Jazz vocalists Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh have joined forces to produce their latest project “Vertical Voices: The Music of Maria Schneider” that compliment the multi-Grammy Award-winning composer’s musical techniques. The album was released on March 16, 2010.
Using their two voices via studio multi-tracking, Dollison and Marsh created a virtual vocal orchestra by wordlessly singing the brass and woodwind parts in Schneider’s lush, harmonically deep and rhythmically complex compositions. The tracks are all-new improvised solos featuring Dollison and Marsh, which reflect their personal vocal character and expression.
According to a news release, Dollison was the first vocalist to perform wordlessly with the Maria Schneider Orchestra at New York’s Jazz Standard in 2000, singing “Hang Gliding,” “Journey Home” and “Allegresse.” According to her bio, she has performed under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and Erich Kunzel as well as with Ben Folds during his performances with the Boston Pops Symphony and National Symphony Orchestra. Dollison can be heard on the Academy Award-winning Vera Drake film trailer and on film scores for The Stepford Wives and The Corpse Bride.
Marsh, also a beneficiary of Schneider’s guest artist visits to the Universities of Kansas and North Texas, became one of the very first project participants in ArtistShare history when he joined the 2003 Schneider recording project that became Concert in the Garden. Schneider’s influence on Kerry’s composition and arranging techniques during his studies helped earn him a DownBeat Student Music Award for best collegiate jazz arrangement later that same year. According to his bio, Marsh has most recently worked as a vocal arranger and choirmaster for indie-pop singer/pianist Ben Folds, performing alongside Folds with major symphony orchestras on tour. Kerry’s arrangement of Folds’ “Selfless, Cold and Composed” was featured on the 2009 Epic Records release Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella.
Regarding the “Vertical Voices: The Music of Maria Schneider” project, Schneider says in the news release, “I was a bit skeptical at first because of the enormous range of my pieces, the intricacy of the lines and the general extreme demands of the repertoire, but I decided to give it a shot. Julia was extraordinary! Her range, her sound, her ability to blend with the instruments and her absolutely perfect pitch just blew me away! She was nothing short of amazing.”
For more information on the project, go to http://www.artistshare.com/home/project_experience.aspx?projectID=225&artistID=108.