Showing posts with label Rondi Charleston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rondi Charleston. Show all posts

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Rondi Charleston - Who Knows Where The Time Goes

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:16
Size: 117,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:16)  1. Who Knows Where The Time Goes
(4:30)  2. Overjoyed
(4:31)  3. Wave
(4:47)  4. Your Spirit Lingers
(4:13)  5. I Hear Music
(3:24)  6. Everything You Were Meant To Be
(4:25)  7. This Nearly Was Mine
(3:01)  8. Please Send Me Someone To Love
(4:20)  9. Dance Of Time
(5:27) 10. Land Of Galilee
(2:26) 11. Song For The Ages
(4:49) 12. Freedom Is A Voice

Rondi Charleston knows the importance of a story well told.  This talent, which served her well as an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer at ABC News, has continued to blossom over the years.  Charleston is a jazz vocalist who matches superior musicianship with a unique ability to craft resonant narratives.  “I feel that the artist’s job is not only to capture what’s going on in the world around her, but to reflect on what’s going on; to try to make sense out of chaos, so to speak.  Hopefully, I can also entertain, inspire, and leave audiences with a feeling of hope for the future,” she insists.  “My challenge is to write music and lyrics that do all three.”  She has been meeting the challenge since 2009 in a series of impressive releases on the Motema Music label, and reveals new depths as a vocalist, composer and bandleader on Resilience, her newest release. Along the way, she has collaborated with some of the jazz world’s most highly respected musicians.  With pianist Fred Hersch, she co-wrote the song, “The Cave Knows” for the film No Place On Earth, which had worldwide theatrical release with Magnolia Pictures.  

With pianist Lynne Arriale, she co-wrote “A Song For The Ages” for the 2008 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama which was featured on Entertainment Tonight.   She has been featured at the Women In Jazz Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center,  Birdland, Blue Note, Joe’s Pub, and Lyrics and Lyricists in New York, and around the country at Yoshi’s, Dakota Jazz, Catalina’s, and Mayne Stage in Chicago. “I’ve had several chapters in my life.  I’ve gone from being an actor and opera singer at Juilliard, to the world of investigative journalism at ABC News, and now, back to my first love, which is traditional and contemporary jazz,” Charleston explains.  “There’s a lot more uniting all these things than meets the eye.  In each case, you’re telling a story and in it, hopefully, revealing a powerful truth, whether it’s a corporate cover-up or a deep, hidden emotion. “ Music has surrounded Rondi Charleston her entire life.  Her father, an English professor, at the University of Chicago, was a jazz fan who took the then six-year-old and her brother, Erik (now a renowned New York percussionist) to hear Duke Ellington, her mother, a singer and voice teacher specializing in contemporary classical music.  Admitted to Juilliard as an acting student, Charleston also studied classical music.  After graduation, early years singing opera led to frustration and a change of careers. “Being small, I was always cast as the maid, never the countess,” she notes, “it was frustrating not to ever get the meaty parts, so I decided to shift gears, and learn to be a cultural reporter like my idol, the late Charles Kuralt.”  She was admitted to the NYU Masters program, where she won an award for an investigative report that led to a job at ABC News.  Beginning as a researcher, Charleston ultimately became a field producer, winning Emmy and Peabody awards in that capacity for her work with Diane Sawyer. Yet Charleston had hardly abandoned music.  During lunch breaks, she took voice lessons from Peter Eldridge of New York Voices, and at night she played cabaret gigs in the village.

“I put jazz singers on the highest pedestal, and never thought of myself that way at the time,” she admits, “but Peter saw that I had something special, I guess, and could swing, and he really helped make the transition organic.”   In fact, Eldridge ended up producing Charleston’s first jazz album, Love Is the Thing, on the LML Label.  When her daughter, Emma, was born, Charleston realized that she didn’t want her life controlled by the demands of her job. “So,” she explains, “I decided to focus on motherhood, return to my first love  music, and see what would happen.” What has happened is a series of increasingly ambitious and powerful albums In My Life, Who Knows Where The Time Goes?  and Signs of Life featuring what has become a working ensemble of unique sensitivity and range.  “I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to create exciting new music with such incredible musicians and human beings,” Charleston says of pianist Brandon McCune, bassist Ed Howard, drummer McClenty Hunter and percussionist Mayra Casales, and “being on the road has only deepened the whole experience on and off the bandstand.”  She reserves special praise for guitarist, co-composer and musical director Dave Stryker. “Dave is my musical alter-ego, mind-reader and sage advisor.  He brings a deep well of jazz knowledge, musical sensitivity, creative juice and endless patience to the table.” In addition to recording and touring, Rondi has recently co-created Resilience Music Alliance, a mission-driven record label, with her husband, political/social activist and arts patron,  Steve Ruchefsky.   RMA is dedicated to empowering artists who celebrate and challenge the human condition of Resilience.  To this end, Rondi is conducting a series of webcast interviews, “The Resilience Conversations” which explore the theme of resilience with visionaries such as Deepak Chopra, Cory Booker and others.  “It’s thrilling  to have the chance to talk with such deep thinkers, and I look forward to sharing their insights with our community of like minded people.” http://rondicharleston.com/biography-rondi-charleston/

