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MP3 Julia Dollison - Observatory
13 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Vocals, POP: Folky Pop
Details:
Album liner notes written by Terry Teachout:
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''THERE''S THIS SINGER I want you to meet. She''s really, really good." I must hear at least three variations per month on that tired old theme, but when Maria Schneider spoke those words to me five years ago, I took them seriously. What kind of jazz singer, I asked myself, would be interesting enough to catch the ear of the outstanding big-band composer of her generation?
Here''s the answer.
It starts with the voice: warm, airy, dappled with summer sunshine, technically bulletproof from top to bottom. (Check out those honking low notes in "Your Mind Is on Vacation.") Such voices are born, not made, and Julia Dollison has one. Yet she never coasts on her chops. Instead, she sings like a horn player in love with lyrics, the way Lester Young knew all the words to every ballad he played. Her solos are pointed and meaningful, little musical stories that take you to places you''ve never been.
Then comes the style, an alchemical blend of jazz and pop that makes Harold Arlen and Rufus Wainwright sound not like strange bedfellows but the oldest of friends. Don''t call it "fusion," though: that might smack of calculation, and there''s nothing calculated about Julia''s singing. She grew up listening to all kinds of music, and now she just sings what she hears, naturally and unselfconsciously.
Did I mention the arrangements? Actually, that''s not quite the right word for her root-and-branch deconstructions of standards. They pass through her mind like light through a prism, emerging refracted and transformed. "In a Mellotone" is nudged into a joltingly ironic minor key, while "Night and Day" is superimposed atop a Coltrane-like harmonic steeplechase. "All the Things You Are" becomes a spacious, Latin-flavored soundscape decorated with the pastel washes of overdubbed vocals that are Julia''s trademark. Her own beautifully crafted songs contain the same surprising twists and turns, and their presence here, far from being an indulgence, is an indispensable part of the large-scale compositional scheme of Observatory. For this is no mere string of unrelated tunes but a painstakingly wrought musical self-portrait, one whose organic unity is embodied in the sonic collage with which the album begins. Its meaning is revealed bit by bit and song by song, then made fully manifest at the end, like Rosebud in Citizen Kane.
It says a lot about Julia that she chose to record her first album not with a supportive, semi-anonymous journeyman pianist but in the perilously fast company of Ben Monder, the avant-garde jazz guitarist whose obliquely tilted solos have long been one of the brightest colors in Maria Schneider''s palette. Monder is a major instrumental voice in and of his own right, and his powerfully individual playing could easily have blown a lesser singer right out of the studio. Instead, Julia floats serenely above it like a morning star, wafted aloft by the propulsive yet thoughtful interplay of Matt Clohesy and Ted Poor.
As I watched Observatory take shape, I thought, This isn''t going to be your ordinary debut album. And sure enough, it isn''t. Julia Dollison has something arrestingly new to say. Listen and marvel.
-Terry Teachout, October 2005
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Three years ago, the Washington Post called Julia Dollison "a deeply musical virtuoso with an airy, luminous voice." Maria Schneider describes her singing as "an absolute joy." Kenny Wheeler praises her as "a wonderful vocalist and improviser - also a great lyricist."
Today, Dollison''s uniquely personal brand of jazz is delighting clubgoers and concert audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada. So far this year, she''s performed as a guest with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, appeared by invitation at the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) in Long Beach, and was a featured headliner at the Sacramento State University Vocal Jazz Festival this past spring.
This fall, she''ll make her solo debut at the Jazz Standard, New York''s premier jazz club, with the release of her first CD, Observatory. As on the album, Dollison will be accompanied at the performance by Ben Monder, Schneider''s much-admired avant-garde guitarist, with whom she recently appeared at New York''s Sweet Rhythm. The album, produced and arranged by Dollison, is a wide-ranging mix of standards and originals, featuring her signature layered overdubbed vocals and contemporary reharmonizations.
In January, Dollison will appear as a guest artist with Sacramento State University''s DownBeat award-winning vocal group "C-Sus" at the 2006 IAJE Conference in New York. The performance will feature Dollison''s arrangements, adapted for vocal jazz ensemble, including an original composition to be premiered at the conference.
Since being named DownBeat''s Best Jazz Vocal Soloist in 2000, Dollison has been heard at such New York clubs as Tavern on the Green, Sweet Rhythm, Cornelia Street Café, Detour, Cleopatra''s Needle, New Leaf Café, the Zinc Bar, S.O.B.''s, and the Bottom Line. She''s shared the stage with Jamey Aebersold, Gene Bertoncini, Bob Dorough, Christian McBride, Mark Murphy, Lewis Nash, Dianne Reeves, Ira Sullivan, and Kenny Wheeler, as well as pop artist and fellow University of Miami alumnus Jon Secada, and has sung with Erich Kunzel and the Naples Philharmonic.
Currently an adjunct member at Sacramento State University, Dollison was previously on the faculty at the New School University in New York, and Florida''s University of Miami, where she earned her B.M. and M.M. degrees in studio music and jazz performance, teaching with a full assistantship while earning her graduate degree. While there, she was featured in various award-winning Miami jazz ensembles, performing at IAJE conventions in New York (1998), New Orleans (2000) and Toronto (2003).
A classically trained soprano, Dollison sang the solos in Leonard Bernstein''s Chichester Psalms under Michael Tilson Thomas and played the title role in Gian Carlo Menotti''s Amahl and the Night Visitors. She''s also appeared in the "Voices of Liberty" show at Walt Disney World''s EPCOT Center, where she was featured as a main park attraction.
An experienced studio singer, Dollison can be heard on the film score of The Stepford Wives (DreamWorks 2004), the film trailer for Vera Drake (Fine Line Cinema 2004), and commercials for Disney World, Pier One Imports, and Radio City Music Hall.
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