TILLERY | REBECCA MARTIN, BECCA STEVENS & GRETCHEN PARLATO
TILLERY is a collaborative project created by Rebecca Martin, Becca Stevens and Gretchen Parlato.
Individually, Rebecca Martin, Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens are three of New York’s most acclaimed and respected vocalist/songwriters. Together, as Tillery, they’re a potent collective force that’s more than the sum of its already formidable parts.
The threesome’s seamless creative chemistry and organic personal rapport makes for a powerful collaboration that’s been wowing live audiences since the trio first joined forces in 2010. United equally by an abiding friendship and a mutual admiration for one another’s talents, Tillery finds these three unmistakable individuals converging into a distinctive and deeply compelling whole. Tillery’s members are already renowned for their individual musical achievements.
Maine-born Rebecca Martin is a widely respected two-decade veteran whose vocal and songwriting talents have allowed her to effortlessly straddle the worlds of jazz and pop. She’s released half a dozen acclaimed albums, on which she’s worked with many of jazz’s most esteemed players, including Brian Blade, Paul Motian, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Martin’s husband, bassist Larry Grenadier.
Native Californian Gretchen Parlato is one of the jazz world’s most celebrated rising vocalists. She first rose to prominence when she finished in first place in the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition. Since then, she’s released three solo albums, as well as lending her voice to more than 50 albums, including high-profile releases by Kenny Barron, Terence Blanchard, Lionel Loueke and Esperanza Spalding.
North Carolina-bred Becca Stevens has quickly risen to become one of the top artists of her generation in a new movement that mixes various genres such as RnB, Pop, rock,folk, fearlessly with Jazz. In addition to releasing two albums of her original compositions with the Becca Stevens Band, she has collaborated with Jacob Collier, David Crosby, Esperanza Spalding, Brad Melhdau and many others artists.
The seeds for Tillery were planted in late 2010, when the three artists met and became fervent admirers of each other’s work. Although all three hail from diverse backgrounds and belong to different age groups, they quickly recognized each other as kindred spirits, striking up a personal bond as well as a budding creative collaboration.
[...]
Click here to read in full detail how Rebecca, Grechen and Becca became "Tillery".
And this article on JazzTimes provides yet another perspective about how "Tillery" was born.
Tillery: http://www.tillerygals.com
Individually, Rebecca Martin, Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens are three of New York’s most acclaimed and respected vocalist/songwriters. Together, as Tillery, they’re a potent collective force that’s more than the sum of its already formidable parts.
The threesome’s seamless creative chemistry and organic personal rapport makes for a powerful collaboration that’s been wowing live audiences since the trio first joined forces in 2010. United equally by an abiding friendship and a mutual admiration for one another’s talents, Tillery finds these three unmistakable individuals converging into a distinctive and deeply compelling whole. Tillery’s members are already renowned for their individual musical achievements.
Maine-born Rebecca Martin is a widely respected two-decade veteran whose vocal and songwriting talents have allowed her to effortlessly straddle the worlds of jazz and pop. She’s released half a dozen acclaimed albums, on which she’s worked with many of jazz’s most esteemed players, including Brian Blade, Paul Motian, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Martin’s husband, bassist Larry Grenadier.
Native Californian Gretchen Parlato is one of the jazz world’s most celebrated rising vocalists. She first rose to prominence when she finished in first place in the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition. Since then, she’s released three solo albums, as well as lending her voice to more than 50 albums, including high-profile releases by Kenny Barron, Terence Blanchard, Lionel Loueke and Esperanza Spalding.
North Carolina-bred Becca Stevens has quickly risen to become one of the top artists of her generation in a new movement that mixes various genres such as RnB, Pop, rock,folk, fearlessly with Jazz. In addition to releasing two albums of her original compositions with the Becca Stevens Band, she has collaborated with Jacob Collier, David Crosby, Esperanza Spalding, Brad Melhdau and many others artists.
The seeds for Tillery were planted in late 2010, when the three artists met and became fervent admirers of each other’s work. Although all three hail from diverse backgrounds and belong to different age groups, they quickly recognized each other as kindred spirits, striking up a personal bond as well as a budding creative collaboration.
[...]
Click here to read in full detail how Rebecca, Grechen and Becca became "Tillery".
And this article on JazzTimes provides yet another perspective about how "Tillery" was born.
Tillery: http://www.tillerygals.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE: BECCA STEVENS BAND WILL BE PERFORMING AT THE SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE IN LONDON, ON JULY 18.
FOR THAT REASON, BECCA STEVENS WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO START TEACHING IN THE AFTERNOON OF JULY 19.
