Shawnn Monteiro
YouTube: Quintet/Carmen McRae
Publicity: Jersey Jazz (June issue), Midwest Record
Hi Rez Promo Photos: download here
Music: Whaling City Sound Allegro
Mixed Media Client since: 2004
To Carmen with Love
A Tribute to Jazz, A Tribute to a Talent, and a Tribute to One Artist’s Effort to Keep a Memory Alive
Tributes to the jazz greats of yesterday, performed by the artists of today, are many. But few of today’s artists can boast the same intimacy and familiarity with the objects of their musical affection as Shawnn Monteiro. On her new CD, To Carmen With Love, Shawnn pays tribute to the artistry of the legendary—but often overlooked—jazz vocalist,
Carmen McRae. But Monteiro, who’s earthy voice and masterful phrasing is reminiscent of McRae’s, chose McRae for a few very good reasons …
“My dad Jimmy Woode,” she explains, “played bass with Carmen for quite a while, and my godfather, trumpeter Clark Terry did also. I used to listen to them tell stories about their time with Carmen and it was fascinating.”
The influence of Carmen’s music and the direct connection to it, takes Monteiro’s tribute to the next level. With a similar singing style, the same, spare three-piece band, and a love of the repertoire, Monteiro made it a mission to bring greater attention to the amazing craft and music of McRae. “I really want Carmen to be heard,” she says. “She was just a great entertainer, a great singer.”
On To Carmen With Love, Monteiro is helping to do just that. In preparing the album, which was produced by Monteiro and Mike Renzi, Shawnn took great care in choosing the songs she had a feeling were special to the singer. She sifted through her own three-dozen-plus recordings by McRae, and pinpointed the songs that kept popping up in their grooves: “That Old Black Magic,” “Lamp Is Low,” “Old Devil Moon,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” and “I Have the Feeling I’ve Been Here Before.” A few years ago, a former band mate presented Shawnn with a DVD of McRae’s last performance, recorded back in 1986. “All the tunes I loved were on it,” she says, and their inclusion convinced Shawnn she was on the right track. “She had a love in her heart for them, obviously.”
And so does Shawnn.
Along with recording and gigging, Monteiro shares her love for McRae and jazz in general as an adjunct professor at Rhode Island College and the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. Not only that, she deepens her commitment to the genre by giving master classes in jazz vocals all over the world —including in Italy, France, Croatia, Spain and more. She takes teaching as seriously as singing.
“I teach them about this thing we call jazz. It’s our American art form. I turn my students on to this music, and they say, ‘Oh my God! We’ve never heard this! And I tell them, ‘Unless you pass it on, it’s going to die.’”
On To Carmen with Love, Monteiro is doing her part and much more in keeping the glow of jazz alive. It’s in her heart, it’s in her performance, and it’s in every note she sings.
Featured Artists
Shawnn Monteiro: vocals
Mike Renzi: piano
Dave Zinno: bass
Steve Langone: drums
Track Listings
Old Devil Moon • Yesterdays • I Concentrate on You • Old Black Magic • You’re Looking At Me • Mean To Me • Come In From the Rain • Miss Brown • Speak Low • Nice Work • The Feeling • Nature Boy
Quotes
“Fresh and adventuresome … a dynamic presence.” — JazzTimes
Featured Artist: Shawnn Monteiro: vocals Mike Renzi:
piano Dave Zinno: bass Steve Langone: drums
Track Listing: Old Devil Moon; Yesterdays; I Concentrate on You; Old Black
Magic; You’re Looking At Me; Mean To Me; Come In From the Rain; Miss
Brown; Speak Low; Nice Work; The Feeling; Nature Boy
Jazz vocalist Shawnn Monteiro’s father, bassist Jimmy Woode, played for the late, great Carmen McRae. So did her godfather, trumpeter Clark Terry.
• As Monteiro listened to their stories and studied McRae’s work, she became an admirer. The influence of McRae’s earthy contralto voice and masterful phrasing comes through loud and clear in Monteiro’s own jazz stylings.
• Ms. Monteiro has delighted audiences from the USA to Europe with her highly popular jazz repertoire laced with blues-oriented improvisations and the American Songbook. The true quality of Shawnn’s voice is best experienced in the ultimate setting of the club dates where her warm charisma can be personally felt by those fortunate enough to spend an evening with her
• She continues to teach Master Classes all over the world, including one ongoing every summer in Italy since 1995. She is an adjunct Professor at the Hartt School/Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz ,
University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut and also Rhode Island College in Providence Rhode Island.
