Melanie Mitrano

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Melanie Mitrano

BIOGRAPHY
COMPOSITIONS
CDs
VIDEOS
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Melanie Mitrano is an ASCAP composer, singer, and teacher whose vocal and compositional styles span many genres, including classical, jazz, theater, Brazilian music and Portuguese Fado. Her music has been performed in a variety of venues from concert halls to jazz clubs. All Things Gold, her most recent album, features “straight-up acoustic vocal jazz in a champagne glass – swinging, clean, cool and refined.” To date, six of the songs on the disc have won compositional awards. Brazilian music also factors heavily into Melanie’s artistic profile. Fluent in Portuguese, she performs Brazilian standards and also pens her own Portuguese-language songs. Melanie is a winner of numerous composition awards from the Songwriters Association of Washington, ASCAP, Billboard, and the Summit City Art Song Festival. Her work has been showcased by the Cape May Singer-Songwriter Festival, Diane Moser Composers Big Band, Arts Up Close Montclair TV 34, and SkyJazz Internet Radio, where she was a Favorite Artist Poll Winner. Melanie has performed as a soloist in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, England, Italy and Brazil. Her two worldwide podcasts for Classical Music Discoveries both placed in the top ten shows of all time with approximately 20 million listens. Songs in Transit, Melanie’s critically-acclaimed debut CD, was released on Capstone Records in 2006. It features repertoire which unites musical theater, blues, jazz, hip-hop and world music styles within a classical framework. Such notable American composers as Lee Hoiby, Tom Cipullo and Lori Laitman, as well as Pulitzer-Prize-winning composers David Del Tredici and Paul Moravec are heard accompanying the singer at the piano. Melanie is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has the distinction of being the first woman to receive a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston. She has worked with many other esteemed composers, including György Ligeti, Luciano Berio, and John Harbison. She was a founding member of the Boston-based Auros Group for New Music and has sung with similar groups in the New York area, including Speculum Musicae, Ensemble 21, Composers Concordance Ensemble, Vox Novus, and Friends & Enemies of New Music. With Absolute Ensemble, she recorded the film score for movie Perfume, winner of the 2007 German Film Award, directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Dustin Hoffmann and Alan Rickman. Her voice appears in the film and on the EMI movie soundtrack. Dr. Mitrano began her teaching career at Connecticut College in New London; and from 1996-2001, served on the faculty of New Jersey City University as Coordinator of Vocal Studies. A dedicated educator and frequent clinician, she has lectured at several NJMEA state conferences, high schools, and universities, including the Mannes College of Music, Western Connecticut State University, Kutztown University, Brooklyn College, and the University of New Hampshire. She has served as an adjudicator for the NJ NATS Festival of Singing and the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her articles have been published in Classical Singer Magazine, The New Music Connoisseur, Tempo Magazine, the MENC international edition of Spotlight on Teaching Chorus, and the NATS Journal of Singing. She is currently an adjunct music professor at County College of Morris, and maintains a private voice studio in NJ. She is completing work on her third album, which features her original Brazilian-inspired compositions.

Desafío

Year: 2015

Duration (in minutes): 3'34;

Difficulty: Medium (college/community)

Category: mixed instrument trio

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Score PDF: el_desafio_full_score-5.pdf

Description: This piece is a rumba that is meant to emulate a Latin jazz trio, with the piano functioning as the rhythm section. The piano essentially replicates a comping jazz piano or guitar, underpinning the harmonies and keeping the groove locked in. The piece should be counted off like a Latin jazz tune; the tempo is set from the beginning and does not waver throughout.
The flute and violin have long been integral instruments in Cuban music. Here, they take on the role of duet soloists, maintaining a conversation throughout the piece.
El Desafío means "challenge" or "dare" in Spanish. My challenge here as a composer was to replicate the sound of Cuban jazz without guitars or drums, but rather within a strictly classical framework. The same challenge is posed to the performers in the piece's execution.