We’ve managed, without trying, to maintain the same energy that we felt together
that first night that we sang together at Rebecca’s house.
I think there’s something really refreshing about a performance
where the performers love and admire each other so completely.
[Becca Stevens]
We all just take this project as it comes. It’s all very natural and nothing is forced,
and because of this, we always approach it with open arms, open hearts.
There’s no pressure to do or create anything. It just happens when it happens.
It’s always magical, and it always feels like it was meant to be.
[Gretchen Parlato]
REBECCA MARTIN | BIOGRAFIA
Rebecca Martin launched her solo career in 1998 with Thoroughfare, written and produced by Martin. In 2002, she produced a collection of standards, Middlehope, which The New York Times named one of the year's ten best jazz albums. In 2004, Martin released another album of original compositions, People Behave Like Ballads.
In 2005, Rebecca Martin recorded with jazz drummer/composer Paul Motian as featured vocalist on Motian's On Broadway Vol. 4 or The Paradox of Continuity, becoming the first singer to accompany Motian on one of his recordings. After Motian's album was release in 2006, Martin was asked to perform with him at Carnegie Hall as part of a tribute concert to the Village Vanguard's Lorraine Gordon, and she and Motian subsequently performed music from the project during a two-week run at the Village Vanguard. |
Martin began to apply Motian's less-is-more ethic to work after moving to the Sunnyside label with her 2008 release The Growing Season, produced by Kurt Rosenwinkel and featuring Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade on bass and drums, respectively. The album met with enthusiastic response, including a New York Timescritic's pick, which praised her "warm, unguarded voice, an instrument of modesty and forbearance".
The Growing Season's success led to an invitation to perform a week's worth of headlining shows at New York's Village Vanguard, making Martin the first singer-songwriter to perform at the jazz club in more than 30 years. She followed those career landmarks with When I Was Long Ago (2010), another collection of standards, this one delivered in spare three-piece arrangements featuring Martin, Grenadier and saxophonist Bill McHenry. In 2009, she won Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album at the Independent Music Awards for her album The Growing Season. Martin and Grenadier recorded most of Twain in a small bedroom in the apartment of longtime cohort and pianist Pete Rende, who produced, engineered and mixed the album.
In 2010, Martin formed a trio, Tillery, with fellow singer-songwriters Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens. The trio continues to work together when schedules permit, including a scheduled 2013 performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Martin has also worked on behalf of her community in her adopted hometown of Kingston, New York, where she has been active in promoting government transparency and civic involvement. Martin currently runs a management agency, Larrecca Music Management, that handles her business and that of other artists.
Rebecca Martin: http://rebeccamartin.com
The Growing Season's success led to an invitation to perform a week's worth of headlining shows at New York's Village Vanguard, making Martin the first singer-songwriter to perform at the jazz club in more than 30 years. She followed those career landmarks with When I Was Long Ago (2010), another collection of standards, this one delivered in spare three-piece arrangements featuring Martin, Grenadier and saxophonist Bill McHenry. In 2009, she won Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album at the Independent Music Awards for her album The Growing Season. Martin and Grenadier recorded most of Twain in a small bedroom in the apartment of longtime cohort and pianist Pete Rende, who produced, engineered and mixed the album.
In 2010, Martin formed a trio, Tillery, with fellow singer-songwriters Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens. The trio continues to work together when schedules permit, including a scheduled 2013 performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Martin has also worked on behalf of her community in her adopted hometown of Kingston, New York, where she has been active in promoting government transparency and civic involvement. Martin currently runs a management agency, Larrecca Music Management, that handles her business and that of other artists.
Rebecca Martin: http://rebeccamartin.com
BECCA STEVENS | BIOGRAFIA
North Carolina bred, Brooklyn based singer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Becca Stevens has already received copious praise from the likes of The New York Times, describing her as “a best-kept secret” and “impressively absorbing.”
Drawing upon elements of pop, indie-rock, jazz, and traditional Appalachian folk, Stevens has been hailed by the press, her peers and fans alike for her unique ability to craft exquisitely understated compositions both for her own band, and for artists who run the gamut of genre from trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, singer José James to classical pianist Timo Andres. Fluent on guitar, ukulele, and charango, Stevens’ seamless arrangements embrace inventive textures and idiosyncratic melodic elements, communicated with immense warmth and effortless urgency through her pitch-perfect and inimitable vocals. |
Since the release of 2011’s Weightless (Sunnyside), Stevens has toured the world with her band and also found time to collaborate with Brad Mehldau, Esperanza Spalding, Snarky Puppy, David Crosby, Jacob Collier, Alan Hampton, and many others. Stevens is one part of a trio with Rebecca Martin and Gretchen Parlato called Tillery, and is a featured vocalist on the GRAMMY-Winning Billy Childs record Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, produced by Larry Klein. In April 2015, Perfect Animal, the highly anticipated follow up to Weightless, produced by engineer Scott Solter (Spoon, John Vanderslice, St. Vincent) and mixed by Matt Pence (Here We Go Magic, Midlake) was released on Universal Music Classics.
