Bernadette Seacrest and Her Yes Men - Live

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:30
Size: 162,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:54)  1. Summertime
(5:13)  2. Nobody's Crying
(5:35)  3. Caravan
(4:19)  4. So Cruel
(5:50)  5. Early In The Morning
(3:12)  6. Temptation
(4:55)  7. Smoking Cigars
(4:31)  8. Tango
(5:15)  9. Money
(4:30) 10. When The Sun Comes
(5:00) 11. Fever
(5:08) 12. Wrong Turn (Studio Version)
(4:30) 13. Money (Studio Version)
(3:44) 14. Man's Ruin (Studio Version)
(2:47) 15. Rain (Studio Version)

Bernadette’s creative path reads like the back story to a mid-century Hollywood heroine: Ballerina, Fashionista, Hell Kitten, Sultry Chanteuse. She spent her childhood in California and New York studying classical dance with the renowned Los Angeles Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and American Ballet Theatre until an injury drove her love of drag and pageantry north east and underground. Coming of age amidst the gutter glam and jewel-toned ink of New York and L.A.’s early 80’s street punk scene the ballerina scraped by as a sometimes fetish model, makeup artist, clothing designer and stylist. In 1993 Bernadette declared Albuquerque home and in 2001 made her musical debut with one of the hottest roots-rockabilly bands in the Southwest, the Long Goners. Working closely with singer-songwriter Pat Bova, she belted out rebellious anthems in the style of Janis Martin and Wanda Jackson. Together, they shared the stage with rockabilly’s most iconic acts to include Hank Williams III, Jonathan Richman, Big Sandy and many more. 2003 found the burgeoning chanteuse ready to wrap her voice around the more complex musical terrain of jazz. She collaborated with acclaimed bassist and composer David Parlato while forming the new band Bernadette Seacrest and her Yes Men. The combo’s first album “No More Music by the Suckers” was released in 2004 and features desire drenched jazz standards as well as original songs by Michael Grimes and Pat Bova. The band toured extensively upon the album’s release, playing to packed audiences across the U.S. and France. They were featured on NPR and Swing City Magazine described the album as “…an attempt for a one time rockabilly kitten to break into the modern day jazz scene and break the mold, an endeavor she unconsciously accomplishes.” Their second album, “Live in Santa Fe” was released in 2005 and magically captures the smoke-filled room acoustics of a sold out live performance. In 2006 Bernadette followed her heart to Atlanta where a new project arose Bernadette Seacrest and her Provocateurs with guitarist/songwriter par excellence, Charles Williams and journeyman bassist Kris Dale. In 2009 “The Filthy South Sessions” was released to critical acclaim. The album’s collection of songs range from the All Mighty’s drinking habits to an epic lament about a diner at the end of the world, with stops in between. 

The arrangements are an amalgam of jazz, rockabilly and swing noire elements that elude all descriptors, allowing each musician’s considerable talent to shine through. During this era, Bernadette was awarded Best Atlanta Vocalist twice by Atlanta’s leading alternative press publication “Creative Loafing”. With new album in hand, Bernadette and her boys went on to tour exclusively in France. In 2012 The Provocateurs disbanded and Bernadette went solo. With bass player extraordinaire Kris Dale as musical director, they crafted a different approach to their next album released in 2016 under the title “Lust & Madness” an unconventional and bracing body of work inviting repeated visits to the dark wells of the soul. Like an all-consuming novel, we consider life’s twists, plights and circumstances…with Bernadette’s seductive voice guiding us all the while atop raw and sparse instrumentation. Bernadette’s allure continues to foster a constellation of talented friends as Atlanta’s local heavy hitters Big Mike Geier (AKA Puddles Pity Party) and legendary Hall of Fame inductee Francine Reed appear on two separate tracks. A Bernadette Seacrest “show” is better described as a coveted experience for the quietly informed. Her willing subjects recoil, laugh and blush as she relentlessly exorcises the demons of doubt, inhibition and lowered expectations born of life’s bludgeoning routines. Fans smile knowingly while newcomers are buffeted through songs with each new effort seeming to top the last. When the lights come up, they carry their experiences home in a beguiled state of wonder. Something has been restored and reclaimed. It’s authentic…. it’s intimate….. and we are blessedly reminded of how music can make us feel when we’re lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. http://bernadetteseacrest.com/biography

Live

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Bernadette Seacrest and her Provocateurs - The Filthy South Sessions

Styles: Vocal, Big Band
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:38
Size: 111,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:38)  1. The Tango Below
(3:48)  2. Blue Rendezvous
(4:13)  3. Pass The Tourniquet
(2:24)  4. The Rain Has Stayed Away
(4:45)  5. Empty Streets
(3:28)  6. Where Does It Hurt
(4:04)  7. Death Letter In The Mail
(3:34)  8. G-d's Been Drinking
(4:37)  9. Babylon
(2:44) 10. Who's Buying
(2:08) 11. Trashcan Lens
(8:10) 12. Cabbagetown Girl

