Jazzy with Latin feel and unusual melodic twists; reminiscent of Mancini, Debussy, Joni Mitchell, Tito Puente, Paul Desmond.

11 MP3 Songs
WORLD: World Fusion, LATIN: Latin Jazz



Details:
Las Muchachas has been together since 2001, blending Latin rhythms with jazz-influenced harmonies and melodies that reflect our classical training. We are a cross between Debussy, Tito Puente, and Joni Mitchell.

Vicki Trent on vocals, flute, sax, and bass. Vicki studied flute as a child in Los Angeles with studio musicians and in jazz workshops and took classical voice lessons. She has performed extensively with opera groups and various jazz bands, including Tiger Lily, The Ritual Band, and Heroines, with whom she recorded an album.

Sandy Brassard on guitar and bass. Sandy studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, then traveled in Europe and Latin America for several years, learning from, and performing with musicians of diverse styles. She has recorded with Vereteno in San Francisco and Arnold/Klingenfus in Tucson.

Karin Heller on congas and other percussion. Karin has studied and performed Afro/Cuban, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, and contemporary rhythms with legendary teachers and in workshops. She works with music as a healing tool in her therapy practice.

Also available through www.cdbaby.com, our first CD with ten original songs, entitled "Las Muchachas."

THE SONGS:
1. Fol de Rol [2:38] Vicki on flute, Sandy on classical guitar, Karin on her cajon. Jaunty, danceable number. Remember the Teaberry Shuffle?

2. Salt [3:43] alto sax (Vicki), bass (Sandy), cymbal, congas (Karin). Starts off slowly, light rain on city street at night, sax wandering around a la Pink Panther. Then picks up speed, our tribute to Celia Cruz with the guaguanco building to a frenzy.

3. Wishful Thinking [2:53] flute (Vicki), guitar (Sandy), maracas (Karin). Medieval feeling reminiscent of Greensleeves, possibly, with unpredictable twists and turns of harmonies within the royal court feeling.

4. Never Mined [2:19] guitar (Sandy), bass (Vicki), bongos (Karin). The title refers back to album #1 ("Las Muchachas" also on cdbaby), specifically to our song about Marushka and the salt mines. Vicki has been playing this bass line for about 20 years as a finger warm-up exercise. How nice to make a song of it at last, with the indispensable input of the Muchachas group. Flaming classical guitar work by Sandy and a wild bongo ride by Karin.

5. Carbon Condition [5:14] vocal & flute (Vicki), guitar (Sandy), maracas, congas, gong (Karin). A tribute to the hardiness of life, in 5/4, 4/4, and ¾ time, and with Japanese lyrics freely written by Vicki. Inspired by a huge redwood tree in the Santa Cruz mountains almost gutted by lightning strikes, totally scorched and still living through all of that. Vicki uses her judo master, Ms. Keiko Fukuda, 9th degree black belt's motto: tsuyoku, yasashiku, utsukushiku in the chorus:
Day by day we persevere
We come home, we go out, we can do most anything
Life continues with beautiful hues
Be strong, be gentle, be beautiful, in mind, body and spirit.

6. Josie [3:27] alto sax (Vicki), bass (Sandy), congas (Karin). Dedicated to Sandy's mother, our funk number that gets rowdier as it goes along. Sandy blazing on the bass guitar on this one.

7. P.T.L. â The Obsession [2:11] flute (Vicki), maracas, bongos (Sandy), cajon (Karin). Starts off mellow, then travels through acceleration and on into speedup, finally winding up in a total frenzy.

8. Evening [3:23] vocal, flute (Vicki), guitar (Sandy), congas (Karin). Sweet, lyrical, Brazilian feeling, yet with Italian words reflecting Vicki's study of hypnosis and life coaching work, practicing forgiving the past and being here now. Written with help from judo sister, Anna of Roma/Palo Alto, greatly appreciated.
We live in the present moment
The past is no more, and the future no one can see
A cat doesn't think of the past or the future
A dog doesn't think of the future, or of the past.
When evening falls, I am alone and tranquil, as usual.
That is my life.

9. Die Madchenfanger [3:50] alto sax (Vicki), bass (Sandy), congas (Karin). The title means The Girl Catcher. Again, like a slow morning, starting off slowly and calmly, then leading into a maelstrom of wildness.

10. Tap Root [4:11] flute (Vicki), guitar (Sandy), cymbal, congas (Karin). More tree imagery in this title, it's a breezy number with an introspective middle part in 6/8.

11. Late Afternoon [3:42] alto sax (Vicki), guitar (Sandy), cymbal (Karin). Pentatonic scale here, the guitar and percussion moving slowly with the sax screaming around them, we build to a peak, then back again.

All songs composed by Las Muchachas © 2006
Recorded & Engineered by Clay "Washington" Jackson in San Francisco, August/September 2006
Mastered by David Simon Baker of Laughing Tiger Productions in San Rafael, September 2006.
Cover art designed by Bill Domonkos © 2006
Special thanks to Anna Fernandez for her help on "Evening," Fukuda-Sensei, the moms, and to Daisy Chin
Contact us at www.LasMuchachas.net or through www.cdbaby.com