Cafajeste

Year: 2015

Duration (in minutes): 4:30

Difficulty: Medium (college/community)

Category: mixed instrument trio

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Score PDF: cafajeste_full_score_and_parts-5.pdf

Description: This piece is a samba that is meant to emulate a Brazilian jazz trio, with the cello and bass functioning as the rhythm section. The cello essentially replicates a comping piano or guitar, while the bass underpins the harmonies and keeps the groove locked in. The piece should be counted off like a jazz tune; the tempo is set from the beginning and does not waver throughout.
The flute has long been an integral and essential instrument in the samba tradition. In fact, the first Brazilian instruments were flutes, and their role cannot be overstated. Here, the flute maintains its melodic and improvisatory function, serving as the primary soloist of the piece.
Cafajeste means "womanizer" or "scoundrel" in Portuguese, the official language of Brazil. The piece has a rather seductive, fun and clever quality, typical of this type of man, but also of the type of woman who can spot him a mile away and match his charms equally.
Cafajeste is pronounced as follows: kah-fah-ZHEH-shchee

All Things Gold

Year: 2009

Duration (in minutes): 54 min

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: mixed instrument quintet

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Description: All Things Gold is a collection of 15 vocal jazz compositions with original lyrics by the composer, set for solo voice, rhythm section, and varied horn solos. There’s a lot of variety here, from good old-fashioned swing to Latin grooves, soulful pop ballads, and gritty tunes in unusual meters. The emphasis, though, is on story-telling. The lyrics are engaging, smart, and shockingly honest. The result is new music that maintains its innovation, yet seems to evolve naturally from the past, like new additions to the American Songbook. The songwriter refers to her brand of music as “jazz in a champagne glass,” a nod to both her inability and unwillingness to disavow her classical side. “Immune” is dark, raucous, and irreverent. “Smarten Up” is a spicy 5/4 siren song. “Backstory” is evocative, earthy and sensual. “All Things Gold” was inspired by Robert Frost’s signature poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. The lyrics rail against the inevitable passing away of love, beauty, and life, yet the music suggests the futility of this hope. “Never Been to Brazil” is a fun, quirky, deliberately unrefined bossa nova. “You Can’t Unring Bells” is a nod to the 1940s swing era. The melancholy ballad “Something to Go On” is followed by “I Ain’t Got You,” humorous and playful with an old-school Tin Pan Alley flavor. “The King of Cryptology” is a scathing, sarcastic jazz rhumba. “The Man You Used to Be” is an angst-filled jazz waltz, the use of uneven phrase lengths here keeps the music feeling satisfyingly off-kilter, unsettled and agitated. “Another Song about the Moon” is a clever romp that quotes numerous moon-titled jazz standards, all paired with original material. “She Floats Away” is a haunting and spare ballad, with a sense of fragility and a feeling of weightlessness. “My Finest Hour” is a swing tune in 7/4 time. “Wednesdays” is an ingenuous, sweetly simple jazz waltz. “Toccata Talk to Me” borrows melodic and harmonic material from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, redefined in a new musical context.

Phobias & Infatuations

Year: 2007

Duration (in minutes): 20 min

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: solo voice(s) with piano

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Description: The eight songs that comprise Phobias & Infatuations may be sung as a complete, ordered cycle, or divided up in any way the singer chooses. The phobias are Prom Date, Dinnertime, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Bona Petite; while the infatuations include Your Joyful Voice, Time for Tea, Aries and Gemini, and Tether Your Sorrows.
These songs combine elements of classical art song, musical theater and jazz. The singer should move fluidly through these styles as required. An extensive vocal range is used (low Ab- high B), thus these songs are best sung by sopranos with solid chest registers or mezzos with easy upper extensions.
This cycle was born from my fascination with intense love and intense fear, seemingly disparate emotions, both having the power to consume one wholly. Thus, the juxtaposition of the two contradictory mental states is paramount. The infatuations create varied atmospheres of sheer ebullience, sexy languor, pure love and wistful yearning. These contrast sharply with the declamatory anxiety, biting sarcasm, and neurotic self-consciousness of the phobias.

