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Jun 19th 2013
San Diego, CA USA
IMN - International Music Network
North Carolina-bred, New York-based singer/composer/guitarist Becca Stevens has already received copious praise from the likes of The New York Times, who described her as “a best-kept secret” and “impressively absorbing.” The Boston Phoenix noted Becca’s “big voice and no-bull—- emotional delivery,” while The Winston-Salem Journal stated, “Stevens’ singing is remarkable, soulful, pitch-perfect and subtle in its controlled acrobatics. The arrangements are exquisitely produced, and her acoustic songs boast musical textures and colors that embrace the adventurism of jazz.”
Stevens’ intimate vocals communicate both warmth and effortless urgency, while her exquisitely understated arrangements and seamlessly crafted tunes embrace inventive acoustic textures and idiosyncratic rhythmic and melodic elements. The resulting music offers a beguiling blend of head and heart that resists easy categorization, drawing upon elements of pop, jazz or folk without limiting itself to the rules of any particular genre. Her close-knit band, which includes Liam Robinson (accordion, keyboards, vocals), Chris Tordini (upright bass, vocals) and Jordan Perlson (drums and percussion) complement Becca’s own expressive work on guitar, ukulele and charango, while their earthy vocal harmonies provide a compelling counterpoint to her own personally-charged vocals.
The daughter of musicians, Stevens began singing in her family’s band, the Tune Mammals, when she was two years old. She spent much of her childhood on stage, singing, acting and dancing, including a year-long tour in the lead role of The Secret Garden when she was ten. Stevens became fluent in jazz and classical guitar and in the folk music traditions of her native North Carolina—influences that still echo in her songwriting. After graduating from the high school program at the North Carolina School of the Arts with a major in classical guitar, Stevens attended The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. It was at the New School that she met Chris Tordini and started to put together what would subsequently become the Becca Stevens Band. Since graduating from the New School, Stevens has served as lead singer of Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, fronting a genre-bending 18-piece jazz orchestra interpreting the songs of Björk; toured and recorded with, and written lyrics for, jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti, and most recently performed at Carnegie Hall as featured singer with pianist Brad Mehldau. She’s also toured as part of drummer/composer Eric Harland’s all-star band; and has performed with such notable players as Jeff Ballard, Larry Grenadier, Mark Turner, Ed Simon, and Greg Hutchinson.
2010 saw the debut of Stevens’ first choral composition, Soli Deo Gloria, commissioned and performed by the Melodia Women’s Choir in New York. Becca also moonlights as one-third of Tillery, a trio with fellow singer/songwriters Rebecca Martin and Gretchen Parlato. In 2011 Sunnyside records released the critically acclaimed “Weightless” a sparkling 12-song set revealing the accomplished young songstress as a startlingly original, refreshingly distinctive talent in her own right.
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| I'll Notice (Live) | 6:03 | Becca Stevens |
| You Make Me (Live) | 5:15 | Becca Stevens |
| There Is A Light That Never Goes Out | 5:22 | Becca Stevens |
New York’s best kept secret.
New York Times
Fully satiating. That is the least I can say about a Becca Stevens listening experience. Her songwriting, voice, and lyrics are like a cool bubbling brook freshening the brine of all the music you’ve ever heard.
Esperanza Spalding
Stevens fashions a sound all her own with airy, brook-clear songs equally touched by jazz sophistication and homespun folk charm.
Time Out New York
Stevens moves confidently from jazz and pop to folk and beyond, doing so in a blending of instrumental and vocal timbres that identify her as one of the most musically adventurous vocal artists of her generation.
Don Heckman
This is a vocalist and bandleader with command to spare, a flair for making savvy, split-second decisions, pulling tricky changes out of the air, and crafting arrangements that appear simple on the surface but reveal true sophistication with each successive listen.
All Music Guide
Stevens is effortlessly charming in her stage demeanor and lights up like a firefly in performance. She is a treasure.
Kurt Elling for JazzTimes
With their ability their exquisite arrangements, gorgeous vocal harmonies and an ability to make the bar line disappear, the Becca Stevens Band stole a lot of hearts
Jazzwize Magazine
Stevens’ singing is remarkable, soulful, pitch-perfect and subtle in its controlled acrobatics. The arrangements are exquisitely produced, and her acoustic songs boast musical textures and colors that embrace the adventurism of jazz.
The Winston-Salem Journal
