC?
Chris Munce: Kantorei KC was born in 2009 as a consort of professional choral singers whose original function was to provide full a capella Latin Mass performances for a couple of Catholic Weddings in KC. After the 2nd wedding gig was over, the singers got together and suggested that we do a concert with all of this music we learned! So we did, and it came off very well. Then conversations moved toward coming up with a group name and formally forming an organization. Our first concert under the “Kantorei KC” banner was in 2010. Since then, we have grown to a regularly performing and recording professional ensemble.
MB: How did the “To Bethlehem” project come about?
CM: This is our third CD, and second on the Resonus Classics label. This project really grew out of our last one with Resonus. When we made “Music and Sweet Poetry,” and released in in 2014, we already had plans underway to release another album. We don’t have plans for a fourth one just yet!
MB: “To Bethlehem” includes a diverse mix of well-known traditional Christmas carols, rarely heard and/or recorded Renaissance works, and newer compositions such as “Dormi Jesu”. Tell us about the song selection process.
CM: As artistic director for this project, I felt it important to make a Christmas CD that has enough familiarity that it “feels like Christmas” to the average listener. At the same time I wanted the album to stretch our ears toward new sounds and ways of “hearing” Christmas. The next step was that I didn’t just want a random collection of Christmas songs. I wanted to actually tell the Christmas story. If you look carefully at the texts of the 17 tracks on the album, they loosely follow a chronological account of the story. Starting with prophecy, moving to the immaculate conception and journey to Bethlehem, (hence the album title!) then moving to the birth, the angels and shepherds, reflections on the miracle and finally, singing the newborn baby to sleep.
MB: The acoustics of the album have an astonishing resonance. Many chorale recordings have a tendency toward too much sound absorption in the recording process, while “To Bethlehem” allows the sound to, in a way, be itself, with remarkable results. I see in the liner notes that the recording was done at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Kansas City. Can you share with us insights about the recording sessions? How were you (and engineer Josh Williams) able to achieve such a beautiful, full sound recording?
CM: St. Peter’s is a perfect acoustic for our group. Our choir is 16 voices, (17 were used on the CD) so we look for a space that is large enough to be highly resonant, but small enough where a smaller choir will not be swallowed. Our producer Adam Binks, and engineer Josh Williams are EXPERTS in microphone placement and mixing the sound collected by those mics. The album, when played back on great speakers or really good headphones will give you a very accurate picture of what it sounded like in the room. I believe we used six or seven mics. I don’t remember exactly, but they were all over the room! Some were close to us to pick up the details of text and inflection, while some were in the back of the room to capture the resonance of the space. Then Adam works his magic to mix the right “dose” from each mic. It is pretty amazing to watch.
MB: The arrangements allow a striking simultaneous blending of harmonies with emphatic moments where the individual voices of your singers stand out. Please brag a little about this amazing group of singers – they deserve major kudos.
CM: Our roster of singers is a very special thing about our group. We have strived since the beginning to be a SINGER FIRST organization. So much so that I am a singer in the group as well as its Artistic Director. The only way this model works is to fill the group with highly trained, intuitive choral musicians. We are largely composed of people who direct choirs at various levels for a living. The result is a group of musicians who are self directing in all of the important ways. This frees me up to sing, but also to serve the role of a facilitator in rehearsal rather than a “director” in the traditional sense. I believe this all contributes to the resonant, highly blended sound Kantorei is able to achieve.
MB: Will Kansas City folks have a chance to hear the music from “To Bethlehem” in a live performance this season?
CM: They already did actually! Our Christmas concert last season served as a PREVIEW concert for the album. However, some favorite tracks will be performed again this season on Dec 17th and 18th at our Christmas concert to help promote the CD. The focus of the concert though will be the rarely performed “Missa Ave Maris Stella” by Josquin de Prez. www.kantoreikc.org/concerts will give people the details!
