MP3 Natalia Zukerman - Only One

Bottle-neck country jazz with smoky, come-hither vocals

13 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Blues, FOLK: Modern Folk



Details:
Her songs display âthe come-hither sultriness of her slinky, earthy vocals.â (Performing Songwriter)
Natalia Zukerman has a sound thatâs strong yet delicate, gentle yet insistent. You can call the music she makes folk if you want, but thereâs jazz in it, too, and blues, and a soulful something or other that you canât quite put into words. Whether onstage or on record, she presents herself just as she isâno gimmicks, no flashy pyrotechnics, only the solid musicianship of someone who knows and loves her craft.

The daughter of violinist/conductor Pinchas Zukerman and flutist/writer Eugenia Zukerman, Natalia grew up in Manhattan immersed in classical music. Performing liveâand experiencing what she calls the life of a âwandering gypsyââseems to be a family tradition: her sister Arianna is an opera singer, and her paternal grandfather played clarinet in Klezmer bands in Poland and later Israel. But after receiving the requisite training early on, Natalia realized her first instrumentâthe violinâwas not taking her where she really wanted to go. âI couldnât match what I heard (in my ears), physically,â she recalls. âThe sound I produced drove me out of my mind.â Nor did she feel at home in the world of classical concerts and recitals: âI didnât like getting dressed up and sitting in silence, rehearsing and playing the same piece the same way, over and over again,â she says.

There were glimpses now and then of an alternative. âMy parents used to go to the Aspen Music Festival in the summer when I was very young. One day I saw someoneâI think it was the classical violinist Nigel Kennedyâplaying fiddle in a bluegrass band, and heard banjos for the first timeâ¦â Zukerman laughs as she thinks back on that âahaâ moment, joking that âI felt like Iâd been lied to!â

Once her eyes opened to the folk scene, everything began to change. She turned her attention to the guitarâbeginning with classical lessonsâand began writing songs of her own after graduating from college. The lyrics she came up withâwhich have often been hailed for their imagery and intelligenceâare intensely personal, without the self-obsessed confessional tone of what she nicknames âdiary rock.â And her love for the guitar has led her to explore more and more varieties and offshoots of the instrument: electric, acoustic, slide, lap steel, even the banjo and a brief foray into traditional Indian technique. âNimble fingers capable of picking upward of thirty notes per measure,â says a music writer for the New Yorker, offering further praise that âwhen she sings she can switch from scat to swoon in the course of a glissando."

Her debut recording, Mortal Child (2001), provided an early glimpse at her talents. Things really fell into place on her second album, On a Clear Day (2003), which showcased her evolution as a guitarist. For that one, Zukerman gathered a veritable Whoâs Who of respected players from the acoustic music community to join her in the studio, including percussionist Allison Miller (Natalie Merchant), multi-instrumentalist Julie Wolf (Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams), and bassist Jason Kriveloff (Topaz, Tortured Soul), among others. One listen to the instrumentation on the recordingâwith its touches of cello, banjo, flugelhorn, accordion, and fluteâand you can tell Zukerman knows exactly how to create richly textured, atmospheric settings for her intimate songs.

2006 brings a third album, Only One, and a very different approach. âPeople have been asking if I have a recording thatâs more representative of what I do live,â she says. Those requests, along with her desire to create an intimate, unpolished, and almost-live sound, inspired her to record at home, creating an album on which she plays the songs as written: for guitar, for Dobro, and for her voice.

As for those live shows, theyâve been growing more and more frequent as word of Natalia has traveled along the acoustic circuit. Sheâs sensational no matter where she plays; a house concert, an audience of a hundred, or in front of the thousands at gatherings like Telluride, the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival, and Ottawa Folk Fest. Recent tours as the guitarist for Andy Friedman and the Other Failures, as well as sharing the stage numerous times with Melissa Ferrick, have won her countless new fans as well.

When sheâs not playing music, Zukerman can be found running her own label, Talisman Records, or painting bigger-than-life murals commissioned for public or private spaces. Onstage, however, is where sheâs most at home. As Friedman notes, âHer bright vocals can send an orchid into bloom, while her delta-slide guitar can open a beer bottle with its teeth.â

One thingâs for certain: this girl can play.