January 2012

Dear friends,

Happy ‘12! Let’s make it a great one.

Tales of the Unusual

Tales of the Unusual won't be out till 2/14, but is available for pre-order on Amazon, where you can also download one of the tracks gratis as part of Allegro's Winter Sampler. The song is Russell Ferrante's and my "The Hole in the Map," about explorer Percy Fawcett's Amazonian obsession and his disappearance in 1925.

We got press CDs out early this time, and many reviews have posted. They've been nice indeed, and I especially enjoy the references people pull out, which in this case have included Edward Gorey, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Kurt Weill and Family Guy. Michael Ticcino's artful cover work hasn't gone unnoticed.

Here are some quotes:

 Alarming and droll stories of small dramas straight out of Charles Bragg and Edward Gorey ... While you're being seduced by the sleek dulcet tones of Feather's tropically bouncy incantations, the import of the verses begins to sink in ... flawless and classically creative... » FULL REVIEW- Mark S. Tucker, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange

 Feather turns art jazz on its head, delivering a wonderful set that's sounds like it's never been near a church basement but sets new standards for hipness ... finds the sweet spot where Kurt Weill, jazz period Joni Mitchell and Dave Frishberg would have collaborated. Simply a mind blower. » FULL REVIEW - Chris Spector, Midwest Record

  There are so many female jazz vocalists recording today; it takes something really special in the way of voice, song selection, lyrics or instrumentation to interest me. Lorraine Feather has it. » FULL REVIEW - John Henry, Audiophile Audition

 The success of Feather's work arises as well from [composers] Shelly Berg, Russell Ferrante and Eddie Arkin, who share Feather's penchant for the mysterious ... examines the dark side of human interests but still contains elements of drama, risibility and mystery that remain forever intriguing. FULL REVIEW - Bill Donaldson, eJazz News

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Nouveau Stride

In the midst of finishing up Tales of the Unusual, I began recording a Nouveau Stride project with my stride sister Stephanie Trick, and the first track is now available for download. The title is Fourteen because we arbitrarily decided on that many tracks (some of these pieces are very fast and very short).

Steph and I rehearsed in Orange County not long ago and did another iPhone rehearsal video with a little intro a la Public Access Cable. I'm writing lyrics to some more James P. Johnson classics for us. We're going to record a few ragtime tracks, some boogie woogie, but mostly stride and more stride ... big fun.

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