Marshalltown
Community Concert Association Friday, September 16,
2011 - 7:00 p.m.
Anna
Wilson Friday,
September 16, 2011 - 7:00 P.M.
Anna Wilson is a critically acclaimed jazz singer
and songwriter who has scored big on the Billboard and iTunes jazz charts. In her latest album project, Countrypolitan
Duet, Anna showcases the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, a time in Nashville’s
musical history when country and jazz were not so far apart. Backed by
piano, guitar, bass and drums, Anna’s show presents country standards like
“You’re the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me” and “Night Life” to jazz
listeners. Anna takes her
distinctive sound and convinces every audience that her jazz is just right.
Anna
Wilson is a critically acclaimed jazz artist and songwriter whose recent album,
Yule Swing!, reached No. 12 on the Billboard jazz chart. Her decadent and
powerful voice, which Jazz Times likens to “crčme de cocoa,” has earned her
shared billings with Josh Grobin, Al Jarreau, and countless others.
Wilson’s current album project, Countrypolitan Duets, showcases a time in
Nashville’s musical history when country and jazz were not so far apart,
particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It presents country standards
like “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” and “Night Life” to
contemporary jazz listeners as duets with legendary and current performers who
work across genres. Countrypolitan Duets guest artists range from Country
Music Hall of Fame member Ray Price to superstar country artists like Rascal
Flatts and Kenny Rogers, along with Grammy-winning guitar icon Larry Carlton.
The
first Countrypolitan Duets single, “You Don’t Know Me,” features Matt
Giraud from “American Idol.” This digital release reached No. 1 on the iTunes
jazz chart in January and March 2010.
In
addition to Wilson’s jazz artistry, she is a successful songwriter with lots to
be jazzed about. Reflective of the two musical genres that define her career –
jazz and country – she co-wrote one of the hottest country singles of 2009,
Chuck Wick’s “All I Ever Wanted” (RCA), which reached No. 12 on the Billboard
country chart. She followed in 2010 with “If I Knew Then,” appearing on Lady
Antebellum’s mega-hit release, Need You Now (Capitol). These recent
accomplishments nicely complement Wilson’s remarkable catalogue that include
cuts with Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Lee Ann Womack, Billy Ray Cyrus, and
Chris Cagle, among others.
Wilson’s Countrypolitan Duets gives listeners the experience of how she
uniquely blends jazz and country music. Fans will hear top stars croon, and jazz
instrumentalists strut their improvisational chops, peppered with a little Texas
swing and twang.
Wilson says, “There have been moments in Nashville’s musical history when
country and jazz were not so far apart. In my life, they are always combined,
and through this project, jazz and country will once again get to shake hands. I
couldn’t be more thrilled about that.”
Born
and raised in Chester Springs, Penn., Anna Wilson has lived in Nashville for
nearly 20 years. There, she continues Music City’s rich songwriting tradition
while recording innovative vocal jazz projects.
Anna
Wilson's revolutionary new album, Countrypolitan Duets, creates a magical union
of country, jazz and pop by effortlessly blending the genres to form a fresh but
timeless new sound that pays homage to Nashville's musical roots.
"I would describe it as country music and jazz music shaking hands because it's
a real fusion of two great American musical art forms," Anna says. But that
modest description is an understatement, according to noted author/music
historian Robert K. Oermann, who says, "Top vocalist Anna Wilson has made the
first album that fully marries jazz to country music... Anna Wilson is not just
'shaking hands' with two Nashville traditions. She is embracing them both.
Brilliantly."
Anna, a sultry and soulful jazz singer and award-winning songwriter, is joined
on this project by some of country music's biggest names, from current
chart-toppers like Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts to legends
such as Kenny Rogers, Ray Price and Connie Smith. In addition, famed jazz
musicians Rick Braun and Larry Carlton added their unique musical
interpretations to create a sound that is appealing to jazz and country fans
alike.
Indeed, the response to the project, which she co-produced with her husband,
songwriter Monty Powell, has been both immediate and overwhelming. For instance,
the album's debut single, the duet "You Don't Know Me" with American Idol's Matt
Giraud, hit No. 1 on the iTunes jazz chart - where it remained for four
days--after singer Adam Lambert tweeted about his love of the song.
The album's title was inspired by "The Nashville Sound" which was the
pop-leaning style of country music of the late 1950s and 1960s that featured
lush string arrangements and compelling horn sections and garnered mainstream
success for artists such as Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline. During this
era, jazz and country naturally intersected, and this album is an effort to
bridge the gap that has developed in subsequent decades. Anna's concept was to
record classic country standards such as "Night Life," "Walkin' After Midnight"
and "For the Good Times" with jazz arrangements embodying sophisticated new
interpretations.
"Countrypolitan Duets came about as an answer to the question that I always get
in every interview, 'What's a jazz singer doing in Nashville?'" Anna says. "I
realized I was in a unique position as an artist to combine these two genres,
with a concept record in a way that had never been done before. My jazz artistry
and the records I recorded in the past, for the most part, embody original jazz
songs that I write that sound like they belong 'back in the day.' But as a
member of the Nashville music community, when it came time to record standards,
I chose classic country songs."
While recording Countrypolitan Duets has been an important step in Anna's
musical evolution, she will most remember it for the "chill-bump moments" it
provided her with her musical heroes and friends. Ray Price, then 83, had to
cancel his first session because of illness and reschedule it four months later.
