Jazz
Ann Dyer - vocals & tanpura
John Shifflett - acoustic bass
Jason Lewis - trap drums & percussion
Following the critical acclaim of Revolver: A New Spin-one of the Village Voice's "Top Ten Recordings of 2000"-the celebrated and ever-eclectic singer Ann Dyer returns with When I Close My Eyes, her debut release on Sunnyside Records. As its title suggests, the new disc finds Dyer turning inward, leaving behind the familiar ground of the Beatles' music to wade into a darker, more enigmatic space-an ocean of quiet longing where the heart finds solace in its own insistent pulse. With a spare sonic palette of vocals, acoustic bass, and drums, Dyer achieves her most intimate and subtly moving work to date.
"This bird can sing." - Philadelphia Weekly
Vocalist Ann Dyer has been heralded nationwide for her inventive approach to jazz vocals, including being voted among Talent Deserving Wider Recognition in Down Beat Magazine's International Critics Poll four consecutive years (1996-1999). She has been described as "redefining jazz vocals" by the Los Angeles Times and credited for creating a sound that is "as exiting as music gets" by Stereophile. A native Californian, Dyer was well into her college education when she discovered her talent as a singer while earning her BA in Dance from Mills College. Her background in jazz music and dance eventually came together in a very visceral, kinesthetic style of music that has become her trademark.
At the center of the progressive Bay Area jazz scene, Dyer is the recipient of the recipient of the prestigious Bay Area Music Award (BAMMIE) for "Outstanding Jazz Vocalist" and has been dubbed "the Queen of Nouveau Jazz" by BAM Magazine. In 1995 she released her eponymous CD, Ann Dyer & No Good Time Fairies on Mr. Brown Records, which won her a nomination for Outstanding Jazz Recording at the Bay Area Music Awards, a four star review from Down Beat magazine. It also ranked among the Top Ten Best New Music Releases in both CD Review and the Austin Chronicle for the year.
Dyer has appeared at many of the country's most prestigious festivals including the New York Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and San Francisco Jazz Festival, as well as the Jazz Yatra Jazz Festival in Bombay, India. A recent festival highlight was Dyer's performance of sacred music at the majestic Grace Cathedral as presented as part the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Performing on the same bill as Yusef Lateef and the Tom Harrell/Gary Peacock duo, Dyer's performance was called "the most explicitly spiritual music of the evening…erasing boundaries between the sacred the profane," by the Contra Costa Times.
Dyer's most recent musical project, Revolver: A New Spin, is a novel interpretation of the Beatle's seminal recording. Originally a concept concert, the program toured to great acclaim on both coasts. |
