REBECCA MARTIN: Middlehope (Import)

Rebecca Martin

Middlehope (Import)

© 2001 Fresh Sound Records

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A sophisticated, powerful tapestry of sound, Rebecca Martin has produced another beauty. Featuring Larry Grenadier (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums) Steve Cardenas (guitar), Kurt Rosenwinkel (guitar) and Bill McHenry (tenor sax).

tracks

1 The Sweetest Sounds
2 A Fine Spring Morning
3 The Midnight Sun
4 Dindi
5 How Do You Say Auf Wiedersehn?
6 Bewitched
7 Then A Wall Came Up Inside Me
8 One Flight Down
9 Ridin' High
10 Where is Love?

notes

"Middlehope"
Executive Producer: Jordi Pujol
Produced By: Rebecca Martin
Recorded by: Joe Ferla
Mixed by: James Farber

Recorded January 6th, 2001 at Water Music (Hoboken, NJ)
Mixed at Sear Sound, NYC

Singer/Songwriter Rebecca Martin began her professional career with her group "Once Blue" (EMI Records). Their self titled debut was released in the United States, Canada and Japan. She toured the US with artists Shawn Colvin, Lisa Loeb, Squeeze, Emmy Lou Harris, The Lilith Fair and many others.

While in the process of writing and planning another recording of original compositions, Rebecca brought together a special group of musicians to make a recording of standards she for so long wished to create. With the support of Jordi Pujol (President, Fresh Sound Records) "Middlehope" was made on a clear winter's day in January 2001.

With this, her second solo recording (her first "Thoroughfare", made in 1998) Rebecca and her cohorts have created a musical gem rich in texture, detail and heart.

Rebecca signed a recording contract with the MAXJAZZ label in 2004 and released a record of 16 originals entitled 'People Behave Like Ballads' that has garnered rave reviews. (visit www.rebeccamartin.com for more on this).

In 2005, Rebecca collaborated with legendary jazz drummer Paul Motian in his 'on broadway' series ('On Broadway Volume 4 - or the Paradox of Continuity' US Release date 8/8/06) which was chosen as a NY Times critic pick.

A new record of originals is scheduled to be recorded in the Winter of 2006/2007.



To hear more, check out "Thoroughfare" and "The Independence Project" Live, featuring Rebecca, Timothy Hill and Frank Tedesso...All available at CD Baby.



"Middlehope" makes Ben Ratliff's top 10 list (The New York Times) best album of 2002:

#5 Rebecca Martin "Middlehope" (December 29th, 2002)

"This is a fresh jazz singer set loose in folk-pop, or vice versa; you never quite know which.
But her posse of accompanying musicians (including Bill McHenry, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jorge Rossy,
all of them up there in the best of the current jazz mainstream, give you a clue."
- BEN RATLIFF

"Rebecca sings with feeling and soul - and always with fantastic intonation. Her take on these songs, from the interesting and beautifully conceived instrumentation that surrounds her to her wonderful interpretation of them is fresh and exciting."
- PAT METHENY

"Whether it's singing standards or her own material, Rebecca Martin has the ability to communicate emotion in a direct, head-on way. Her performances on "Middlehope" have a real immediacy and there's a certain urgency in her interpretations that make you sit up and listen. The unique texture and playing of the ensemble that's backing her adds to the wonderfully noncategorizable quality of this record."
- BRAD MEHLDAU

"Rebecca Martin is a delight. I was first introduced to her music through 'Once Blue' and 'Thoroughfare'. With 'Middlehope,' she boldly continues to expand her concept and musical territories."
--CHARLES LLYOD





http://allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r0502_103.htm
Review Courtesy AllAboutJazz.com


Middlehope
Rebecca Martin | Fresh Sound New Talent

Here is another terrific example of why I, and others like me, bother to engage in this practice. An incredible talent, a remarkable spirit, a true artist of substance this close to being absolutely huge, but not quite...yet. She's one of the few that brings to the reviewer the simultaneous feelings of incredulity, at having the opportunity to make them more widely known, and gravity, in recognition of the heady responsibility that underlays the task of extolling them in credible fashion.
I mean, it's difficult to get over the notion that everybody must know she's great already She was great with her band, Once Blue, who released a record on EMI in the mid 90's. That record featured Kurt Rosenwinkel, who is also part of the band here, and co-songwriter/guitarist Jesse Harris, who is currently playing a big part in the success of Norah Jones' debut record.


Intimate, beguiling, personal, enticing, sensual, captivating, alluring...absolutely enthralling... wonderful even... Writing these words to describe the music lead me to actually seriously consider the question of whether a recording by a male artist is even capable of stirring such feelings in me (or any other heterosexual male reviewer, for that matter). No question, listening to this music produced a crush which will not be dissipating anytime soon. I mean, by the third song in - "The Midnight Sun"- when she sings, "Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice, warmer than a summer night", I was down for the count, and by the time I got to the middle part of the tune, where she merely hums the melody along with the saxophone, I just melted. And oh, so you too will melt, trust me. Nary six minutes of the disc (the Harris-penned "Then a Wall Came Up Inside Me" and the superb take on Cole Porter's "Ridin' High) break what could be called a mid-tempo sweat, but generate more heat - no let's call it provocative, personal, incendiary fire - than a lot of other jazz recordings will anytime soon. It's a delicately private date, alive with intensity and urgency, wherein you'll feel as though Rebecca has one hand around your neck and the other clasping one of yours so tightly that you might begin to dance with her as you feel the answer to the question she asks in the closing chestnut, "Where is Love?".