All Things Gold

All Things Gold, the debut jazz album from singer-songwriter Melanie Mitrano, represents a daring new direction for this classically-trained artist. “I’m not even sure how my lifetime as a classical musician led me here,” the singer muses, “but thankfully I fell in with a group of smart, capable people who guided me well.”
Those capable people include co-producer/pianist/bandleader Matt King, who heads a tight-ship rhythm section that includes veteran jazzmen Andy Eulau (bass) and Scott Neumann (drums). They are joined by a number of very talented horn players: Mike Lee (saxophones), Jim Cifelli (trumpet/flugelhorn), Nick Afflitto (trumpet) and Erick Storckman (trombone). Finally, the whole mechanism is put together by expert sound engineer Manfred Knoop (Twinz Records), who has recorded Paquito D’Rivera, Lionel Hampton, John Pizzarelli, Cedar Walton, and Harry Allen, among other jazz notables.
Mitrano’s conservatory training (Eastman and The New England Conservatory) brought her to a successful career specializing in avant-garde vocal chamber music. She has worked with some of the most renowned composers of our time, including Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, and Lee Hoiby, as well as Pulitzer-Prize winners John Harbison, David Del Tredici and Paul Moravec. These experiences catalyzed her own journey into composition. “Perhaps in singing so much new music, having worked with so many composers, you notice things, you start to understand the process, and then you try your own hand at it,” says Mitrano.
All Things Gold features 15 tracks of original music and lyrics, composed solely by the songstress. There’s a lot of variety on the menu, from good old-fashioned swing to Latin grooves, soulful pop ballads, and gritty tunes in unusual meters. The emphasis, though, is on story-telling. Her lyrics are engaging, smart, and shockingly honest. Unwaveringly, the band is tight and swinging, providing a solid grid for Mitrano to spin her tales upon. Central to that end is the consistent reliability and creativity of drummer Scott Neumann, who offers up a wide palette of colors and textures throughout. The result is new music that maintains its innovation, yet seems to evolve naturally from the past, like new additions to the American Songbook.
The songwriter refers to her brand of music as “jazz in a champagne glass,” a nod to both her inability and unwillingness to disavow her classical side. “I would never call myself a true jazz singer. I've always shied away from singing standards because I think so many others have already done it better than I ever will. So, in wanting to sing jazz, the music of my heart, I saw composing my own tunes as my entry pass. It's either bravery or folly, perhaps a bit of both.”
The opening track, “Immune,” is dark, raucous, and irreverent. This hard-driving jazz waltz is made even bolder by Mike Lee’s aggressive tenor saxophone diatribes weaving throughout. Lee stars again on “Smarten Up,” a spicy 5/4 siren song, his forthright sound adding some raw heat to the mix. For the evocative “Backstory,” he switches to soprano sax, using earthy, punctuated wails to play up the sensual quality of the song.
The title track, “All Things Gold,” was inspired by Robert Frost’s signature poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. The lyrics rail against the inevitable passing away of love, beauty, and life, yet the music suggests the futility of this hope. The pure, golden tone of the flugelhorn, masterfully played by Jim Cifelli, makes the song sparkle. Cifelli switches to trumpet for “Never Been to Brazil,” a fun, quirky, deliberately unrefined bossa nova. Trumpeter Nick Afflitto steps up on “You Can’t Unring Bells,” sparring good-naturedly with the drums in this nod to the 1940s swing era.
Three tracks feature the trombone, perhaps unusual for a vocal-focused disc, yet Erick Storckman manages to make his contributions sound inevitable. The somber and sweetly subdued timbre of the instrument is just right for a melancholy ballad like “Something to Go On,” while on “I Ain’t Got You,” the humor and playfulness of the low brass brings out an old-school Tin Pan Alley flavor. Finally, there is “The King of Cryptology,” a scathing, sarcastic jazz rhumba. Here, Storckman pushes through the biting groove, adding an appropriate jolt of brass.
Bassist Andy Eulau comes to the fore in the angst-filled jazz waltz, “The Man You Used to Be.” The use of uneven phrase lengths here keeps the music feeling satisfyingly off-kilter, unsettled and agitated. Eulau is on tap again for “Another Song about the Moon,” a clever romp that quotes numerous moon-titled jazz standards, all paired with original material. In “She Floats Away,” a haunting and spare ballad, Eulau’s bowed bass solo brilliantly conveys the song’s fragility and feeling of weightlessness. The ending is breathtaking and ephemeral, evaporating into thin air.
Pianist Matt King takes center stage on “My Finest Hour,” a swing tune in 7/4 time. Its unique groove is tightly held and delivered with style. He is in fine form again on “Wednesdays,” perhaps the most ingenuous, sweetly simple song on the album. The disc comes to a rousing close with “Toccata Talk to Me,” which borrows melodic and harmonic material from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, redefined in a new musical context. King skillfully holds court on both Hammond organ and piano here, with Bachian precision.
As for the title of the album, Mitrano explains simply, “Making this disc has been a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. Working with this bunch of tremendous musicians, who also happen to be amazing people, has been a blessing. All these things are gold.”