Who Knows Where The Time Goes

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Rondi Charleston - Resilience

Size: 104,8 MB
Time: 44:36
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Resilience (4:21)
02. Around The Corner (5:26)
03. Joy Spring (4:28)
04. Scrapbook (4:02)
05. Sunny Side Of The Street (3:17)
06. Just A Heartbeat (4:31)
07. Evidence (5:25)
08. I've Got The World On A String (3:48)
09. Refugee (3:58)
10. A Healing Song (5:16)

Rondi Charleston knows the importance of a story well told. This talent, which served her well as an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer at ABC News, has continued to blossom over the years. Charleston is a jazz vocalist who matches superior musicianship with a unique ability to craft resonant narratives. “I feel that the artist’s job is not only to capture what’s going on in the world around her, but to reflect on what’s going on; to try to make sense out of chaos, so to speak. Hopefully, I can also entertain, inspire, and leave audiences with a feeling of hope for the future,” she insists. “My challenge is to write music and lyrics that do all three.” She has been meeting the challenge since 2009 in a series of impressive releases on the Motema Music label, and reveals new depths as a vocalist, composer and bandleader on Resilience, her newest release.

Along the way, she has collaborated with some of the jazz world’s most highly respected musicians. With pianist Fred Hersch, she co-wrote the song, “The Cave Knows” for the film No Place On Earth, which had worldwide theatrical release with Magnolia Pictures. With pianist Lynne Arriale, she co-wrote “A Song For The Ages” for the 2008 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama which was featured on Entertainment Tonight. She has been featured at the Women In Jazz Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blue Note, Joe’s Pub, and Lyrics and Lyricists in New York, and around the country at Yoshi’s, Dakota Jazz, Catalina’s, and Mayne Stage in Chicago.

Resilience

Monday, September 18, 2017

Rondi Charleston - Love Is The Thing

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:16
Size: 111,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:08)  1. If I Were A Bell
(4:49)  2. You Fascinate Me So
(5:22)  3. Wouldn't It Be Loverly
(3:30)  4. I've Got Just About Everything
(5:17)  5. It Might As Well Be Spring
(3:32)  6. Talk To Me Baby
(3:41)  7. This Is Always
(4:01)  8. Love Is The Thing
(3:15)  9. Easy To Love
(5:28) 10. Something To Live For
(2:01) 11. Nobody Else But Me
(4:07) 12. A Time For Love

Love Is The Thing is a superlative collection of jazz and American popular standards, all united by an emerging musical star. Rondi Charleston proves herself as a jazz singer - she can swing in any tempo and puts a glorious sense of space, soul and simplicity in her ballads. Love Is The Thing features an all-star lineup of some of the world's finest jazzmen. https://www.amazon.com/Love-Thing-Rondi-Charleston/dp/B0002IQNCO

"A magnificent album...we haven't heard anything like this in years. Rondi Charleston is dynamite!" ~ WRTI (NPR)

"Even though Rondi Charleston has the pipes of an angel, she never shows off...utterly honest..." ~ New York Voices

"One of the most romantic albums in recent memory...one rich delicacy after another." ~ Cabaret Scenes

"Utterly delightful...she works her way into her listener's hearts...a joy to hear." ~ New York Times

Personnel: Rondi Charleston (vocals); Rondi Charleston; David Finck (bass instrument); Adam Rogers (guitar); Joel Frahm (alto saxophone); Glenn Drewes (trumpet); Peter Eldridge, Tedd Firth (piano); Erik Charleston (vibraphone); Lewis Nash (drums)

Love Is The Thing

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Rondi Charleston - Signs of Life

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:15
Size: 106,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:37)  1. DNA
(4:36)  2. Signs of Life
(5:37)  3. How the River Flows
(4:19)  4. The Wind Speaks
(4:12)  5. Footprints
(3:17)  6. Spirit Voices
(3:32)  7. In These Hours
(4:38)  8. Reflections
(2:55)  9. Babe's Blues
(3:22) 10. Chega de Saudade
(3:04) 11. The Cave Knows