Recent/ upcoming highlights include: Barcelona Jazz Festival, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, North Sea Jazz Festival, New Morning Paris, National Sawdust and Rockwood NY.
[...] See full bio here.
Becca Stevens: http://beccastevens.com
Recent/ upcoming highlights include: Barcelona Jazz Festival, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, North Sea Jazz Festival, New Morning Paris, National Sawdust and Rockwood NY.
[...] See full bio here.
Becca Stevens: http://beccastevens.com
GRETCHEN PARLATO | BIOGRAFIA
With a bachelor's degree in Ethnomusicology/Jazz Studies at University of California, Parlato was the first vocalist ever admitted into the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance. As of 2013, Parlato is a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music.
Parlato's 2014 CD/DVD release, Live in NYC, received a Grammy Award Nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album, also receiving 4.5 stars in Downbeat Magazine, the DVD hitting #1 iTunes best music video upon release. Her 2011 release The Lost and Found received over 30 national and international awards including Jazz Critics Poll #1 Vocal Album of 2011 and iTunes Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. Her 2009 sophomore release, In a Dream was Jazz Critics Poll #1 Vocal Album of 2009 and hailed by Billboard as "the most alluring jazz vocal album of 2009." Her 2005 release and self-titled first album Gretchen Parlato was named No. 5 Best Progressive Jazz CDs of 2005 by Jazz Nation and got 5 stars in Down Beat's Blindfold Test by Richard Bona. In August 2007 she was named No. 3 Rising Star Female Vocalist in Down Beat's 55th Annual Critics Poll. In 2010 she was nominated for Female Singer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. |
Gretchen Parlato has been a guest vocalist on over 70 recordings, including three Esperanza Spalding albums Radio Music Society, Chamber Music Society and Esperanza, Kenny Barron's The Traveler, Marcus Miller's Renaissance, Lionel Loueke's albums Heritage and Virgin Forest, Terence Blanchard's Flow, and Terri Lyne Carrington's The Mosaic Project (Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album), singing lyrics as well as wordless vocals. She has also performed with musicians such as Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock.
Gretchen Parlato: http://gretchenparlato.com
Gretchen Parlato: http://gretchenparlato.com
TILLERY | MUSIC
- Tillery, performed by Tillery (Poetry by Jane Tyson Clement and Becca Stevens)
- Oh, I Long To Feel Your Arms Around Me, written by Father John Misty, Filmed by Alex Chaloff, live at Blue Whale Los Angeles, 2013
- "No more" in the kitchen (music by Becca Stevens, lyrics by Becca Stevens & William Stevens)
- Magnus by Gretchen Parlato & Magnus Thompson-Marcelin performed by Tillery
- God is in the details performed by Tillery (song by Rebecca Martin)
Tillery's first record will be issued in 2016.
