SINGER-SONGWRITER RONDI CHARLESTON TO RELEASE IN MY LIFE CD/DVD SET APRIL 21
Disc Features Two Charleston Originals, "Telescope" & "Ancient Steps"
Los Angeles, CA, April 1, 2009- On April 21, 2009, singer-songwriter Rondi Charleston releases In My Life, her first CD / DVD set. This complete package (including 14 CD tracks and 15 DVD tracks) will be available nationwide. A tour throughout the U.S. is planned in support of the release with dates confirmed for May 5th at Sculler's (Boston), May 17th at Dizzy's (San Diego), May 20th at Catalina Jazz Club (Los Angeles), May 23rd at Dazzle (Denver), May 24th at The Dakota (Minneapolis) and a return NYC engagement to Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola® on June 1st.
The CD/DVD bonus set includes Rondi's first two original compositions, "Ancient Steps" and "Telescope," each inspired by her 11 year-old daughter Emma who also sings back-up vocals on "Telescope." The set was produced by Suzi Reynolds (Teri Thornton, Lynne Arriale, Rufus Reid) for the Emmamuse label. The signature sounds of some of the world's most accomplished musicians can be heard on these recordings: pianist Bruce Barth, who also served as Tony Bennett's musical director and pianist; Sean Smith on bass (Jerry Mulligan, Phil Woods); Clarence Penn on drums (Wynton Marsalis, Roberta Flack, Dianne Reeves, Alicia Keys); Joel Frahm on tenor sax (Brad Mehldau, Jane Monheit); Adam Rogers on guitar (Michael Brecker, Cassandra Wilson).
A melodic tapestry with original, pop, prog-rock, Brazilian and Great American Songbook influences the CD/DVD highlights include the classic Beatles tune, "In My Life," as well as Carol King's pop classic anthem "Beautiful." "Until," originally written and recorded by Sting for the movie Kate & Leopold, is reinvented by Charleston as a gypsy waltz. Also included is a sultry ballad version of Rogers & Hammerstein's "Shall we Dance," an enchanting up-tempo arrangement of "I'm Old Fashioned," a rarely heard Blues gem by Jimmy Rowles, "Baby, Don't Quit Now," the Bill Evans' standard "Waltz for Debby," and a surprising original pop ballad by Peter Gabriel Bassist Tony Levin - "Fragile As A Song." The set is rounded out by sizzling versions of Brazilian classics "Someone to Light Up Life," "No More Blues" and "Estate."
The bonus DVD, "Jazz at Lincoln Center Presents Rondi Charleston - LIVE at Dizzy's Club Coca- Cola®," marks the first time any artist has been documented at that venue for DVD distribution. Live performances of "In My Life," "Beautiful," Rondi's original "Telescope" and more are included on the DVD, with a bonus track of Jobim's "No More Blues." An EP sampler of the project was successfully launched in Fall, 2007 at Virgin Megastore's two New York City flagship stores, where it sold over 1,200 units in that city alone. The project was recorded and produced at Bennett Studios, a multi Grammy and Emmy Award-winning facility.
About Rondi Charleston
Born into a family of musicians in Hyde Park, Chicago, Rondi began her musical journey in her early teens singing and playing guitar in that city's folk clubs. At 16 she entered Juilliard to study drama and voice. After graduating and singing opera professionally, she enrolled in the Master's program at NYU's School of Journalism and while there, broke a major cover-up story of a Metro-North train crash. She immediately caught the eye of ABC News who hired her to work alongside Diane Sawyer. As a cultural and investigative reporter for ABC's "Primetime Live," Rondi earned Emmy and Peabody Awards for stories she co-produced.
After attending a performance at a Greenwich Village club, Ms. Sawyer heartily encouraged her and Rondi decided to embrace her lifelong passion to sing jazz. Rondi left journalism to take time to raise her daughter Emma and dive into music full-time. She continues to perform at prestigious national venues such as The Blue Note, Birdland, The Iridium, The Dakota, Catalina Jazz Club and others. For more information, performance updates, and sneak peaks of her originals, visit www.rondicharleston.com, www.myspace.com/rondicharleston and www.youtube.com/rondicharleston.