Motéma Music recording artist, Rondi Charleston, is an award winning jazz singer/lyricist/composer whose work has appeared in film, TV and on stage throughout the U.S. and Europe. Her most recent album, Signs of Life, climbed the Jazz Week charts for ten consecutive weeks and has critics raving; JazzTimes says “she is a songwriter whose poetic, narrative, and compositional skills are comparable to such modern masters as Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon.”Touring nationally in support of Signs of Life, Rondi and her all-star band gave sold out performances from coast to coast from Yoshi’s in San Francisco to Mayne Stage in Chicago to Joe’s Pub in New York with TV appearances on such prestigious stations as PBS Chicago Tonight and ABC’s Windy City Live. She has collaborated with some of the foremost jazz luminaries of our time including Fred Hersch, Lynne Arriale and Dave Stryker. Rondi was chosen for the Women in Jazz Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and has played Birdland and BlueNote with her quartet in New York City. Her original song, “The Cave Knows”, for the film, No Place on Earth, is currently featured on The History Channel as well as in worldwide theatrical release. In addition Rondi is a Juilliard graduate, Emmy and Peabody award winning journalist at ABC News Primetime Live. Bio ~ http://motema.com/artists/rondi-charleston/

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Rondi Charleston - In My Life

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:28
Size: 144,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:22)  1. Beautiful
(3:37)  2. Until
(4:56)  3. In My Life
(4:42)  4. Someone to Light Up My Life
(5:07)  5. Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
(4:51)  6. Ancient Steps
(4:08)  7. I'm Old Fashioned
(4:19)  8. I Believe in You
(4:43)  9. Baby Don't Quit Now
(4:33) 10. Estate
(3:41) 11. Shall We Dance
(3:30) 12. Waltz for Debby
(5:20) 13. Telescope
(4:34) 14. Fragile as a Song

This CD, In My Life, should help this talented vocalist achieve the recognition she deserves. Two fine earlier recordings on LML Music (2001's Love Letters and 2004's Love Is The Thing) did not receive wide notice or distribution. This release, accompanied by a Virgin Megastores national in-store performance tour, should change that. Charleston and pianist/musical director Bruce Barth have chosen an eclectic collection of material. It ranges from well-known Great American Songbook tunes, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and "I'm Old Fashioned to the lesser-known, "Baby Don't Quit Now," by Johnny Mercer and Jimmie Rowles. It includes two Tom Jobim songs, a Bill Evans gem, the Lennon and McCartney title track and the Charleston/Barth composition, "Telescope." Sting and Carole King are also both represented. Only four selections overlap between the two discs. Charleston proves equally adept at all of it, weaving the disparate material into a memorable performance. Charleston's voice is both polished and powerful. She is equally capable of caressing the lyrics as she does on "Waltz for Debbie" and "Estate, or swinging authoritatively as she does on the Jobim songs. "I love the tradition of jazz, says Charleston, "and how...it encourages artists to creatively move the music forward, beyond the genre, expanding one's own musical vocabulary." Her performance of "Beautiful, from King's classic Tapestry (Ode, 1971), offers an excellent example of Charleston's rapport with tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm, lifting the song to another level, with guitarist Adam Rogers contributing one of several outstanding solos. 

That rapport between Charleston and Frahm puts its stamp on much of the music. Frahm's solo on The Beatles' tune is one of many fine contributions. Barth, whose work with vocalists includes, notably, a recent stint with Tony Bennett and who shares credit for these arrangements with Charleston, also stands out. Their collaboration on "Bewitched is truly lovely. Frahm again solos impressively. The musicians include Sean Smith on bass and Hadar Noiberg on flute, as well as Clarence Penn on drums (Alvester Garnett replaces Penn on the DVD). Some CD tracks include very tasteful and subtle strings arranged by Barth. The inclusion of the DVD adds something substantial. The CD recording stands on its own as a fine piece of work, however watching Charleston live with her talented band reinforces the impression that she is a special talent. The jazz world should take notice. ~ Geoff Mirelowitz   
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27425#.U1Bnb1dSvro
Personnel:  Rondi Charleston: vocals; Bruce Barth: piano; Sean Smith: bass; Clarence Penn: drums; Joel Frahm: tenor saxophone; Adam Rogers: guitars; Hadar Noiberg; flute; Erik Charleston: vibes; Barbara Allen: harp; Meg Okura: strings; Tanya Kalmanovitch: strings; Antoine Silverman: strings; Mary Wooten: strings.

In My Life