REBECCA MARTIN | MUSIC
- Rebecca Martin, Larry Grenadier & Bill McHenry | But not for me
- Rebecca Martin & Larry Grenadier | Tea for two
- Rebecca Martin | Dindi | from Rebecca's album Middlehope, with Bill McHenry, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Larry Grenadier and Jorge Rossy
- Rebecca Martin | Don't mean a thing at all | from Rebecca's album Twain
- Rebecca Martin & Larry Grenadier | Portrait | by Charles Mingus
- Rebecca Martin | Save me | with her band Once Blue (Jesse Harris, Steve Cardenas, Ben Street and Billy Dobrow), in 1996
- Rebecca Martin | The Sweetest Sounds | from Rebecca's album Middlehope, with Bill McHenry, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Larry Grenadier and Jorge Rossy
- Rebecca Martin, Larry Grenadier and Bill McHenry | Live at Duc des Lombards
- Rebecca Martin | Thoroughfare | from Rebecca's album Thoroughfare
BECCA STEVENS | MUSIC
- Taylor Eigsti Trio, featuring Becca Stevens | Magnolia
- Becca Stevens | Be Still | Live at the Jazz Gallery
- Becca Stevens & Taylor Eigsti | In the midst
- Becca Stevens Band | Weightless
- Becca Stevens | Thinking about you
- Becca Stevens | Thinking about you | at the Orchard Sessions vol. 15
- Becca Stevens | Perfect
- Becca Stevens Band | Live at the North Sea Jazz Club
- Becca Stevens Band | Recordings | @ http://beccastevens.com
- Becca Stevens | Other Recordings | @ http://beccastevens.com
GRETCHEN PARLATO | MUSIC
- Gretchen Parlato & Esperanza Spalding sing Tom Jobim | Inutil Paisagem
- Grechen Parlato | I can't help it | by Stevie Wonder | from Gretchen's album In a Dream
- Gretchen Parlato | Better than | from the album The Lost and Found
- Gretchen Parlato | How insensitive | by Tom Jobim
- Gretchen Parlato | Henya | by Ambrose Akinmusire, from Gretchen's album The Lost and Found
- Gretchen Parlato | Holding back the years | Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2012
- Gretchen Parlato | Turning into blue | from Gretchen's album In a Dream
- Gretchen Parlato | Come to me | by Bjork | from Gretchen's album Gretchen Parlato
- Gretchen Parlato | Jazz Open Stuttgart 2010 | Full concert
TILLERY | REBECCA, GRETCHEN, BECCA | INTERVIEWS, ARTICLES, BROADCASTS AND OTHER VIDEOS
- Tillery | A Quiet Intensity | Interview @ ReviveMusic.com (excellent and very thorough interview with all thee Tillery members)
- Tillery | Promotional Video of a Workshop at the Jazz Gallery, NY, in 2012
- Becca Stevens | Jazz Opened My Voice | Interview at Louisiana Channel
- Becca Stevens | Interview in Paris
- Becca Stevens | Video about Becca made by her friends
- Becca Stevens | Interview at the London Jazz Festival 2015
- Gretchen Parlato | EPK (electronic press kit) about her album The Lost and Found
- Gretchen Parlato | Why I chose jazz | Interview in 2011
- Gretchen Parlato | Interview at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2012
- Gretchen Parlato | Interview at the Padova Jazz Festival 2013
- Gretchen Parlato | Interview at CapitalBop.com
- Gretchen Parlato | Interview at SocietyHae
- Gretchen Parlato @ Wikipedia.org
- Rebecca Martin | Interview at All About Jazz
- Rebecca Martin @ Wikipedia.org
TILLERY | REBECCA, GRETCHEN, BECCA | QUOTES FROM THEIR INTERVIEWS
"I recognized singing as my strongest calling and that fusing voice with the guitar was my dream vehicle for self-expression". (Click here to read full interview)
Becca Stevens
"My thing is all feel and all heart. When I started writing songs on guitar it was all about trying to find a phrase that inspired a melody and then it was all shapes on the guitar to try to make sense of it and to create parts." (Quoted from this interview)
Rebecca Martin
If you actually don’t even try to be anything else than your pure authentic self then it is easy to purely connect with the music and the moment and it is really just art reflecting life. (Quoted from this interview)
Gretchen Parlato
"The voice is home base. It is one of the only places in my life where I don’t over-think things." (Quoted from this interview)
Becca Stevens
"Music has informed me (...) that each moment counts in song and that the most inspiring music is made from our mistakes on stage. That wisdom is absolutely true in everything that we do as human beings. Own it, forgive yourself and get on with it.”
Rebecca Martin
TILLERY | REBECCA, GRETCHEN, BECCA | EXCERPTS FROM PRESS REVIEWS, ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS
"Three of the sharpest and most open-minded jazz singers in (or out of) town."
Time Out Magazine (New York)
"Tillery, a Vocal Dream Team.
JazzTimes
They all really think alike. [...] Becca has this incredible clarity. Rebecca is one of my favorite songwriters. She’s so dynamic and honest. And Gretchen is an amazing musician who has a way of [adapting to] any situation. There are so many possibilities when they get together.”
Taylor Eigsti in JazzTimes
"[Becca Stevens] 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
"Rebecca Martin’s voice, her tone and the way it feels – beautify present on every project of hers that I heard. When she reached out on her idea of a collaboration, I couldn’t have been happier."
Guillermo Klein
"[Gretchen's] voice is a conflux where hope, sensuality and tragedy all merge... the most original jazz singer in a generation."
Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe
"Becca 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
“Rebecca [Martin] sings with feeling and soul – and always with fantastic intonation. Her take on these songs, from the interesting and beautifully conceived instrumentation that surrounds her to her wonderful interpretation of them is fresh and exciting."
Pat Metheny
"[Gretchen Parlato], a singer with a deep, almost magical connection to the music.”