Composers: Melanie Mitrano

Label: Ivy Cottage Press

Label's Website: www.melaniemitrano.com

Product ID: Ivy Cottage Press (884502433234)

Buy URL: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mitrano3

Songs in Transit: An American Expedition

With the composers at the piano:
Tom Cipullo - How To Get Heat Without Fire
Lori Laitman - Two Songs
Lee Hoiby - Three Ages of Woman
Paul Moravec - Two Popular Songs
David Del Tredici - New Year’s Eve
and:
Melanie Mitrano - 2 Infatuations & a Phobia
Beth Anderson - Two Songs
Gene Pritsker - Truth
Allan Jaffe - We Are Never Alone
Songs in Transit features an eclectic selection of songs that are not merely classical, but a hybrid mixture of styles which includes jazz, blues, musical theater, popular music, rock, hip-hop, electronic and world music. All of it is woven into the complex tapestry that makes up “American” music. The disc highlights living American poets and composers, most of whom accompany their own songs at the piano. Among the composers are two Pulitzer Prize winners: David Del Tredici and Paul Moravec. Also featured are renowned composers Lee Hoiby, Tom Cipullo, and Lori Laitman, as well as an original song cycle by the artist herself.

Composers: Melanie Mitrano, Beth Anderson, & others

Label: Capstone Records

Label's Website: www.melaniemitrano.com

Product ID: CPS8756

Buy URL: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mitrano

All Things Gold

Composer: Melanie Mitrano

Description: From the album "All Things Gold" (2010), Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Matt King, piano; Andy Eulau, bass; Scott Neumann, drums, Jim Cifelli, flugelhorn. Music & Lyrics © Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP).

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e66CvB_hhYs

Tudo se resume a você

Composer: Melanie Mitrano

Description: Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Matt King, keyboards; Scott Neumann, percussion. Music & Lyrics Melanie Mitrano.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZFB-iYf7_Q

Wednesdays

Composer: Melanie Mitrano

Description: From the album "All Things Gold" (2010). Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Matt King, piano; Andy Eulau, bass; Scott Neumann, drums. Music & Lyrics © Melanie Mitrano.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLLhqocDD_4

BIOGRAPHY
Melanie Mitrano is an ASCAP composer, singer, and teacher whose vocal and compositional styles span many genres, including classical, jazz, theater, Brazilian music and Portuguese Fado. Her music has been performed in a variety of venues from concert halls to jazz clubs. All Things Gold, her most recent album, features "straight-up acoustic vocal jazz in a champagne glass – swinging, clean, cool and refined." To date, six of the songs on the disc have won compositional awards. Brazilian music also factors heavily into Melanie's artistic profile. Fluent in Portuguese, she performs Brazilian standards and also pens her own Portuguese-language songs. Melanie is a winner of numerous composition awards from the Songwriters Association of Washington, ASCAP, Billboard, and the Summit City Art Song Festival. Her work has been showcased by the Cape May Singer-Songwriter Festival, Diane Moser Composers Big Band, Arts Up Close Montclair TV 34, and SkyJazz Internet Radio, where she was a Favorite Artist Poll Winner. Melanie has performed as a soloist in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, England, Italy and Brazil. Her two worldwide podcasts for Classical Music Discoveries both placed in the top ten shows of all time with approximately 20 million listens. Songs in Transit, Melanie's critically-acclaimed debut CD, was released on Capstone Records in 2006. It features repertoire which unites musical theater, blues, jazz, hip-hop and world music styles within a classical framework. Such notable American composers as Lee Hoiby, Tom Cipullo and Lori Laitman, as well as Pulitzer-Prize-winning composers David Del Tredici and Paul Moravec are heard accompanying the singer at the piano. Melanie is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has the distinction of being the first woman to receive a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston. She has worked with many other esteemed composers, including György Ligeti, Luciano Berio, and John Harbison. She was a founding member of the Boston-based Auros Group for New Music and has sung with similar groups in the New York area, including Speculum Musicae, Ensemble 21, Composers Concordance Ensemble, Vox Novus, and Friends & Enemies of New Music. With Absolute Ensemble, she recorded the film score for movie Perfume, winner of the 2007 German Film Award, directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Dustin Hoffmann and Alan Rickman. Her voice appears in the film and on the EMI movie soundtrack. Dr. Mitrano began her teaching career at Connecticut College in New London; and from 1996-2001, served on the faculty of New Jersey City University as Coordinator of Vocal Studies. A dedicated educator and frequent clinician, she has lectured at several NJMEA state conferences, high schools, and universities, including the Mannes College of Music, Western Connecticut State University, Kutztown University, Brooklyn College, and the University of New Hampshire. She has served as an adjudicator for the NJ NATS Festival of Singing and the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her articles have been published in Classical Singer Magazine, The New Music Connoisseur, Tempo Magazine, the MENC international edition of Spotlight on Teaching Chorus, and the NATS Journal of Singing. She is currently an adjunct music professor at County College of Morris, and maintains a private voice studio in NJ. She is completing work on her third album, which features her original Brazilian-inspired compositions.
COMPOSITIONS

