Showing posts with label Jan Shapiro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jan Shapiro. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Jan Shapiro - Back To Basics

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 30:26
Size: 69.7 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[4:56] 1. Change Partners
[4:18] 2. Squeeze Me
[3:58] 3. Our Love Is Here To Stay
[3:45] 4. Don't Be That Way
[3:18] 5. Sister Sadie
[3:22] 6. Beautiful Friendship
[4:45] 7. Be Anything, Be Mine
[2:01] 8. 's Wonderful

Jan began her music studies at the Saint Louis Institute of Music and continued by earning her Bachelor’s degree, graduating Cum Laude from Howard University, Washington D.C. and completing a Masters degree from Cambridge College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Her first major engagement at the Playboy Club in Saint Louis lasted more than six months–until she and her group went on the road, touring extensively. Subsequently she performed at the Camellia Room in the Drake Hotel, Chicago, the Hyatt Hotels in Washington D.C., and Atlanta, The Top of The Tower Club, New York City, Marriott Hotels in Florida, Washington D.C. and St. Louis, the Chase-Park Plaza Hotel, St.Louis, various Sheraton Hotels and Ramada Inns, and numerous hotels, supper clubs, and jazz clubs in Boston and the New England area. Jan was the guest vocalist for the prestigious Boston Globe Jazz Festival in 1987 and in 1990, leading off the Festival in 1990.

As a musician, Jan has developed competence as a vocalist, flautist, electric bass, piano and keyboards as well as percussion. She is versatile in style, singing jazz, soft-rock, pop, blues, and ballads with equal elan. As a songwriter, she has written and collaborated in writing some of the songs she performs. In addition, she composed the score of “Tales of Toyland”, a children’s production of Bob Kramer’s Marionettes of Saint Louis, which toured nationally. As a recording artist, she was the featured guest artist with the “Airmen of Note”–the official Jazz Ensemble of the United States Air Force, on a recording with international distribution. She has performed as a studio vocalist in recording numerous advertising jingles, TV spots and demos’ including recording with Len Dressler of the “Singers Unlimited” for the Broadway musical “Copperfield”.

Jan was a former faculty member of the Voice Department at Fontbonne College, Saint Louis, Missouri and in the Jazz Studies Department at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois. Jan is Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music. She was also Chair of the Voice Department at Berklee from 1997 through May 2010. She has presented vocal clinics around the country including the International Association of Jazz Educators Conferences, and adjudicated high school jazz choirs in the New England area.

Back To Basics

Monday, May 4, 2015

Jan Shapiro - Piano Bar After Hours

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:32
Size: 117,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:47)  1. On a Slow Boat to China
(2:49)  2. You're Getting to Be a Habit
(6:28)  3. I Keep On Loving You
(4:00)  4. They Say Its Wonderful
(4:26)  5. Doodlin'
(3:56)  6. Lost Up in Loving You
(5:16)  7. Time Lies
(3:38)  8. If I Were a Bell
(5:04)  9. Who Cares
(4:42) 10. Tell Me
(6:22) 11. Company

Professor and former Berklee College Voice Department Chair Jan Shapiro does make it into the studio occasionally. Her previous recordings include Read Between The Lines (Self Produced, 1997), Not Commercial (Self Produced, 1998) and Back to Basics (Self Produced, 2006). Shapiro's fourth recording, Piano Bar After Hours continues where she left off with Basics, presenting a stripped down version of jazz vocals performed in an intimate duo format with her favorite pianists (save for Al Jarreau's "Tell Me" which is something else altogether).

Piano Bar... is a collection of eleven far-flung songs that Shapiro sings with her experience-informed soprano voice. Where Shapiro vamps a show tune style with Frank Loesser's "A Slow Boat to China," slowly, perfectly supported by pianist Daniela Schachter, she makes Mark Winkler's lyrics sparkle on "I Keep On Loving You." She is as effective singing Rickie Lee Jones' "Company" as she is scatting Horace Silver's fun "Doodlin.'" But where Shapiro proves her temper singing almost casually on Loesser's "If I Were a Bell," where she turns the piece into an upbeat ballad with pianist John Harrison III bouncing right along. "Tell Me" is as experimental as its composer with Shapiro interpolating a Jarreau-McFerrin vibe with multi-voice tracking. Shapiro should get out of the classroom more. ~ C.Michael Bailey  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/piano-bar-after-hours-jan-shapiro-self-produced-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php
 
Personnel: Jan Shapiro: vocals; Daniela Schachter: piano (1, 4); Bob Winter: piano (2, 9); Tim Ray: piano (3, 11); Russell Hoffman: piano (5, 6); John Harrison III: piano (7, 8); Adriana Balic: keyboards (10); Bob Stoloff: vocals drums (10); Joey Blake: vocals bass (10).

Monday, April 20, 2015

Jan Shapiro - Read Between The Lines

Styles: Jazz Pop
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:16
Size: 124,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:46)  1. Read Between the Lines
(4:59)  2. Superstition
(5:24)  3. Between Hello and Goodbye
(3:48)  4. I Get Arrested
(3:54)  5. I Keep On Loving You
(4:22)  6. Its Probably Me
(5:28)  7. Why You Wanna Make Me Blue
(5:13)  8. Heartbreak Hotel
(4:14)  9. Just Like Magic
(3:36) 10. Thats Miles That Smiles
(3:57) 11. He Loves Me (I Think)
(4:30) 12. Lifetime Guarantee

They are all inherent things that are undoubtedly ingrained in our everyday approach to life. But exhibiting any one of these on cue is not so easy. Only a select few artists can effectively incorporate these elements into their work. Jan Shapiro is one of those few. Armed with a pristine, instantly recognizable vocal style all her own, she dives into every song with pure feeling, energy and emotion. It;s a natural gift, but also the result of years of training and experience. 

On her debut album, Read Between the Lines, Jan meshes element of Jazz, R&B and Pop into a refreshing contemporary jazz sound that is simultaneously entertaining and varied. From the groovy nostalgic flavor of the title track to the breathtaking ballad "Between Hello and Goodbye", destined to become a classic, all the way to the downright funky, irresistible soul of "I Get Arrested", one knows on first listen that Jan is a versatile singer with broad musical knowledge. Working with producer-arranger, 5 time Grammy winner/nominee Richard Evans, the set include songs by songwriting teams, Michael O'Hara and Denise Rich, Alex Brown and Rex Salas as well as several contributions from Grammy nominee Donna McElroy. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/janshapiro2