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"IN MY LIFE" - Live at Lincoln Center - Bonus DVD. Liner Notes by Bob Blumenthal
That rare combination of native talent and keen perception has made Rondi Charleston a commanding vocal stylist and a spellbinding storyteller, with tastes that traverse the musical spectrum and a love of interpretive risks. The honesty of her sound and her insight into the emotions behind lyrics mark Charleston as a singer for all seasons, one who feels at home in give and take with the jazz world’s most inspiring accompanists yet makes just as strong an impression on those listeners who care less about virtuosity than the visceral experience of a musical vignette truly told. She has reached this point by drawing upon a lifetime of resources that span music, media and the empathy at the core of every true artist.
The course of life’s journey is rarely a straight path. Twists, turns, and unexpected detours can change our direction and alter our destination. Those of us with a creative curiosity can seize on these new routes and turn them to our advantage, learning in the process where we were headed all along. Which explains how Charleston has emerged, after an early life filled with diverse adventures, as such a compelling singer; one who is both technically assured and able to connect on the personal level of lived and shared experience, and whose current power is exceeded only by the even greater potential that her vision suggests.
Charleston considers herself destined for a life in the arts. Both of her parents sing, her mother teaches voice and Dad is a classical music radio announcer. "I heard Miles Davis records in utero, met Duke Ellington when I was six, and would find classic novels next to my cereal bowl," she recalls. Growing up in the Hyde Park area while her father attended the University of Chicago, she was also exposed to that city’s wealth of music, and as she grew older, took the opportunity to "worship at the feet" of Carmen McRae when her idol appeared at Ratso’s and other local clubs. By age 15 Charleston was singing professionally, at a folk club called Somebody Else’s Troubles, but other youthful interests suggested that she might pursue a career in theatre. At first the stage won out, when an audition with the legendary John Houseman led to her acceptance at age 16 to Juilliard’s Drama Department.
A firm believer in cherishing the process as well as the performance, Charleston embraced her evolving Juilliard experience. "I just followed my passion," she explains, "using the theatrical training to learn how one explores the emotional depths of material." After two years, the school’s Voice Department accepted her as well, and her course seemed set on a career in opera. As a young vocalist Charleston had her successes, but soon realized that she had chosen that rare profession in which being a slim, attractive blonde was not always an advantage – where, if you will, it would never be over when she was done singing. The rigidity of operatic performance was another problem. "The classical years were tough," she admits, "because the spontaneity of creating something in the moment was missing for me."
Charleston responded by returning to school on a fellowship, specifically the NYU Graduate School of Journalism. One of her assignments was to write a story on a local train crash, and when her investigations revealed a cover-up, the New York Times and the New York Daily News picked up the resulting story. A job offer from ABC followed even before she graduated, and soon she was co-producing Emmy and Peabody award-winning segments on PrimeTime Live. The job was demanding, but the urge to perform remained. "I couldn’t not sing in those years," Charleston emphasizes, "on lunch breaks, weekends, whenever the opportunity presented itself." There were occasional gigs in Manhattan as well, one of which was attended by her colleague Diane Sawyer. "I came because I like you," Sawyer exclaimed after the set, "but you never told me you were really good. You could do this."
Soon after, Charleston’s daughter Emma was born. The need to set priorities became clear, and while raising Emma, music again became central to her life. She began to study with Peter Eldridge of New York Voices, formed working relationships with creative accompanists like those heard here, and recorded her second CD. This latest recording and its companion DVD confirm that Diane Sawyer is a pretty astute music critic.