The 45-year-old femme fatale and singer who fronts the trio known simply as Her Provocateurs, has the face of a 1950s pin-up model and the tattoos of an old-school, streetwise punk. Every drop of ink on her body from the barbed chain around her neck to the brilliant colors that sleeve her arms tells the story of a fiercely independent woman who has suffered the highs and lows of life on the fringes to carve her own musical niche. Her pure, angelic croon seems more likely to be found in the pages of a pulp crime novel than in the here and now. Having grown up in Venice Beach, Calif., she's filled with tales ranging from being bullied by Dogtown skateboarders in the late '70s to dating Jane's Addiction bassist Eric Avery, whom she calls her first love. But there's a dark side to her past as well, one that's marred by battles with a heroin addiction that, had she failed to overcome it, would have stopped her from ever finding the confidence to sing for an audience. With Bernadette Seacrest and Her Provocateurs' new CD, The Filthy South Sessions, Seacrest's haunting presence collides with songwriter/guitarist Charles Williams' heady arrangements in a sound that skirts the boundaries of jazz, blues and lounge music. "Swing noir" is the clever catch phrase she likes most. The songs simmer with a sparse, spectral sound that builds on the complex chemistry between Seacrest and Williams. "Charles is a very cerebral person and I am the polar opposite of that," she explains. "That's what's really good between us and that's what creates tension. Everything I do comes from the gut ... and my hips, and he's in his head. It's amazing that we can do what we do without killing each other," she laughs. "It's like a pelvis thing and it's a cranium thing." A few years after kicking her drug habits in September '97, 35-year-old Seacrest was living in Albuquerque, N.M. She had moved there to clean up and was looking for some sort of artistic outlet. She had no prior singing experience, but was intrigued by the prospects after being prodded onstage one night. "When I was a user, drugs and booze gave me confidence in some ways, but in other ways I was dwarfed emotionally," she says. "I had been sober for a few years, my confidence was up and I had a friend who was in this great band that had recently broken up. One night he jokingly said, 'Come sing with the remaining members of my band.' So I thought about it and called him the next day and said, 'OK, I'm going to do this.'" The friend was jazz performer and songwriter Pat Bova. 

Together they played in the rockabilly roots band the Long Goners, and later formed the backbone of Bernadette Seacrest and Her Yes Men, who released two albums a collection of mostly standards titled No More Music by the Suckers and a live CD that followed a year later. The two worked well together, but without warning Seacrest moved to Atlanta in June 2006 to "follow her heart," she says. It wasn't long before she was appearing at out of the way venues around town with Williams, best known as a founding guitar player for Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit and the main songwriter for local jazz group the Bonaventure Quartet. Kris Dale, who plays bass with Hampton's Quark Alliance as well as the Bonaventure Quartet, soon filled out the lineup. Williams and Seacrest both refer to Dale as "the glue that binds them together." The trio's early sound snaked through loungy renditions of such standards as "Fever" before easing into haunting rearrangements of such recent numbers as "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails. Over time, Williams crafted several songs with Seacrest in mind, all of which appear on their debut release, The Filthy South Sessions. The CD consists of entirely original material that often supplements the sparseness of the gypsy-like guitar, bass and torch singer lineup with various strings, light percussion and horns.  The Filthy South Sessions perplexes with its simple arrangements extracted of anything overtly jazz- or blues-inspired. In some instances, the disc eerily lingers before jumping to life with a rocking pace. Such songs as "The Tango Below," "Empty Streets" and "Cabbagetown Girl" unfold with an unquestionably Southern sound arrived at purely by innuendo. "Working with Bernadette is a lot like working with Bruce Hampton," Williams says. "He would always tell me what he didn't want me to play, but never what he wanted, so I was always searching for something. And it turned out that he had no idea what he wanted, either!" Williams laughs. "He just wanted to see what I would come up with. Bernadette kind of does the same thing. She said, 'Let's keep it small and I don't want any jazz, and no blues.'" The resulting songs follow these stylistic guidelines, so much so that their naked and unorthodox approach is what makes the album memorable. But their obscurity could be a detriment to any kind of commercial success. For Seacrest that's not such a bad thing. "I don't like the idea of making records to appease anyone other than myself," she laughs. ~ Chad Radford

The Filthy South Sessions

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Bernadette Seacrest and Her Yes Men - No More Music By The Suckers

Styles: Vocal, Cabaret
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:43
Size: 91,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:50)  1. My Man
(3:38)  2. Tango New
(4:33)  3. Cold Bed
(1:50)  4. Lullaby Low Bass
(2:07)  5. Dream A Little Dream
(4:06)  6. Her Tears Break My Heart
(4:18)  7. So Cruel
(3:25)  8. Aint Misbehavin
(5:51)  9. Body And Soul
(4:05) 10. Salvation
(2:54) 11. Strange Fruit

"At first one might think the greatest benefit of the lounge-y torch song revival is the idea of a smoky-voiced chanteuse sporting tattoos  mmm...classic beauty+punk sensibility=yummy. But Albuquerque's Bernadette Seacrest could be dressed in business casual for all we care. After all, she posses one of those rare voices that summons up romantic demons, lost loves and well-made cocktails. Her new CD, "No More Music By the Suckers", is a tapestry of slick noir ballads and sweet melodies. And you know what? Maybe the tatts are pretty cool too." ~ The Santa Fe Reporter

"Seacrest, whose last gig was with the Albuquerque rockabilly outfit The Long Goners, has evolved into a tattooed chanteuse specializing in jazzy, torchy and extremely tunes with a band featuring a double bass, sax and trombone. While Seacrest's voice is the main draw here, don't forget The Yes Men, who create the dangerous atmosphere. Grimes' bass is a major component on most cuts. And sometimes the horn section sounds like they're engaging in a gang rumble." ~The Santa Fe New Mexican

"Her sultry, silky voice spreads across the room like a lush, warm blanket of velvet and ably pays homage to the composers and performers who made those songs so unforgettable in the first place." ~Albuquerque Journal

"You can practically smell the cigarrette smoke and taste the bootleg booze of a speakeasy club when you listen to the music of this retro swinging group. Lead singer Bernadette Seacrest has a sultry voice perfectly backed by a group of able jazz musicians." ~ music.download.com https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/bsahym

Personnel:  Bernadette Seacrest - Vocals;  Michael Grimes - Double Bass, Guitar, Organ, Melodica;  Aaron Cummings - Saxophones, Clarinet;Noah Thomas – Trumpet;  Jason Aspeslet - Drums, Percussion

No More Music By The Suckers

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