Herbie Hancock
"Singer, composer and guitarist Becca Stevens was once described by the New York Times as “a best-kept secret” with her hypnotic style of songwriting that produces a transposing, immersive experience for the listener." Click below to read the full Smartists article about Becca.
Smart-Girls-In-The-Arts
“Rebecca Martin is a delight. I was first introduced to her music through ‘Once Blue’ and ‘Thoroughfare’. With ‘Middlehope,’ she boldly continues to expand her concept and musical territories.”
Charles Lloyd
“In an inconspicuous way, Gretchen Parlato knows how to play the same instrument that Frank Sinatra played. There’s no one out there like Gretchen.”
Wayne Shorter
"Becca Stevens is effortlessly charming in her stage demeanor and lights up like a firefly in performance. She is a treasure."
Kurt Elling for JazzTimes
“As jazz singers go, Rebecca Martin exudes the plainest sort of poise, almost radical in its utter lack of flash. When she wasn’t cradling an acoustic guitar on Thursday night at the Cornelia Street Café, she held her arms clasped behind her back, as if to make sure they wouldn’t be a distraction. She sang quietly, favoring slow tempos. Her embellishments registered on the granular level, in the placement of a phrase or a light catch in her throat. She was unerringly faithful to the melodies of the songs, both standards and originals…she made them seem less like songs than like articulations of her state of mind.”
Nate Chinen, The New York Times
"[Gretchen Parlato], her voice is a conflux where hope, sensuality and tragedy all merge... the most original jazz singer in a generation."
Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe
"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
“Rebecca Martin is a quintessential American artist, a balladeer in the purest sense, a necessary and honest “shaper.”
Cathie Pelletier, Writer
"Parlato is utterly beguiling on 'The Lost and Found.' …She has (a) singular ear for rhythm and phrasing, texture and subtlety."
Spinner.com
"Becca Stevens is someone who everybody, in my generation at least, looks up to. She’s really a genius — I don’t like using that word too much, she really has tapped into something in a deep way."
Ambrose Akinmusire
“Rebecca Martin writes of places where broken hearts and shattered dreams threaten a better life that nonetheless seems to be still, perhaps just barely, within our reach. Sometimes the imagery and metaphors thicken, but the lovely melodies always carry hints of a way to where disillusionment cannot rule. The sound of Martin’s music offers a comfort. But it’s an uneasy one that’s complicated by an artist’s open eyes and ears and a writer’s knowledge that “words are ruthless,” although there can also be found “a garden in an inkwell.””
Steve Feeney, Portland Press Herald
"[Becca Stevens] is a vocalist and guitarist who balances deep melody against lyrical caprice… New York’s best kept secret."
New York Times
[about Gretchen Parlato] "...transfixing...she fashions a mellow, drifting sound informed by Brazil and Wayne Shorter and organic R&B."
The New York Times
“The jazz singer Rebecca Martin can sing slow swing with a supreme sense of centering around the pulse, re-designing melodies and making her voice crinkle at emotional points. And when the drumming goes away completely, she grows stronger…the musicians give her molasses swing and empathy and lots of empty space, and she takes care of the rest.”
Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
"Over the last several years, Becca Stevens has developed a turbocharged style of song performance drawing on a wide range of idioms. She works with jazz, classical, and rock artists with equal poise and authority, but her finest moments come when she is performing her own finely-crafted songs."
The Daily Beast, January 2016
"75 years ago, nobody sang like Billie Holiday. Today, nobody sings like Gretchen Parlato"
Wilbert Sostre, All About Jazz
“Rebecca Martin’s “When I Was Long Ago” (Sunnyside) is one of the most exceptional jazz vocal recordings of the year.”
Nate Chinen, The New York Times
"Great arrangements. Deeply compelling songs. Could [Becca Stevens] be the new Joni? That’s the well from which she springs."
San Jose Mercury News
"The first time I saw Gretchen perform live was in New York, she was freaking me out. I was covered in goose bumps. Right away Gretchen's phrasing and timing strikes people. It certainly did me...One thing that I've experienced is how she communicates with players from within the group, not 'on top… I think that's one of the reasons so many musicians love to play with her."
Esperanza Spalding
“…a generation of jazz singers [...] see Rebecca Martin as a touchstone. Among them are Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens, with whom Ms. Martin formed a collective called Tillery two years ago, after they struck an instant chemistry late one evening around her dinner table. “She’s been a great guide and mentor and sister in my songwriting,” said Ms. Parlato, who won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition in 2004 but hadn’t written her own songs before befriending Ms. Martin.”
Nate Chinen, The New York Times
"When I think of Parlato... I hear Miles Davis"
The Jazz Police