While the technical aspects of Charleston the vocalist are impressive, from the natural warmth of her sound to the ease with which she phrases and the assurance of her beat, it is her conviction as a storyteller that really sets her apart. Not for nothing did she revere Carmen McRae, one of the supreme vocal dramatists, and one suspects that it was at McRae’s feet as well as in Juilliard classroom that Charleston learned to keep feeling and meaning at the forefront every time she performs. When it comes to virtuosity, those singers who can dazzle too often do so at the expense of their material. Charleston has the chops that can leave us in awe, but always makes it about the song, which in the end is the greatest compliment that one can pay a singer.
Her interpretations of popular hits are prime examples of her taste and her expressive depth in action. Unlike many who have tried to bring such material into a jazz orbit, Charleston allows the song to dictate her interpretations. On the title track, where the melody is beautiful and the message direct, she feels no need to bend either unnaturally, while Carole King’s anthem "Beautiful" can accommodate greater variation and receives an original treatment fully in synch with its message, and Sting’s "Until" is transformed into a gypsy waltz. Tony Levin’s "Fragile as a Song" is a further example of Charleston’s knack for finding meaningful material.
The originals "Ancient Steps" and "Telescope" reveal that Charleston can write songs where both message and melody flow seamlessly. "My Dad instilled a love of language in me," she explains, "and he gave me a lot of Hemingway to read, which taught me the value of paring things down." Both songs arose from experiences shared with her daughter and display a world view that can only be described as ageless – one that conveys wisdom and affirmation to the young, while evoking knowing nods from those of us old enough to find Charleston’s images echoing our own journeys. "Ancient Steps," a Jobim-like meditation on life, followed from seeing the film March of the Penguins, while "Telescope," which opens with a surprisingly apt African inspired chant, is a mother’s response to Emma’s questions after a museum visit. Both have music by Charleston’s pianist and musical director, Bruce Barth. "Bruce is an exquisitely sensitive collaborator with a profound harmonic vocabulary and a way of knowing just what is needed, she reports. I consider him a brilliant architect of space and time."
That level of sonic architecture carried over to the recording studio and to the live performance at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola that is captured on the DVD portion of the program. Barth, who has served Tony Bennett in a similar capacity, has been one of the dominant pianists and vocal accompanists for over a decade; the rest of the rhythm section (bassist Sean Smith and drummers Alvester Garnett or Clarence Penn) have similarly deep and star-studded resumes; tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm and guitarist Adam Rogers are two of the most mature and flexible soloists on their respective instruments. Together, they transform the familiar ("I’m Old Fashioned"), fashion instant orchestrations (the magical first take of "Bewitched"), set sultry grooves ("Baby Don’t Quit Now"), a Jimmy Rowles gem that Charleston learned from a recording by another of her favorites, Irene Kral), and do everything else that the music demands. There are also appearances by Charleston’s brother Erik, "Who plays regularly with the New York Philharmonic," on the two originals, plus supporting vocals by daughter Emma on "Telescope," making In My Life a true family affair.
The accompanying DVD makes a few additional crucial points. By reprising several titles, it confirms that Charleston does not rely on studio "sweetening" or other such post-production effects, and that she possesses the spontaneous instincts that mark all true jazz singers. The bandstand give and take, especially in the responses that pass between Charleston and Barth and Frahm, are another sign that she finds joy in taking risks, and has the proper partners to ensure successful results. Sometimes a nod or a wink, when delivered on the bandstand, can be as demonstrative as a high five, and there are a slew of such endorsements passing between singer and band throughout the set. The listeners provide another marker of the performance’s excellence. They respond to every song choice, from the familiar Lennon-McCartney and Rodgers and Hart classics to Charleston’s evocative gaze through "Telescope," as if savoring memories in their lives.
While early successes in other realms displayed her strengths as musician and communicator, Rondi Charleston’s path is now poised for even greater triumphs. Now there is nothing to deter her from becoming one of our major jazz and popular vocalists; but should the urge to reinvent herself strike again, we can only hope that she heeds the advice in Johnny Mercer’s lyric. Don’t quit now, Rondi. You’ve found your calling.