Desafío

Year: 2015

Duration (in minutes): 3'34;

Difficulty: Medium (college/community)

Category: mixed instrument trio

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Score PDF: el_desafio_full_score-5.pdf

Description: This piece is a rumba that is meant to emulate a Latin jazz trio, with the piano functioning as the rhythm section. The piano essentially replicates a comping jazz piano or guitar, underpinning the harmonies and keeping the groove locked in. The piece should be counted off like a Latin jazz tune; the tempo is set from the beginning and does not waver throughout.
The flute and violin have long been integral instruments in Cuban music. Here, they take on the role of duet soloists, maintaining a conversation throughout the piece.
El Desafío means "challenge" or "dare" in Spanish. My challenge here as a composer was to replicate the sound of Cuban jazz without guitars or drums, but rather within a strictly classical framework. The same challenge is posed to the performers in the piece's execution.

Cafajeste

Year: 2015

Duration (in minutes): 4:30

Difficulty: Medium (college/community)

Category: mixed instrument trio

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Score PDF: cafajeste_full_score_and_parts-5.pdf

Description: This piece is a samba that is meant to emulate a Brazilian jazz trio, with the cello and bass functioning as the rhythm section. The cello essentially replicates a comping piano or guitar, while the bass underpins the harmonies and keeps the groove locked in. The piece should be counted off like a jazz tune; the tempo is set from the beginning and does not waver throughout.
The flute has long been an integral and essential instrument in the samba tradition. In fact, the first Brazilian instruments were flutes, and their role cannot be overstated. Here, the flute maintains its melodic and improvisatory function, serving as the primary soloist of the piece.
Cafajeste means "womanizer" or "scoundrel" in Portuguese, the official language of Brazil. The piece has a rather seductive, fun and clever quality, typical of this type of man, but also of the type of woman who can spot him a mile away and match his charms equally.
Cafajeste is pronounced as follows: kah-fah-ZHEH-shchee

All Things Gold

Year: 2009

Duration (in minutes): 54 min

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: mixed instrument quintet

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Description: All Things Gold is a collection of 15 vocal jazz compositions with original lyrics by the composer, set for solo voice, rhythm section, and varied horn solos. There’s a lot of variety here, from good old-fashioned swing to Latin grooves, soulful pop ballads, and gritty tunes in unusual meters. The emphasis, though, is on story-telling. The lyrics are engaging, smart, and shockingly honest. The result is new music that maintains its innovation, yet seems to evolve naturally from the past, like new additions to the American Songbook. The songwriter refers to her brand of music as “jazz in a champagne glass,” a nod to both her inability and unwillingness to disavow her classical side. “Immune” is dark, raucous, and irreverent. “Smarten Up” is a spicy 5/4 siren song. “Backstory” is evocative, earthy and sensual. “All Things Gold” was inspired by Robert Frost’s signature poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. The lyrics rail against the inevitable passing away of love, beauty, and life, yet the music suggests the futility of this hope. “Never Been to Brazil” is a fun, quirky, deliberately unrefined bossa nova. “You Can’t Unring Bells” is a nod to the 1940s swing era. The melancholy ballad “Something to Go On” is followed by “I Ain’t Got You,” humorous and playful with an old-school Tin Pan Alley flavor. “The King of Cryptology” is a scathing, sarcastic jazz rhumba. “The Man You Used to Be” is an angst-filled jazz waltz, the use of uneven phrase lengths here keeps the music feeling satisfyingly off-kilter, unsettled and agitated. “Another Song about the Moon” is a clever romp that quotes numerous moon-titled jazz standards, all paired with original material. “She Floats Away” is a haunting and spare ballad, with a sense of fragility and a feeling of weightlessness. “My Finest Hour” is a swing tune in 7/4 time. “Wednesdays” is an ingenuous, sweetly simple jazz waltz. “Toccata Talk to Me” borrows melodic and harmonic material from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, redefined in a new musical context.

