Linda Carone – Black Moonlight

Fri Mar 31, 2017

An early passion for jazz and blues developed upon first hearing the raw and emotive melancholy of Billie Holiday. This inspiration laid the foundation for growth as a vocalist and as an artist. Linda’s musical journey was further influenced by jazz and blues vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Mildred Bailey, Helen Humes, Valaida Snow and Lil Armstrong.

Linda’s eclectic repertoire includes rare and sometimes risque vintage songs of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, classic jazz and swing standards, cocktail lounge and torch ballads, to boogie woogie & roots blues.

Most recently, Linda has been found thrilling audiences at venues such as 70Down in Yorkville, Relish Bar & Grill, SpiritHouse/Foundry GastroPub, RasaBar, 120 Diner, Salutè Piano Bar, Gate 403, White Elephant Restaurant & Bar and Rasputin Vodka Lounge, and as well as various other venues and private functions.

Linda Carone’s debut recording, “Black Moonlight” is a must for any vintage blues/jazz lover and a worthy purchase for anyone’s music library.

Singer/Songwriter Ian Janes Releases New Album ‘Yes Man’

Fri Mar 17, 2017

On February 24th, 2017, Ian Janes released his latest solo album, Yes Man, to critical praise and acclaim from some of Canada’s most prestigious press.

A confident and soulful record, Yes Man creatively mixes Ian’s deepest influences and experiences. It is a combination of singularly written songs, as well as collaborations with other great writers from across North America. The album includes co-writes with Andy Stochansky (Goo Goo Dolls, Ani DiFranco, Shannon Noll), Jamie Hartman (Joss Stone, James Bay, Christina Aguilera) Lee Ann and Daryl Burgess (Irma Thomas, Colin James, Patty Loveless) and iconic Canadian songwriter, Joel Plaskett.

Earlier in February the first single from the album, “Broken Record”, was released and has been receiving regular play from CBC, Clic Franco, Sirius XM, and Stingray radio, and has kept Ian busy with interviews and in-studio performances.

Check out the lyric video for “Broken Record” here: http://bit.ly/2luXYbj

Orit Shimoni Soft Like Snow

Fri Dec 02, 2016

Orit Shimoni, the artist formerly known as Little Birdie, has a brand new album and it’s a dandy. The ten song set, ‘Soft Like Snow’, shows a whole other side to Orit than previous works. She has been dubbed “one of the nation’s most alluring vocalists,” by The Calgary Herald and “one of the most lyrically impactful vocalists” by Beatroute Magazine, and “a songwriters songwriter” by Cashbox Magazine Canada.

Orit (pronounced Oreet) became a full bore “hit the road “ touring musician after releasing two, highly acclaimed albums in Montreal.  She relocated to Berlin, Germany,   to write and record her third album. From that point on she has officially been living out of a suitcase. This is what makes her the songwriter she is. Songwriters often go on “songwriting trips” just to soak up a different climate, different customs and people. For Orit that is her life, always moving, always learning and experiencing by osmosis, life at its best and worst. She gets to write her songs on the road and perform them for a variety of crowds.

Lucinda Williams The Ghosts Of Highway 20

Fri Feb 19, 2016

Yet again, Lucinda pulls out all the stops with another double album full to overflowing with her quirky, sly take on life, love, death and virtually everything in between.  Each of her previous two albums seem to have been sideshoots leading up to this offering where she again writes with extraordinary power and vision, depth and assurance, each of the 14 tracks seamlessly earning its place in the evocative and emotional mix.

Bad News Barnes & The Brethern Of Blues Band: 90 Proof Truth

Fri Oct 30, 2015

A dozen tracks of complete hokum, as it clearly says on the album cover, from one of the USA's finest hoaxers and hoary frontmen. This guy is not just a comic with a challenging sense of humor, he's also one helluva singer/songwriter with an at times decidedly jaundiced eye on the skewed social and political world of modern America. I have to declare an interest from the very off with this offering: I absolutely love it. It makes me laugh out loud and the sheer inescapable mastery of the full-tilt, Stax-like horny (pun intended, as Barnes would expect) musical backing makes for totally irresistible stuff.

Frank Fotusky: Meet Me In The Bottom

Fri Oct 30, 2015

'Meet Me In The Bottom' is the first release for some years from New Jersey acoustic picker Fotusky. With echoes of his first album, 'Teasin' The Frets', Fotusky positively rips along here with simply stunning guitar mastery and an eclectic mix of material opening with Bo Carter's 'Who's Been Here', moving through Jelly Roll's classic 'Windin' Boy Blues', some Robert Johnson, Leroy Carr, Willie McTell, Gary Davis, among others, and the album title track from Bumble Bee Slim. Fotusky also includes a handful of self-written originals to good effect.

This is without doubt a top-dollar album, bursting at the 13-track seams with superb old-style acoustic ragtime-blues fretwork on both six and twelve-string guitars, and fine vocal accompaniment. Make no mistake, this guy is one Helluva guitar picker and this is an album that works really well in every way and at every level.

Christine Vanderkooy: Piano Schubert and Schumann

Fri Oct 30, 2015

Praised for her “sensitive and passionate artistic interpretation”, Christine Vanderkooy performs extensively as a solo pianist and collaborative artist. She has completed the Young Artist tour as winner of the Ontario Registered Music Teacher’s Association Competition, a recital tour of Canada in 2007 as a SSHRC grant recipient, and a solo recital tour of Europe in 2008, also as a SSHRC grant recipient, performing in Ireland, England, and Spain. Christine has performed at the Eckhardt-Grammaté National Piano Competition, the Gaudeamus International Competition in the Netherlands, and was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in the Dietrich Fischer Dieskau Workshop (before he cancelled!). Recent performances include solo recitals atBishop’s University, the JS BachHaus in Ontario, SUNY Oswego in New York, and the Regina Musical Club.