MB: As a Kansas City resident, I’m proud of the rapidly emerging arts community in our city, and the support of the city for our fine artists and musicians. “To Bethlehem” had 120 backers for its Kickstarter project, which seems to underscore how our community embraces the arts. Can you share some thoughts about the local support you have received?
CM: One word: grateful! We are a grassroots group in the KC scene for sure. We get very little support in terms of large grants, so we are COMPLETELY dependent on Kickstarter-type crowdsourcing. This is not a complaint at all! It is a wonderful thing that people are willing to chip in here and there to make sure these projects happen. Our backers, however, are from all over! We had supporters in several countries and dozens of states. Our record label is the UK. In a lot of ways we are a KC product export! In the grand scheme of the KC arts scene we are still a very young organization that is not very well known. We think that will start to change thanks to articles like this and thanks to our great group of singers and their dedication to their craft. That civic awareness and support for the arts in KC is what will help Kantorei KC become established for years to come.
MB: I’d like to thank you again for taking the time to answer a few questions about “To Bethlehem”. It is an astounding record for the upcoming Christmas season. Best wishes to you and to all of Kantorei KC!
CM: Thank you so much for your kind words about the album and for letting people know about it! Happy blogging!
Kantorei KC website
Kantorei KC Online Store
Concert Schedule
The song selections, the magnificent performances, and the recording and sound engineering of this record all combine to produce the most beautiful choral recording I have in my collection. The album was recorded at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Kansas City, and the acoustics soar to heights I've never before experienced. As I noted in the following interview with Musical Director Chris Munce, choral recordings can sound muffled, and efforts to control the sound and reduce any echo result in a bland, lifeless recording. Not so with "To Bethlehem". The sound is astonishing. The singers voices blend and separate and come together and highlight individual parts and do everything that a wonderful choral performance should and I could go on and on about the vibrant resonance and the arrangements and and and.... but I must stop, and you should listen for yourself. Let me restate, it's by far the best choral recording I have in my collection (of which there are many).
Musical Director Chris Munce graciously accepted my offer to interview him on behalf of Kantorei KC about their remarkable new record. Following the interview are links to the group's website and online store. Oh! And, if you live near the Kansas City area, Kantorei KC will be performing a couple of concerts in December. Be sure to check their performance calendar.
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Merry & Bright: Thank you for taking the time to enlighten the readers here at Merry & Bright about Kantorei KC and your “To Bethlehem” album. To start, can you tell us a brief history of Kantorei KC?
Chris Munce: Kantorei KC was born in 2009 as a consort of professional choral singers whose original function was to provide full a capella Latin Mass performances for a couple of Catholic Weddings in KC. After the 2nd wedding gig was over, the singers got together and suggested that we do a concert with all of this music we learned! So we did, and it came off very well. Then conversations moved toward coming up with a group name and formally forming an organization. Our first concert under the “Kantorei KC” banner was in 2010. Since then, we have grown to a regularly performing and recording professional ensemble.
MB: How did the “To Bethlehem” project come about?
CM: This is our third CD, and second on the Resonus Classics label. This project really grew out of our last one with Resonus. When we made “Music and Sweet Poetry,” and released in in 2014, we already had plans underway to release another album. We don’t have plans for a fourth one just yet!
MB: “To Bethlehem” includes a diverse mix of well-known traditional Christmas carols, rarely heard and/or recorded Renaissance works, and newer compositions such as “Dormi Jesu”. Tell us about the song selection process.
CM: As artistic director for this project, I felt it important to make a Christmas CD that has enough familiarity that it “feels like Christmas” to the average listener. At the same time I wanted the album to stretch our ears toward new sounds and ways of “hearing” Christmas. The next step was that I didn’t just want a random collection of Christmas songs. I wanted to actually tell the Christmas story. If you look carefully at the texts of the 17 tracks on the album, they loosely follow a chronological account of the story. Starting with prophecy, moving to the immaculate conception and journey to Bethlehem, (hence the album title!) then moving to the birth, the angels and shepherds, reflections on the miracle and finally, singing the newborn baby to sleep.