Phobias & Infatuations

Year: 2007

Duration (in minutes): 20 min

Difficulty: High (professional)

Category: solo voice(s) with piano

Publisher: Ivy Cottage Press

Description: The eight songs that comprise Phobias & Infatuations may be sung as a complete, ordered cycle, or divided up in any way the singer chooses. The phobias are Prom Date, Dinnertime, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Bona Petite; while the infatuations include Your Joyful Voice, Time for Tea, Aries and Gemini, and Tether Your Sorrows.
These songs combine elements of classical art song, musical theater and jazz. The singer should move fluidly through these styles as required. An extensive vocal range is used (low Ab- high B), thus these songs are best sung by sopranos with solid chest registers or mezzos with easy upper extensions.
This cycle was born from my fascination with intense love and intense fear, seemingly disparate emotions, both having the power to consume one wholly. Thus, the juxtaposition of the two contradictory mental states is paramount. The infatuations create varied atmospheres of sheer ebullience, sexy languor, pure love and wistful yearning. These contrast sharply with the declamatory anxiety, biting sarcasm, and neurotic self-consciousness of the phobias.

CDs

All Things Gold

All Things Gold, the debut jazz album from singer-songwriter Melanie Mitrano, represents a daring new direction for this classically-trained artist. “I’m not even sure how my lifetime as a classical musician led me here,” the singer muses, “but thankfully I fell in with a group of smart, capable people who guided me well.”
Those capable people include co-producer/pianist/bandleader Matt King, who heads a tight-ship rhythm section that includes veteran jazzmen Andy Eulau (bass) and Scott Neumann (drums). They are joined by a number of very talented horn players: Mike Lee (saxophones), Jim Cifelli (trumpet/flugelhorn), Nick Afflitto (trumpet) and Erick Storckman (trombone). Finally, the whole mechanism is put together by expert sound engineer Manfred Knoop (Twinz Records), who has recorded Paquito D’Rivera, Lionel Hampton, John Pizzarelli, Cedar Walton, and Harry Allen, among other jazz notables.
Mitrano’s conservatory training (Eastman and The New England Conservatory) brought her to a successful career specializing in avant-garde vocal chamber music. She has worked with some of the most renowned composers of our time, including Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, and Lee Hoiby, as well as Pulitzer-Prize winners John Harbison, David Del Tredici and Paul Moravec. These experiences catalyzed her own journey into composition. “Perhaps in singing so much new music, having worked with so many composers, you notice things, you start to understand the process, and then you try your own hand at it,” says Mitrano.
All Things Gold features 15 tracks of original music and lyrics, composed solely by the songstress. There’s a lot of variety on the menu, from good old-fashioned swing to Latin grooves, soulful pop ballads, and gritty tunes in unusual meters. The emphasis, though, is on story-telling. Her lyrics are engaging, smart, and shockingly honest. Unwaveringly, the band is tight and swinging, providing a solid grid for Mitrano to spin her tales upon. Central to that end is the consistent reliability and creativity of drummer Scott Neumann, who offers up a wide palette of colors and textures throughout. The result is new music that maintains its innovation, yet seems to evolve naturally from the past, like new additions to the American Songbook.
The songwriter refers to her brand of music as “jazz in a champagne glass,” a nod to both her inability and unwillingness to disavow her classical side. “I would never call myself a true jazz singer. I've always shied away from singing standards because I think so many others have already done it better than I ever will. So, in wanting to sing jazz, the music of my heart, I saw composing my own tunes as my entry pass. It's either bravery or folly, perhaps a bit of both.”
The opening track, “Immune,” is dark, raucous, and irreverent. This hard-driving jazz waltz is made even bolder by Mike Lee’s aggressive tenor saxophone diatribes weaving throughout. Lee stars again on “Smarten Up,” a spicy 5/4 siren song, his forthright sound adding some raw heat to the mix. For the evocative “Backstory,” he switches to soprano sax, using earthy, punctuated wails to play up the sensual quality of the song.
The title track, “All Things Gold,” was inspired by Robert Frost’s signature poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. The lyrics rail against the inevitable passing away of love, beauty, and life, yet the music suggests the futility of this hope. The pure, golden tone of the flugelhorn, masterfully played by Jim Cifelli, makes the song sparkle. Cifelli switches to trumpet for “Never Been to Brazil,” a fun, quirky, deliberately unrefined bossa nova. Trumpeter Nick Afflitto steps up on “You Can’t Unring Bells,” sparring good-naturedly with the drums in this nod to the 1940s swing era.
Three tracks feature the trombone, perhaps unusual for a vocal-focused disc, yet Erick Storckman manages to make his contributions sound inevitable. The somber and sweetly subdued timbre of the instrument is just right for a melancholy ballad like “Something to Go On,” while on “I Ain’t Got You,” the humor and playfulness of the low brass brings out an old-school Tin Pan Alley flavor. Finally, there is “The King of Cryptology,” a scathing, sarcastic jazz rhumba. Here, Storckman pushes through the biting groove, adding an appropriate jolt of brass.
Bassist Andy Eulau comes to the fore in the angst-filled jazz waltz, “The Man You Used to Be.” The use of uneven phrase lengths here keeps the music feeling satisfyingly off-kilter, unsettled and agitated. Eulau is on tap again for “Another Song about the Moon,” a clever romp that quotes numerous moon-titled jazz standards, all paired with original material. In “She Floats Away,” a haunting and spare ballad, Eulau’s bowed bass solo brilliantly conveys the song’s fragility and feeling of weightlessness. The ending is breathtaking and ephemeral, evaporating into thin air.
Pianist Matt King takes center stage on “My Finest Hour,” a swing tune in 7/4 time. Its unique groove is tightly held and delivered with style. He is in fine form again on “Wednesdays,” perhaps the most ingenuous, sweetly simple song on the album. The disc comes to a rousing close with “Toccata Talk to Me,” which borrows melodic and harmonic material from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, redefined in a new musical context. King skillfully holds court on both Hammond organ and piano here, with Bachian precision.
As for the title of the album, Mitrano explains simply, “Making this disc has been a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. Working with this bunch of tremendous musicians, who also happen to be amazing people, has been a blessing. All these things are gold.”

