CMJ SHOWCASE: 1 NIGHT/3 STELLAR PERFORMANCES
It's not free but worth every penny to see Jill Hennessy, Michael Olatuja, and Marianna Falusi, all in one night!
@ Drom
Date: 10/20/09
Time: 7:00 PM (Doors open at 6:00 PM)
Admission:
Limited CMJ badgeholders are admitted for free. Get there early!
Without CMJ badges, tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door
Buy tickets here:
Dromnyc.com The Line-up:
7:00 PM: Jill Hennessy
8:00 PM: Michael Olatuja
9:00 PM: Marianna Falusi
"When I began writing these songs, the floodgates opened to my whole life," says singer-songwriter Jill Hennessy on the eve of the release of Ghost In My Head, a revelatory debut album offering a series of intimate emotional vignettes spun with indelibly fluid melodies and her poignant musical reflections on love, loss, struggle and redemption. "It's the embodiment of a lifetime of work."
Though perhaps best-known as an actress for her starring roles in the hit television series "Law & Order" and "Crossing Jordan," Jill Hennessy began her show business career as a musician, busking in the streets of Toronto.
Jill -- who sings lead and background vocals and plays rhythm (acoustic and electric) guitar on Ghost In My Head -- assembled a core ensemble of incredibly simpatico musicians for the album (as well as for her live performances): Robbie Gjersoe, lead guitar (the Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore); Brian Standefer, cello (Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry); Bukka Allen, accordion, keyboards (Terry Allen, the Flatlanders, the BoDeans); Glenn Fukunaga, bass (Jo Carol Pierce, Los Super Seven); and Rob Affuso, drums (Skid Row).
"What a curious cocktail of African music, jazz, soul, and gospel Michael Olatuja has cooked up on Speak.... Put it all together and it shows Olatuja to be an excellent composing talent with a great future." - All Music Guide
Michael Olatuja debuts his vision as producer, composer, arranger and performer on Speak, just released on Backdrop/ObliqSound. The album features musical influences and guests from each spot Olatuja has hit around the globe, including his childhood in London and Lagos, Nigeria, and professional years in London and New York. "Speak" incorporates such hallmarks of traditional African music as the talking drum and hand drums (conga and djembe), call-and-response vocals and the Yoruba language, while working comfortably with musical vocabularies more familiar to Western ears: neo-soul balladry, modern jazz, deep groove, R&B, and gospel. Led by Olatuja on bass, the album features several singers who alternate on lead vocals: Eska Mtungwazi, Andrew Roachford, Terri Walker, Onaje Jefferson, TY, Michael's wife Alicia Olatuja and the late neo-soul artist Lynden David Hall.
Olatuja has toured and recorded with stars such as Lisa Stansfield, Terence Blanchard, Chaka Khan, Patti Austin, Stevie Wonder, Kurt Elling and many others.
Versatile Hungarian singer Marianna Falusi has performed primarily jazz and pop music since 1983 when she appeared on “Hungary's Got Talent.” She has performed in musicals (Little Shop of Horrors, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Oliver), opera (Oriascsecsemo), film (Laura, Professor Ambar), operetta (The Land of Happiness) and theatrical productions (Twelfth Night).
DROM NYC
85 Avenue A
Manhattan, NYC
T: (212) 777-1157
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