Jazz and blues with lyrics influenced by mythology

15 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Vocals, BLUES: Blues Vocals



Details:
Mary Crowell lives with her husband, Wesley, and their son, Simon, in Athens, Alabama. She has taught piano and composition for nineteen years.

As a resident of north Alabama, she currently teaches music appreciation, class piano, and private piano lessons at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama. She also teaches yoga at the Athens-Limestone Wellness Center.

She loves playing Rachmaninov, Gershwin, and Bach, reading mythology and science fiction, practicing yoga, gardening, and gaming with good friends.

Her music ranges from upbeat jazz to soulful blues with some Latin influences. Her mythology-inspired lyrics tell stories of sultry statues, summertime beagles, doomed mummies, and ravens.

In August, 2004, Mary accepted the invitation to join Three Weird Sisters and looks forward a long and happy collaboration with the band. The band is now recording its third CD, Third Timeâs the Charm. Mary also performs with Play It With Moxie, a jazz band in the greater Atlanta area.


Read what others have to say!

Peter Always discusses Courting My Muse:
Mary Crowell's (quadrivium's) "Courting My Muse" has overcome the special challenges of a solo recording, (I ranted about perils of piling on the accompaniment from guest musicians) because, for starters, she a damned fine pianist. Secondly, she's got a couple of bands to draw from: Play it with Moxie, the Gafilk house band; and Three Weird Sisters.

I'm guessing that doctorate in music is coming into play here, as well.

This is about the jazziest filk CD I've heard, but it's not all Jazz.

Mary's Pegasus-nominated "Legolas" is there, which is a lot of fun.

But my favorites are: Some Believe: Just the coolest mummy song you'll ever hear. Cool mysterious Middle Eastern sound (harmonic minor?) and special recording effects that work well. This song gave me shivers up my spine while I was typing a few paragraphs back. Remind me to enter this in the Pegasus brainstorming poll.

Get Down Mama: Inspired by her son Simon's surreal observations, the music is at least as cool as the imagery. I'd enjoyed it in concert, and it really shines on this recording. The creaky percussion really adds to it, especially when you realize that narrator isn't human.

Two Hours Away: A very sweet song, the folkiest thing I've heard from Mary, I am reminded of Tom Lehrer describing the piano as an 88-string guitar. As good a performance of a ballad as I've heard on any recording, filk or mainstream.

Doctrine of Ethos: A fun music geeking song. Especially as a dulcimer player with a minor in math. Dulcimers use modes more than most musicians who play more chromatic instruments, so the mode stuff is cool.

The production values are top notch, Mary's voice is great, her piano skills are famous in the filk world, and the songs range from good to phenomenal. The only thing wrong with this CD is that I've heard Mary's more recent songs--they are even better!