Composers: Melanie Mitrano

Label: Ivy Cottage Press

Label's Website: www.melaniemitrano.com

Product ID: Ivy Cottage Press (884502433234)

Songs in Transit: An American Expedition

With the composers at the piano:
Tom Cipullo - How To Get Heat Without Fire
Lori Laitman - Two Songs
Lee Hoiby - Three Ages of Woman
Paul Moravec - Two Popular Songs
David Del Tredici - New Year’s Eve
and:
Melanie Mitrano - 2 Infatuations & a Phobia
Beth Anderson - Two Songs
Gene Pritsker - Truth
Allan Jaffe - We Are Never Alone
Songs in Transit features an eclectic selection of songs that are not merely classical, but a hybrid mixture of styles which includes jazz, blues, musical theater, popular music, rock, hip-hop, electronic and world music. All of it is woven into the complex tapestry that makes up “American” music. The disc highlights living American poets and composers, most of whom accompany their own songs at the piano. Among the composers are two Pulitzer Prize winners: David Del Tredici and Paul Moravec. Also featured are renowned composers Lee Hoiby, Tom Cipullo, and Lori Laitman, as well as an original song cycle by the artist herself.

Composers: Melanie Mitrano, Beth Anderson, & others

Label: Capstone Records

Label's Website: www.melaniemitrano.com

Product ID: CPS8756

VIDEOS

All Things Gold

Composer: Melanie Mitrano

Description: From the album "All Things Gold" (2010), Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Matt King, piano; Andy Eulau, bass; Scott Neumann, drums, Jim Cifelli, flugelhorn. Music & Lyrics © Melanie Mitrano (ASCAP).

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e66CvB_hhYs

Tudo se resume a você

Composer: Melanie Mitrano

Description: Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Matt King, keyboards; Scott Neumann, percussion. Music & Lyrics Melanie Mitrano.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZFB-iYf7_Q

Wednesdays

Composer: Melanie Mitrano

Description: From the album "All Things Gold" (2010). Melanie Mitrano, vocals; Matt King, piano; Andy Eulau, bass; Scott Neumann, drums. Music & Lyrics © Melanie Mitrano.

Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLLhqocDD_4

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