MB: The acoustics of the album have an astonishing resonance. Many chorale recordings have a tendency toward too much sound absorption in the recording process, while “To Bethlehem” allows the sound to, in a way, be itself, with remarkable results. I see in the liner notes that the recording was done at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Kansas City. Can you share with us insights about the recording sessions? How were you (and engineer Josh Williams) able to achieve such a beautiful, full sound recording?
CM: St. Peter’s is a perfect acoustic for our group. Our choir is 16 voices, (17 were used on the CD) so we look for a space that is large enough to be highly resonant, but small enough where a smaller choir will not be swallowed. Our producer Adam Binks, and engineer Josh Williams are EXPERTS in microphone placement and mixing the sound collected by those mics. The album, when played back on great speakers or really good headphones will give you a very accurate picture of what it sounded like in the room. I believe we used six or seven mics. I don’t remember exactly, but they were all over the room! Some were close to us to pick up the details of text and inflection, while some were in the back of the room to capture the resonance of the space. Then Adam works his magic to mix the right “dose” from each mic. It is pretty amazing to watch.
MB: The arrangements allow a striking simultaneous blending of harmonies with emphatic moments where the individual voices of your singers stand out. Please brag a little about this amazing group of singers – they deserve major kudos.
CM: Our roster of singers is a very special thing about our group. We have strived since the beginning to be a SINGER FIRST organization. So much so that I am a singer in the group as well as its Artistic Director. The only way this model works is to fill the group with highly trained, intuitive choral musicians. We are largely composed of people who direct choirs at various levels for a living. The result is a group of musicians who are self directing in all of the important ways. This frees me up to sing, but also to serve the role of a facilitator in rehearsal rather than a “director” in the traditional sense. I believe this all contributes to the resonant, highly blended sound Kantorei is able to achieve.
MB: Will Kansas City folks have a chance to hear the music from “To Bethlehem” in a live performance this season?
CM: They already did actually! Our Christmas concert last season served as a PREVIEW concert for the album. However, some favorite tracks will be performed again this season on Dec 17th and 18th at our Christmas concert to help promote the CD. The focus of the concert though will be the rarely performed “Missa Ave Maris Stella” by Josquin de Prez. www.kantoreikc.org/concerts will give people the details!
MB: As a Kansas City resident, I’m proud of the rapidly emerging arts community in our city, and the support of the city for our fine artists and musicians. “To Bethlehem” had 120 backers for its Kickstarter project, which seems to underscore how our community embraces the arts. Can you share some thoughts about the local support you have received?
CM: One word: grateful! We are a grassroots group in the KC scene for sure. We get very little support in terms of large grants, so we are COMPLETELY dependent on Kickstarter-type crowdsourcing. This is not a complaint at all! It is a wonderful thing that people are willing to chip in here and there to make sure these projects happen. Our backers, however, are from all over! We had supporters in several countries and dozens of states. Our record label is the UK. In a lot of ways we are a KC product export! In the grand scheme of the KC arts scene we are still a very young organization that is not very well known. We think that will start to change thanks to articles like this and thanks to our great group of singers and their dedication to their craft. That civic awareness and support for the arts in KC is what will help Kantorei KC become established for years to come.
MB: I’d like to thank you again for taking the time to answer a few questions about “To Bethlehem”. It is an astounding record for the upcoming Christmas season. Best wishes to you and to all of Kantorei KC!
CM: Thank you so much for your kind words about the album and for letting people know about it! Happy blogging!
Kantorei KC website
Kantorei KC Online Store
Concert Schedule
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
2016 Christmas Comp Album Art
I've been making annual Christmas compilation CDs since, oh, about the turn of the millennium, and had a set of Christmas mixtapes before that. The CD cover art has always been either 1) nonexistent, 2) an afterthought, or 3) a struggle to do something decent. The last few years I've been fairly happy with the results, but it's not my forte.