"He walked into the studio and nailed his vocal on 'You're the Best Thing That
Ever Happened to Me,' in two takes," Anna recalls. "There wasn't a dry eye in
the control room, including Jay DeMarcus from Rascal Flatts, who had temporarily
lent us his studio because mine had been temporarily down."
"Another magical moment was when Connie Smith came back to the studio on her
68th birthday," Anna says. "She had already sung her part and was finished, but
because she was so excited about the track, she wanted to see the big band horns
recorded. And then there was Keith Urban, who after singing his vocal on 'Good
Time Charlie's Got the Blues,' walked over and picked up one of Monty's guitars
and asked if he could play the guitar solo."
"Recording with Kenny Rogers was a dream come true," she says of "For the Good
Times." "He didn't just come in and sing his lines. He was really concerned
about how we could make it better. He said, 'Duets are kind of my specialty, so
if you don't mind, may I make a few suggestions and you can use whatever you
want?' Everything he suggested was right on the money."
Anna has released three albums, and this marks the follow-up to her 2008
original holiday project Yule Swing! (Transfer), which earned her slots on three
Billboard charts, including No. 12 on the Overall Jazz chart. She has shared
billings with Josh Groban, Al Jarreau, Keith Urban and others and is featured
performing her self-penned song "A House, A Home," which appears in Habitat for
Humanity's international public service announcement campaign. "She's got a
voice like crčme de cacao and an inner metronome that swings wildly from age to
age," says Jazz Times. The Philadelphia Daily News says, "Her material evokes
the song-craft spirit of a Carole King, while her dramatic, vibrato-rich voice
sounds at times like a young Bette Midler."
She's also a prolific songwriter who has penned songs for Reba McEntire, Brooks
& Dunn, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lee Ann Womack and Chris Cagle. She co-wrote "If I Knew
Then," which is featured on Lady Antebellum's mega-hit album, Need You Now, and
received a prestigious ASCAP award for co-writing the 2008 Chuck Wicks country
hit, "All I Ever Wanted."
She and her older sister were raised in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, by her
mother, a homemaker and piano player who introduced her daughters to American
songbook standards, and her father, a teacher and coach who had always
encouraged his daughters to study an instrument. She began piano and guitar
lessons and wrote her first song in fourth grade. She spent years singing into a
hairbrush in front of a mirror, with a stack of her mom's music books, but she
didn't decide to pursue music as a career until her sister took her to a Judd's
concert for her 17th birthday. "I had wanted to be a singer since I was five but
my parents didn't know anything about the music business so it seemed impossible
to really find a way into it. Mostly just a dream," she says. "At first they
were not happy with my sister for taking me to that Judd's concert because it
wound up being the tipping point for me that made me realize I had no choice but
to chase the calling of a career in music. My parents understand that now. Music
chooses you, and when it does, your only option is to follow your heart."
Eager to launch her music career, she rushed through Baltimore's Loyola
University in three years and moved to Nashville 15 days after graduation.
Although she loved American standards, the music earning airplay on MTV and VH-1
was mainstream pop, so she thought she would have to leave behind her jazz
inclinations to have a larger platform for her artistry.
But her jazz talents were too powerful to be denied for long. When she released
her first album The Long Way (Curb/Asylum), a singer-songwriter project inspired
by the Lilith Fair movement, critics described her as a jazzy Stevie Nicks.
Meanwhile, artists such as Diana Krall, Norah Jones and Michael Buble began
enjoying mainstream appeal with jazz. "I thought, 'I wonder what would happen if
I wrote a jazz song', because I never tried," she says. "I sat down one day and
did. I haven't stopped since." You can find her amazing original jazz songs that
sport a fresh modern day lyrical appeal on her past two critically acclaimed
jazz albums, Time Changes Everything and Yule Swing!
Countrypolitan Duets is the brainchild of Anna Wilson. Through it she gives
listeners an experience of how she uniquely blends jazz and country music. Fans
will hear top stars croon, and jazz instrumentalists strut their improvisational
chops peppered with a little Texas swing and twang. Wilson says, "There have
been moments in musical history when country and jazz were not so far apart. In
my life, they are always combined, and through this project, jazz and country
will once again get to shake hands. I couldn't be more thrilled about that."
Anna
Wilson
Wilson’s current album project, Countrypolitan Duets, showcases a time in
Nashville’s musical history when country and jazz were not so far apart,
particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It presents country standards
like “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” and “Night Life” to
contemporary jazz listeners as duets with legendary and current performers who
work across genres. Countrypolitan Duets guest artists range from Country
Music Hall of Fame member Ray Price to superstar country artists like Rascal
Flatts and Kenny Rogers, along with Grammy-winning guitar icon Larry Carlton.
Anna, a sultry and soulful jazz singer and award-winning songwriter, is joined
on this project by some of country music's biggest names, from current
chart-toppers like Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts to legends
such as Kenny Rogers, Ray Price and Connie Smith. In addition, famed jazz
musicians Rick Braun and Larry Carlton added their unique musical
interpretations to create a sound that is appealing to jazz and country fans
alike.
"Another magical moment was when Connie Smith came back to the studio on her
68th birthday," Anna says. "She had already sung her part and was finished, but
because she was so excited about the track, she wanted to see the big band horns
recorded. And then there was Keith Urban, who after singing his vocal on 'Good
Time Charlie's Got the Blues,' walked over and picked up one of Monty's guitars
and asked if he could play the guitar solo."