"She
owns the stage in a way we haven't
seen since Betty Carter."
— Larry Applebaum, Jazz
Times
"...has
the pinpoint pitch, creamy tone
and rhythmic verve that are the
opening ante in a jazz-vocal career..."
— Geoffrey Himes, Washington
Post
"Sultry
jazz singer bucks the trend of photogenic
vocalist, coolly rendering a batch
of old tunes...opting for enchanting
originals instead of moldy classics."
— John Murph, BETJazz.com
"Standing
ovations in a club are rare....closing
in on Betty Carter territory....songwriting
reminiscent of Nina Simone...you
should FLY to see her..." —
Brian Bacchus, Producer
 Vocalist,
composer and musical risk-taker,
René Marie has taken the
jazz world by surprise. While her
story may be unusual - how she didn't
sing in public for more than 20
years, how she finally left her
husband and job at a bank in 1998
to launch a music career and succeeded
so quickly - it has been through
her recordings that she has proven
she is worth lauding even if she
had the most ordinary of backgrounds.
On her 1998 self-produced debut
CD, Renaissance, she turns the formerly
bouncy "Mr. Sandman" into
a steamy stroll through restless
yearning and renders "Tennessee
Waltz" as a gut-bucket blues-yodel
about lust and betrayal, revealing
how Marie claims new ownership of
time-worn standards.
On
How Can I Keep From Singing?,
her MAXJAZZ debut, she hits the
ground running with a positive interpretation
of "God Bless the Child"
at a blistering tempo, then abruptly
shifts gears by pairing the spiritual
"Motherless Child" with
a graphic portrayal of "Four
Women." Vertigo, her second
MAXJAZZ project, is full of emotional
and vocal twists and turns in a
musical landscape that covers everything
from Marie's original love-passion
conundrum, "Don't Look At Me
Like That", to the controversial
pairing of the confederate anthem
"Dixie" with the anti-lynching
lament "Strange Fruit."
On her last recording, Live At Jazz
Standard, she scores a juxtaposed
musical coup by opening Leonard
Cohen's "Suzanne" with
a scatted, a cappella version of
Maurice Ravel's "Bolero"
to create what one reviewer described
as an "astonishing and goose-bump
raising centerpiece." On her
fourth MAXJAZZ release, Serene Renegade,
Marie sings not only about her remarkable
story but also those of her father,
her mother, her sister and brother
and her sons. With this recording,
she reminds the listener of her
great ability to mine the spirit
of a song and interpret it in affecting
fashion.
The music world has definitely been
moved by Marie. The Academie du
Jazz in France selected Vertigo
the Best International Jazz Vocal
CD of 2002. The other nominees were
Joni Mitchell and Cassandra Wilson.
Both JazzTimes (U.S.) and Jazz Review
(UK) chose Vertigo as one of the
best CDs of 2002 while DownBeat
critics voted her one of their "Rising
Star Vocalists." Her third
MAXJAZZ release, Live At Jazz Standard,
hit the top 20 on Billboard's jazz
chart a month before its official
release. Her first two CDs also
topped the jazz charts and won AFIM
(Association for Independent Music)
Awards for Best Jazz & Cabaret
Vocal. [Others nominated included
Karrin Allyson, Jimmy Scott, Nnenna
Freelon and Susannah McCorkle.]
How Can I? was selected as one of
the top five jazz albums of 2000
by SESAC (Society for Stage Authors
and Composers), joining Tom Harrell,
Stefon Harris and Greg Osby as the
best in their field. National Public
Radio (NPR) touted her as one of
the most innovative and exciting
vocalists to come upon the jazz
scene. And prestigious venues like
The Kennedy Center, Jazz At Lincoln
Center, Le Jazz Au Bar and the Jazz
Standard have called upon her. She's
performed at major festivals and
halls around the world including
in Portugal, Russia and France.
Some
critics have suggested that Marie
is from the same mold as other great
jazz vocalists of the past and present.
But in reality, her artistry was
formed from unique experiences during
her early years in Warrenton, Virginia,
up to her present life in Atlanta,
Georgia. She studied classical piano,
sang in an R&B band and soaked
up knowledge from her tutors in
rhythm, harmony, emotional intensity
and improvisation - Maurice Ravel;
Hank Williams; Harry Belafonte;
Peter, Paul & Mary; Sly and
the Family Stone; Nina Simone; James
Brown; Aaron Copland; and the Beatles.
Married at 18 and a mother of two
sons by 23, she shifted her focus
to raising her family, which proved
to be a useful period of incubation.
She started listening to jazz and
singing it around the house, gave
piano lessons and composed as she
exposed herself and her sons to
a wide variety of music - show tunes,
jazz, hip-hop, world music and rap.
Her diverse jazz influences - from
Joe Zawinul, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious
Monk, Wayne Shorter - and her wealth
of life experiences contribute to
the open and adventurous spirit
in her performances, arrangements
and compositions, distinguishing
her as a gifted artist.
©
2005 Ron Simblist Jazz LLC |