So this year I decided to commission the cover art with a local artist I met at Planet Comicon. I wrote a post earlier this year about Megan Fitts and her BFA project, a self-published (with Kickstarter help) comic book. I contacted Megan a couple of months ago about producing the artwork for my annual CD. We met, chatted about the CD and other Christmas topics, and I asked her to work up some ideas. The only guidance I gave was "Christmas music", and I wanted to see what she would come up with.
She sent me back, after just a few days, rough sketches of five options. They were all great - the hardest part was choosing from among the five to have her finish them out. About this same time I was having playlist angst - my playlist was too long for one CD and still I had more songs I was waiting on - so I decided I would do a 2-disc set this year. So, I picked the top two designs and let Megan work her artistry. And so, I'm proud to present a preview of the artwork for Christmas Music 2016, Discs 1 and 2.
So this year I decided to commission the cover art with a local artist I met at Planet Comicon. I wrote a post earlier this year about Megan Fitts and her BFA project, a self-published (with Kickstarter help) comic book. I contacted Megan a couple of months ago about producing the artwork for my annual CD. We met, chatted about the CD and other Christmas topics, and I asked her to work up some ideas. The only guidance I gave was "Christmas music", and I wanted to see what she would come up with.
She sent me back, after just a few days, rough sketches of five options. They were all great - the hardest part was choosing from among the five to have her finish them out. About this same time I was having playlist angst - my playlist was too long for one CD and still I had more songs I was waiting on - so I decided I would do a 2-disc set this year. So, I picked the top two designs and let Megan work her artistry. And so, I'm proud to present a preview of the artwork for Christmas Music 2016, Discs 1 and 2.
Her black and white concept for disc 2 is brilliant.
Please visit Megan's Facebook page and her Tumblr page to view more of her artwork.
Art of Megan Fitts Facebook
Art of Megan Fitts Tumblr
Monday, November 7, 2016
Album Review: Russ Hitt "The Longest Night: Christmas Songs of Lament & Longing"
In the notes accompanying his album "The Longest Night: Christmas Songs of Lament & Longing", Russ Hitt shares:
"This album was born from music I have played at a reflective, contemplative service held for people who find the holidays a struggle or want to acknowledge the same on behalf of others in the world. The struggle can be different—loneliness, grief, exhaustion from doing too much and so on, but for those of us who find ourselves in that place the holidays can seem like a long, dark night."
I believe that many, if not all, of us have at least once found ourselves at emotional valleys during the holiday season, and the reasons are many. As Russ noted, we can be lonely, stretched too thin, we can be experiencing loss during this time. Christmastime, while a time of joy, pleasure, spirituality, and excitement, shares the emotional spectrum with the darker side of the season.
Russ Hitt has captured these emotions in his album "The Longest Night: Christmas Songs of Lament & Longing", with eight songs that beautifully pair the reflections of our darker emotions with a sense of hope and tranquility.
The album contains three original compositions - "The Longest Night", "Reminiscing Christmas", and "Some of Us", and five arrangements of traditional songs. Russ is the sole performer on the album, playing acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, hand drums, piano, organ, and many various percussion instruments, as well as vocals on "Some of Us". Russ also produced, engineered, mixed and mastered the album.
The result is remarkable. "Coventry Carol" was the first song to load into my music player, and within the first minute I was captivated. Throughout the album, Russ' arrangements are mesmerizing, and he demonstrates the multi-instrumental performing talent to realize his musical vision. "We Three Kings", the album opening track, is an atmospheric exploration of the theme of the traditional melody. "The Longest Night", is a soft largo composition performed on piano, thematically paired with verse from the books of Psalms and Matthew, a song lyric, and a verse from Hafiz:
"I wish I could show you
when you are lonely or
in darkness the
astonishing light
of your own being."