Now some credit for the boys in the band, who really must get equal billing for creating the chamber-like, exposed vibe of this date. Maybe it's because most of them are her very close friends, like Rosenwinkel and the equally adept Steve Cardenas on guitar, Bill McHenry on sax and Jorge Rossy on drums. Perhaps it's because one is far beyond friend- her husband, bassist Larry Grenadier, who is well known for being equally as courageous as Rebecca in the face of intimacy with his other musical associates, Brad Mehldau and Pat Metheny. The jacket features a photo of the instruments propped up on walls and chairs in a small room-maybe Rebecca(and Larry)'s place-who knows? But it conveys the other kind of intimacy at play here- the relaxed, but incredibly tight-knit variety between all the musicians (including, of course, Rebecca).


On to some of the sounds themselves. The guitarists are nicely paired here, with Rosenwinkel taking many of the longer solo excursions , such as on "The Sweetest Sounds" and "Ridin High" and linear fills (make sure to dig 'em on Dindi!) Cardenas provides nylon on "One Flight Down (a song Harris wrote for Once Blue, but donated to Jones' new disc, as well) and Dindi, sung gorgeously by Rebecca and Bill McHenry (on vocals, not sax!)in duet. On "Where is Love", the guitarists paint together in counterpointillistic hues, creating layers of unraveling harmonies. McHenry provides breathy, breathtaking, letter -perfect takes on these ballads, especially on "The Midnight Sun" where, two minutes in, he soars, flute-like, into the stratosphere, only to go heartfeltly deep moments later, intertwining romantically in the adoring, warm embrace of Rebecca's voice.

It's Rebecca's record, so let's pause to dig the completeness of her game, shall we? She's definitely got the chops, but like her bandmates, is so far beyond thinking about them at this point, they're an effortless given. Phraseology? Part of the beguilement -explore it with me in the way she says/sings "to shine", in the phrase, "the stars forget to shine" (Midnight Sun), the pause in between the words "belong" and "to" in the phrase, "stories of love belong to you and me" (Dindi), or the way she pronounces the word "again" (as in wild, beguiled and whimpering, simpering) on "Bewitched". Efficiency? This recording was done on a single day-January 6, 2001.

But it's the intangibles that convey and evoke emotion that make the great singers. I mean, truly-isn't that the essence of the mission of the musician as artist? Is it cliché to say that through their music, the best of them show us their heart, their soul, their most intimate feelings and make us feel them too? Hard to do -even more so on a (mostly) standards date, but achieved in 2002 here by Rebecca. Think of all the singers that have achieved that before-quick-now put her in their class.

~ Phil DiPietro  

reviews

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  • We love "Middlehope"!
    author: cloud nine and cloud seven

    Internet Music Radio, "Gone Fishing for Blue Skies", loves Rebecca Martin.

  • True Love
    author: John Dworkin

    I've now finally gotten a copy of this record. This is gonna sound like pure hyperbole and it is no doubt a very personal observation, but - I think this record is maybe the best manifestation of true love into sound that I've heard so far. Rebecca is incredible. The dedication and honesty of this recording is deeply affecting and immediately apparent to anyone with open ears. And the tune selection! Perfect and somewhat unusual. And, of course, the playing, the playing. All of the players on the recording are at the top of their field. Beautiful, beautiful record.

  • Great mellow jazz sounds with a wonderful voice
    author: Preston Green

    Ever since seeing Rebecca play with Once Blue opening for Shawn Colvin, I always wondered who the singer was. The song Trumansburg was a great song. It was funny when I heard Norah Jones album first come out, little did I know that it was produced by Rebecca's Once Blue counterpart. This album is a wonderful cd to listen when you are drinking some wine and staring at the mountains. . .

  • author: Debbie F.

    I have been listening to Rebecca Martin sing since she formed Once Blue and continue, with Middlehope, to be in awe of her talents. She has a hauntingly beautiful and moving voice, which she demonstrates she has developed even further on Middlehope.

  • Mesmerizing and haunting, gorgeously personal singing and playing
    author: Meno Mosso

    This album turns an afternoon into a window and a sad caress. The song selection is marvelous, and the playing is as good as it gets. Rebecca's voice is mesmerizing. Highly, highly recommended.

  • author: Eric Wood

    Only 'the greats' can manifestly appreciate and non-competitively applaud the talents of both their celebrated and yet-to-be recognized equals. Only one who's fearlessly plumbed her own depth can astutely select, from both her lineage and contemporaries, works inspired from the self-same spirit -and do it in such a way as to give them together a face none alone expresses. Accompanied by as carefully selected players, that's what the voice and breath of Rebecca Martin on Middlehope revealed to me.

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