• Her popularity continues to grow as club-goers from Los Angeles to Rome extol the special feelings they share as she lulls them into a mellow mood as only a sensitive jazz vocalist can do. The true magical quality of Shawnn’s exciting voice is best experienced in the ultimate setting of the club dates where her warm charisma can be personally felt by those fortunate enough to spend and
evening with her.
Promotion to Key Markets
Label Hometown: New Bedford
Artist Hometown: Providence
Also:Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, San Jose, Hartford
Also Available: Whaling City Sound, 022, Shawnn Monteiro, One Special Night
JazzTimes – “fresh and adventuresome…a dynamic presence”
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“Exciting, captivating and completely distinctive” is how most jazz cognoscenti describe Shawnn’s pulsating lyric style. Whether in the intimacy of a club date or the glitter of a Las Vegas showroom, Shawnn has delighted audiences from USA to Europe with her highly popular jazz repertoire laced with blues-oriented improvisations.
Evident in Shawnn’s liveliness of lyrical phrasing and intermittent scat variations is the influences of Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan, from whom she draws that inner core of creative energy. But good genes help, too. Shawnn’s father was the late renowned bassist Jimmy Woode, veteran of the Duke Ellington band. Throw into the mix, a lot of musical inspiration and guidance from her Godfather, Clark Terry, and you come up with a combination that can’t miss.
Percussion great and latin/jazz impressario Mongo Santamaria discovered Shawnn working in a club in San Jose, California and signed her on the spot to tour with his band. Shawnn electrified audiences as his only vocalist and female percussionist during that two-year circuit where she shared the stage with such greats as Stan Kenton, Celia Cruz, the Fania All-Stars, and Weather Report.
Since then, Shawnn has shared the state with a prestigious list of notables jazz names: Clark Terry, Red Holloway, Ray Brown, Lionel Hampton, Frank Foster and the Basie Band, Nat Adderly, Kenny Barron, Hank Jones, Bobby Durham, James Williams, Jimmy Cobb, Keter Betts, Stanley Jordan, Ed Thigpen, Johnny Griffin, and Benny Golson….to name a few.
Ms. Monteiro has delighted audiences from the USA to Europe with her highly popular jazz repertoire laced with blues-oriented improvisations and the American Songbook. The true quality of Shawnn’s voice is best experienced in the ultimate setting of the club dates where her warm charisma can be personally felt by those fortunate enough to spend an evening with her,
She continues to teach Master Classes all over the world, including one ongoing every summer in Italy since 1995. She is an adjunct Professor at the Hartt School/Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz , University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut and also Rhode Island College in Providence Rhode Island.
Her popularity continues to grow as clubgoers from Los Angeles to Rome extol the special feelings they share as she lulls them into a mellow mood as only a sensitive jazz vocalist can do. The true magical quality of Shawnn’s exciting voice is best experienced in the ultimate setting of the club dates where her warm charisma can be personally felt by those fortunate enough to spend and evening with her.
Shawnn teaches a Master Vocal Class in Rome and Genova, Italy every summer. (Ongoing since 1995)
Artist in Residence – 2 Years at Rhode Island College (Jazz Vocals)
She is also an adjunct Professor (in Jazz Vocals) at both Rhode Island College, Providence, RI and Harrt School of Music, Univ. of Hartford, Hartford, CT.
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Saturday, February 25, 2012
The Rotary Club of New Bedford presents a night of
Sweet, Sultry, Swinging Jazz
with Shawnn Monteiro
featuring Tim Ray on piano, Dave Zinno on bass, Steve Langone on drums
The Wamsutta Club
County Street, New Bedford
$50.00
7 – 8pm Deluxe hors d’oeuvres
8 – 11pm JAZZ
Tickets are available at:
Baker Books on Rt. 6 in Dartmouth
the Wamsutta Club in New Bedford
or by calling Nancy Wood at 508 971-8533
For additional information visit the <http://www.newbedfordrotary.com/>New Bedford Rotary Website
or contact Jim Oliveira at 508 837- 8255
Proceeds will be used to fund non-profit organizations in the Greater New Bedford area
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Music industry consultant and publicist Ginny Shea has garnered international exposure for her clients through radio and video promotion, print media, and her vast industry network.
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