Sexy yet playful. An affectionate Tori Amos seasoned with the phrasing of Billie Holiday.

12 MP3 Songs
POP: Pop/Rock, JAZZ: Jazz-Pop

Show all album songs: Too Much & Too Lovely Songs


Details:
After getting three degrees in very responsible subjects at the University of Washington, Alyse Black headed off to start her fabulously successful and lucrative career in business strategy consulting for a large, well-respected consulting firm.

The trouble was that Alyse lived for music. It only took a few months of solid business trips for Alyse to quit to sing on the streets of Pike Place Market. "It dawned on me that I would never be more ready to start following my dreams than I am today," explained Alyse.

Now that she's busted out, her debut album is busting out, too. This Seattle-native, alternative-pop performer-songwriter will release her debut solo album, "Too Much & Too Lovely," in November 2007.

While Alyse's songwriting could be likened to the playful jazziness of Regina Spektor, Alyse's voice has been described as a cross between the voices of Tori Amos and Norah Jones. Because Alyse's major influences run the gamut from Billie Holiday to Tom Waits, the tracks of "Too Much & Too Lovely" are at once quirky and sultry.

Seattle-based professional musicians Hans Brehmer (piano), Mark Oi (guitar), Patrick McDanel (bass), Cody Rahn (drums), and Jeff Miller (trumpet) added their respected talents to the project.

The album was recorded and mixed by Reed Ruddy at Seattle's Studio X and mastered by Will Quinnell at New York's Sterling Sound.


Bio

Alyse was born into a house of Ragtime piano and musical theater. Her father taught her her first notes on the piano before she can remember. She first ventured onto a stage alone to sing at age six. She began violin at 10. She quit violin at 11. About that time, she retained her first classical voice lesson. She made an extended jaunt to Peru shortly thereafter, and then made her first international choir tour at 14. Next was an extended jaunt to France. She began to toy with a guitar around 15. Somewhere in there she made another extended jaunt to France. She first recorded in a studio at 17. At 18, Alyse felt the call of the singer-songwriter but couldn't follow. She then freaked out and didn't turn in a completed application to Juilliard at 19. After high school, she lived for a year in Germany then lived for a while in Prague, too. Oddly enough, she went to business school and entered the corporate world. It didn't take long to realize that was a mistake. So she left to sing on the streets of Pike Place Market in Seattle.


Influences

Alyse's main influences are Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Tori Amos, Eva Cassidy, Norah Jones, Ani Difranco, Portishead, Sarah McLachlan, Bjork, Eliott Smith, Tom Waits, Fiona Apple, Edith Piaf, Jude, Mazzy Star, Sparklehorse, Cranberries, Poe, Sarah Vaughan, Led Zepplin.


Discography

Alyse's latest release, "Musical Chocolate for the Discerning Ear," is an EP with her samba-love song-jazz group, Thursty Love. This fall she will release her singer-songwriter debut LP, "Too Much & Too Lovely." Though it's multifarious ways are *most difficult* to classify, "indie pop with jazz influences" will have to do for now.