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| Shiri Zorn & George Muscatello Featuring: Mauricio Zottarelli, Looking For the Light Shiri Zorn is an innovative jazz vocalist whose fresh and intercultural sound combines American Songbook tunes with Middle Eastern influences. She reinvents standard jazz repertoire with unexpected time signatures and reharmonizes Latin and Samba classics to evoke feelings of transcendence, temporarily rendering the listener lost to time and space. "Zorn's voice is cool, calm and cerebral, her tone pure. She articulates lyrics with perfect diction and scalpel-like precision, " Allen Morrison, DownBeat Magazine Shiri Zorn's pure tone and insightful phrasing were nurtured at Israel's leading school for the arts, and subsequently at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, where she studied voice and piano. From 2007–2011, Zorn lived and performed in Seattle, Washington, sharing the stage with some of the nation's most renowned musicians, including Greta Matassa, Darin Clendenin, Chris Symer, and Beth Winter. Upon relocating to Upstate New York, Zorn sang and recorded with the influential musicians such as drummer Peter O'Brien and bassist Ira Coleman and began her decade-long collaboration with the ingenious guitarist and composer George Muscatello. This partnership culminated in a 2022 lockdown album, Into Another Land, a debut that was vocally produced by GRAMMY nominated jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton, informed by the spontaneity of past Saratoga Springs performances with Muscatello, and underpinned by Brazilian percussionist Mauricio Zottarelli's artistry. Steven Miller, from Sound In Review, describes the album this way: "Into Another Land offers a depth of listening. The unexpected is to be expected, and the profound is to be embraced. Each musician elaborates with precision and acumen, illuminating their given instrument to the fullest potent potential for a lasting impression." Guitarist George Muscatello, who is a Manhattan School of music alumnus, has been an adjunct lecturer at Skidmore College for the past 18 years and has hosted master classes at the college with jazz musicians who are in the forefront of today's jazz world. Muscatello, who has been an active performer for 30 years and has played/worked alongside world-renowned musicians, has an extraordinary ability to tell the story of a song through his guitar and "create a tiny, hermetically sealed world of sound and sensation." (Downbeat Magazine). His most recent album Looking for the Light, is a collaboration with acclaimed Israeli-born jazz vocalist Shiri Zorn and Brazilian percussion master Mauricio Zottarelli. The album Looking for the Light is my second recording with world-class musicians George Muscatello (guitarist and composer) and Mauricio Zottarelli (Brazilian percussionist). In essence, it is a sequel to our debut album "Into Another Land." Both albums share a musical landscape that is rich and fresh, bringing together various influences from our diverse backgrounds (European, Latin, Middle Eastern, and even Asian). The trio is a unique and adventurous blend of voice, guitar, and percussion. Because there is no bass, each instrument plays a much larger role in the ensemble than it traditionally would. The guitar is the sole harmonic instrument, and it creates a multi-layered experience, contributing to the illusion of a much larger ensemble. The voice acts as a third member of the band, delivering lyrics, melodies, scat solos, and comping sympathetic harmony notes during the guitarist's improvisation. The material chosen for this project blends well-known jazz standards from the early and mid-twentieth century as well as original compositions from the last ten years. The older material gets a meditative, modern, at times edgy treatment, preserving its timeless relevance and drawing influences from the worlds of hip hop, Brazilian, classical music, and Americana. I also occasionally sing in Portuguese to preserve the music's origins. The original songs were composed by Muscatello with my voice in mind, and for many years I sang them wordlessly, vocalizing the beautiful yet challenging melodies like an instrumentalist. Since the pandemic, I have written lyrics for all the original songs on this album. The themes for the songs draw from my exploration of meditation and understanding of the human condition; my fascination with the fleeting nature of the human mind stream and our constant desire to protect ourselves by clinging to or warding off life experiences. To me, this is the essence of creating music through jazz. The form provides a freedom to express our uniqueness while responding in an intuitive and sensitive way to the expressions and ideas of others, supported by the broad shoulders of the greats. TRACK INFO: 1. Garota de Ipanema 05:24 (Jobim/ Moraes/ Gimbel) 2. It's Alright with Me 04:38 (Cole Porter) 3. So Nice (Summer Samba) 06:05 (Valle/ Gimbel) 4. Nothing at All 03:55 (Muscatello/Zorn) 5. Prayer 05:30 (Muscatello/Zorn) 6. Haunted People 03:53 (Muscatello/Zorn) 7. Shadow Soul 02:46 (Muscatello/Zorn) 8. Dancing in the Dark 04:06 (Schwartz/ Dietz) TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 36:27 Shiri Zorn: voice George Muscatello: guitar Mauricio Zottarelli: percussion Artist: Shiri Zorn & George Muscatello Featuring: Mauricio Zottarelli Album Name: Looking For Light Label Name: Self-Released Add Date: May 5, 2025 Street Date: May 2, 2025 Artist Website: https://www.shirizorn.com write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |