SarahDeLeoMusic

Today, Alain has kindly featured me on his Kanal Jazz web site.  He posted some pictures that I love, in particular a performance photo from Kavehaz and a studio photo from the I’m in Heaven Tonight recording sessions.  You will find links to his music broadcast at the top of the right column.

http://kanal-jazz.blogspot.com/

Last year, Mihaly Czekus reviewed I’m in Heaven Tonight for the Hungarian publication, Hifi Piac.  I appreciated his interest in the CD, but I had no idea what the review said, because it was written in Hungarian (obviously), and those free online translators don’t work well for that language!!  After some searching I thankfully found Margaret, who kindly provided the summary included below.

Thanks to Margaret for the translation, Anita, and Alison!!

Sarah DeLeo:

I’m in Heaven Tonight

If you haven’t heard of her, you will and if you know her you’ve been anticipating this album….

It then goes on to describe the album by saying you have selected the best music choices from slow tempo to swing and the best music from the 40’s through the 80’s.  The instrumentation is complex and you can listen to the songs multiple times and pull out different sounds each time.  The review calls out a number of your songs by title as well.

The review describes your singing as a well “studied” vocalist that enjoys what she is doing and sings with an inner fire.

It concluded with the CD is wonderful and you’ll by successful by keeping doing what you are doing.

I’m in Heaven Tonight Review in Hungarian Publication, Hifi Piac

On Monday evening, Antonio Narvaez dedicated his Bona Tarda Noctambuls broadcast on Contrabanda Radio (91.4 FM – Barcelona, ES) to my two recordings, The Nearness of You and I’m in Heaven Tonight.  I am very honored to have my work featured on his program in such a manner.  I hope you will take the opportunity to listen to this wonderful broadcast, and share it with like-minded friends.  If you are a Spanish speaker, all the better as the commentary is in Spanish, but as the broadcast is mostly music, Spanish language knowledge is not required.

Bona Tarda Noctambuls Radio Broadcast – 2/22/10

I invite you to read a new review/interview of I’m in Heaven Tonight in this month’s Songwriter’s Monthly.

Review/Interview in February issue of Songwriter’s Monthly

Starting today through February 7^th, CD Baby will be donating $1 towards Haitian relief efforts for every CD sale/full CD download.  In conjunction with this charitable initiative and to mark the one-year anniversary of the release of I’m in Heaven Tonight, the CD is now available as part of CD Baby’s $5 Sale.

I’m in Heaven Tonight has been uploaded to last.fm.  To listen to the recording, please follow this link:

Every year when I write an end of year/beginning of year tome, I marvel at how quickly the time went. This year I’m not marveling at all. Between releasing my second CD and giving birth to my second child, as I told my mailing list, there was hardly a dull moment!! 2009 was really crazy, but very rewarding in so many ways.

In January I released my second CD, I’m in Heaven Tonight. I am very pleased with the response this album received. I’d like to thank all the reviewers and radio programmers/djs who gave consideration to this CD. If you ever have been given a CD to listen to, you know how difficult it is to find the time and then how time-consuming it is to listen critically, so you’ll understand how thankful I am that these people fit I’m in Heaven Tonight into their schedule. I would also like to thank the listeners who bought the CD either in physical form or download and/or joined my mailing list. Given the economy and the fact that this was my second CD, I tempered my sales expectations, but I have been very encouraged by the number of sales. For many listeners, I’m in Heaven Tonight served as an introduction to my first CD, The Nearness of You. In addition, I was able to fit in three great gigs before I gave birth in August, and I thank those who attended these gigs.

I continue to be delighted that my work reaches so many ears. There were times when I was producing/rehearsing/recording I’m in Heaven Tonight when I thought I was completely crazy for doing this project between two pregnancies, but in the end, I am so glad that I did. Now that I have two successful CDs under my belt, I am more than ever confident about what I am doing. So much of what I do is instinctual, and I have always known my instincts to be good, but to then receive such a positive response from listeners, as I have, is very gratifying.

I am very optimistic about the future, in spite of the uncertain economy and the challenges of building a career in a cluttered niche. The immediate future will be somewhat complicated for me given that I have two young children at home, and I want to be with them as much as possible during this time in their lives. This basically precludes the active nighttime schedule of which I have grown accustomed. However, I am very clear about the direction in which I need to go, and I know I can be effective if I use my time and the tools available to me efficiently. I am notoriously inefficient – I am an artist after all!! – but at least while the kids are little, I will have to forswear my tendency towards the scenic route, and travel in the express lane. Maybe this period in my life will irrevocably change the way I operate, at least from a business perspective, but in any case I welcome the challenges ahead.

So much to look forward to, so thankful for what I have.

Wishing you all the best in 2010!!!

Sarah

No, I have yet to watch any of the Susan Boyle videos on YouTube, but I am intrigued, and somewhat heartened, by the success of her debut album, “I Dreamed a Dream”.  I would love to think that this signals the rebirth of dense, sophisticated music made by grown-ups for both grown-ups and kids, but I know otherwise.  The news about sales of her debut album comes coincidentally at a time when I have been thinking about how sick I am of “teenybopper” acts.  I may be exaggerating a bit, and saying this invariably makes me sound so old, but it just seems to me that so many people in front of the camera or mic nowadays are very young.  I suppose someone is interested in watching these kids, most likely their peers, but I am not interested at all.  I prefer watching and listening to experienced performers who know their craft, but that’s me.  Yet, I do think that others share this sentiment, and that the music business in general underestimates the consumer.  In particular older audiences with their purchasing power are looking for something else besides the latest version of bubblegum music.

I recently read a similarly themed article in the New York Times by Charles Isherwood.  He contrasted the wonderfully deep lyric interpretation of Barbara Cook with the technically sound, yet soulfully lacking, music on the tv show, “Glee”.  According to Isherwood, the music on “Glee” lacks, “the human touch. When the kids in the club break into song, their voices become oddly disembodied, just one element among many to be manipulated by technicians in a thick layer of sound.”  Now, I don’t watch “Glee”, and I suppose that I should watch a bit of it before I comment on it, but given that I have watched a few episodes of “American Idol”, I am guessing that he is talking about that belting style punctuated by the overuse of melisma that has grown very popular over the last few years.  To me this kind of singing usually lacks subtlety, and without subtlety, you lose feeling, you lose honesty.  I understand that as someone who has done a lot of singing and has listened to and watched a lot of other singers, I have a particular perspective, but I generally don’t find this style of singing engaging.

As I mentioned above, I have yet to watch any Susan Boyle videos, but when I hear people talk about her, most people with the notable exceptions of my husband and Chelsea Handler mention how moving her singing is to them.  Commenting on the CD’s success in the New York Times, Steve Barnett, chairman of Columbia Records, said, “The reason that this record really did what it did was that people wanted to get it and own it, to feel like they’re a part of it.”  Clearly, people are responding to her story – contest underdog/”never been kissed” ugly duckling – but I am hopeful that people are indicating with their dollars that they are looking for singing that not only sounds good, but also makes them feel something.  I’d also like to think that by extension they are also indicating that age and experience have value.  It also goes without saying that pretty people don’t always make the best music.  In the end though I’m not holding out any hope that Susan Boyle will singlehandedly stem the tide of the teenybopper tsunami, but for now, I’ll just enjoy the moment when an older, not-so-attractive woman with a beautiful voice and a lot of heart served as a reminder of the way things could be as opposed to the way things are.