The inclusion of written scripture, verse, lyrics, and words of wisdom complete the artistry of the music. The selection of the included passages are an indispensable part of this work of art. The written words and the music taken together will have a myriad of meaning to listeners.
Through "What Child Is This", "Silent Night", "O Come O Come Emmanuel", and closing with Russ' compositions "Reminiscing Christmas" and "Some of Us" (featuring Russ only vocal performance on the album, the music envelopes and embraces the listener. This album is not one of joy, revelry, and feasting on turkey. Nor is it one of deep sadness and despair. It is the music of reflection and hope during the Christmas season, when the longest night comes. Indeed, Russ ends the notes with Lamentations 3:29 "Wait for hope to appear".
This album is a very unique addition to my personal collection. It is an intensely personal and visionary artistic statement of an aspect of Christmas that can easily remain in the shadows or be passed by, much like the peddler in "Pretty Paper". I commend Russ Hitt for his impassioned delivery of his message,
Russ Hitt website
"The Longest Night: Christmas Songs of Lament & Longing" on Amazon
Russ Hitt on Bandcamp
Russ Hitt provided a digital copy of the album to Merry and Bright for review consideration.
"This album was born from music I have played at a reflective, contemplative service held for people who find the holidays a struggle or want to acknowledge the same on behalf of others in the world. The struggle can be different—loneliness, grief, exhaustion from doing too much and so on, but for those of us who find ourselves in that place the holidays can seem like a long, dark night."
I believe that many, if not all, of us have at least once found ourselves at emotional valleys during the holiday season, and the reasons are many. As Russ noted, we can be lonely, stretched too thin, we can be experiencing loss during this time. Christmastime, while a time of joy, pleasure, spirituality, and excitement, shares the emotional spectrum with the darker side of the season.
Russ Hitt has captured these emotions in his album "The Longest Night: Christmas Songs of Lament & Longing", with eight songs that beautifully pair the reflections of our darker emotions with a sense of hope and tranquility.
The album contains three original compositions - "The Longest Night", "Reminiscing Christmas", and "Some of Us", and five arrangements of traditional songs. Russ is the sole performer on the album, playing acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, hand drums, piano, organ, and many various percussion instruments, as well as vocals on "Some of Us". Russ also produced, engineered, mixed and mastered the album.
The result is remarkable. "Coventry Carol" was the first song to load into my music player, and within the first minute I was captivated. Throughout the album, Russ' arrangements are mesmerizing, and he demonstrates the multi-instrumental performing talent to realize his musical vision. "We Three Kings", the album opening track, is an atmospheric exploration of the theme of the traditional melody. "The Longest Night", is a soft largo composition performed on piano, thematically paired with verse from the books of Psalms and Matthew, a song lyric, and a verse from Hafiz:
"I wish I could show you
when you are lonely or
in darkness the
astonishing light
of your own being."
The inclusion of written scripture, verse, lyrics, and words of wisdom complete the artistry of the music. The selection of the included passages are an indispensable part of this work of art. The written words and the music taken together will have a myriad of meaning to listeners.
Through "What Child Is This", "Silent Night", "O Come O Come Emmanuel", and closing with Russ' compositions "Reminiscing Christmas" and "Some of Us" (featuring Russ only vocal performance on the album, the music envelopes and embraces the listener. This album is not one of joy, revelry, and feasting on turkey. Nor is it one of deep sadness and despair. It is the music of reflection and hope during the Christmas season, when the longest night comes. Indeed, Russ ends the notes with Lamentations 3:29 "Wait for hope to appear".
This album is a very unique addition to my personal collection. It is an intensely personal and visionary artistic statement of an aspect of Christmas that can easily remain in the shadows or be passed by, much like the peddler in "Pretty Paper". I commend Russ Hitt for his impassioned delivery of his message,
Russ Hitt website
"The Longest Night: Christmas Songs of Lament & Longing" on Amazon
Russ Hitt on Bandcamp
Russ Hitt provided a digital copy of the album to Merry and Bright for review consideration.
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