Bettie Ross (on piano, pipe organ, synthesizers, electric pianos & organs).
Frank Blumer (on guitars).
Influences
Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, early albums), Joe Zawinul (from Canonball Adderly days to Weather Report), Claude Debussy, Ravel, Jan Hammer (especially his "The First Seven Days" album), Rick Wakeman ("Yes" years), Chick Corea (a true piano master in every sense), Chick's "Electrik Band", Joe Sample, Jimi Hendrix, Alan Price of the "Animals", Nicky Hopkins, The Who, Led Zepplin, Morten Lauridsen (his incredible choral compositions), Arvo Part (particularly Symphony No. 3, 3rd movement), Aaron Jay Kernis (especially his "Musica Celestis"), Jerry Goldsmith's score & additional music to "Sum of All Fear" & Yolanda Adam's vocals, Mahavishnu Orchestra (w/Gayle Moran), Duke Ellington, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Buxtehude, the great organ composer & organist Jehan Alain, Kurt Bestor & Sam Cardon's "Innovators" album, Elton John's early albums, Sting (great songwriter), Earth Wind & Fire, Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Mario Feninger (who in his 80's still plays Chopin with such gorgeous lightness and agility), David Campbell (the master arranger-orchestrator-conductor), Mark Isham (particularly his synth work, as in his score for "Crash"), and all fine and passionate music of all genres, anywhere.
"A Magical Time of Year" for Best Solo Piano Album.
Piano CD!!
Bettie Ross
- pianist
- composer
A Magical Time of Year
This is what Bettie had to say about her inspiration for writing this music.
“The end of fall and the beginning of winter are filled with beautiful landscapes of the changing weather: the leafless trees, rain, snow, fog, mists and ice…There are family gatherings—visits with friends—reflections on life and looking ahead to the new year just starting. These things create a Magical Time of Year for me.”
This is Bettie's first recording for Alternative Classical Records. Ten out of the 12 pieces on this CD are brilliant, unique, solo piano; on two pieces she is accompanied by guitar only. Sample this original and distinctive work and you will understand why one of the most noted pianists alive today called Bettie a “great composer”. The work breathes with the life and expression of the Magical Time of Year.
THIS IS THE OFFICIAL BETTIE ROSS MYSPACE MUSIC WEBSITE ....................
ABOUT BETTIE: I'm a composer. I'm also a pianist, a pipe organist and a synthesist, and I play just about all of the keyboard instruments except for accordion. I started playing music around the age of 3. As a child I loved to practice piano and do my theory lessons, but there was a brief period when I was around 8 years old when I preferred playing outside with the neighborhood kids to being indoors and practicing. Then I started to regularly play at our church's Sunday school - and I was hooked. Music's been center stage in my life ever since.
I write what inspires me, what I "hear", and so my music crosses genres. Sometimes it's a very romantic piano piece, like "Romance" or an in-your-face progressive, sci fi rock piece like "The Metal Wars" or a choral piece, or a song for a band or for singers, or a jazz-tinged piece or a pop instrumental piece. Many call me a musical "hybrid", so it's no surprise that I'm now becoming a film composer. This summer I'll be finishing the final mixes of the original music to my first-ever feature film score, "Nina and the Mystery of the Secret Room." You can hear some of the music from "Nina" by clicking on the "Bettie Ross Film Music" icon in the top row of my Friends below, or visit www.myspace.com/bettierossfilmmusic.
AS A COMPOSER, here are some of my work:
- Feature film score for "Nina and the Mystery of the Secret Room" (2009).
- Video music for Origin Oil's website videos. Check them out at www.originoil.com. (Origin Oil makes petroleum from algae!!) As the video producer states, "Bettie is now the 'sound' of Origin Oil!" Cool.
- Orchestral arrangement for symphony and bagpipe band of "Amazing Grace". This has been performed in Los Angeles at the Disney Hall (July 2009), Arcadia's The Arboretum (July 2009), and Pasadena's Ambassador Auditorium (March 2008) by the California Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cabar Feidh Pipe Band.
- Electronic piece, "Catalina Tide Pool" included in the 60x60 Project's 2007-08 Pacific Rim Mix.
- Music for Nancy Cartwright's (voice of Bart Simpson) one-woman show, "In Search of Fellini".
- Music for the play by Shirley Kaplan, "Neon, a Vaudeville of Obsessions".
- Music for story-telling group Celestial Navigations.
In my musical career, I've had the pleasure and honor of working with a wide variety of wonderful singers, musicians, music directors, choirs, teachers, composers, arrangers and lyricists. Some of the projects I've worked on are:
Recorded pipe organ on 4 songs for Faith Hill's 2008 "Joy to the World" CD.
Recorded piano on the entire film score to the documentary "The Brothers Warner" (2008).
Recorded pipe organ on 3 songs for Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell III" (yes, I still play rock, even on a pipe organ!).
Toured with Melissa Manchester around the U.S. & into Canada, playing piano & electric piano. We also did the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. What a treat that was!
Toured with the Bellamy Brothers around the U.S. and also into Canada while "Let Your Love Flow" was topping the charts. For the Bellamys, I played piano & Mellotron, & was the first woman conductor at the Tokyo Music Festival - which was live TV to 10 million viewers.
Performed on pipe organ & piano for President Ronald Reagan's Memorial Service at his personal church, Bel Air Presbyterian Church.
I grew up playing in churches, and still do at times, usually substituting for another organist while they are away.
Currently I'm the Choral Conductor for Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, Calif., working with singer-songwriter (and Grammy winner) cantor Doug Cotler.
Since 1996, I've been a member of the storytelling & music group, CELESTIAL NAVIGATIONS. We've performed many concerts since that time, me playing synthesizer along with Geoff Levin behind Geoffrey Lewis' narration. For three of Celestial Nav's recent CDs, I've co-written music for Road Train Chapter IV, The Connection Chapter V, and The Space Racer Chapter VI.
AS A SONGWRITER, I've written many songs for various original LA rock bands I've been a member of, usually playing Hammond B3 organ (working with Brie Howard, Patti Quatro, Elmira Collins, Raven Kane, Phyllis St. James (Yvonne Williams), Peggy Foster, Wendy Hass (lots of lady players, starting back-in-the-day after Fanny), and gents like Ted Meyer, and Glen Ballard (we had the band Rockola together back in the early 80's w/Brie Howard & Marc Singer).
I've also written songs with Pamela Falcon. Check out Pamela's MySpace page (click on her picture below in my Top Friends - and check out "Best Kept Secret")!
"A MAGICAL TIME OF YEAR" has been nominated for best Solo Piano Album by the 2009 Just Plain Folks Awards!!! And "MERRYMAKING", from the same album, has been nominated for best Solo Piano Song !! Thanks to ALL of you who voted for my nomination!!! Over 42,000 albums were submitted in the competition, and I'm honored to be among the nominees. The Award Ceremony is in Nashville at the end of August 2009. Exciting!!!
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
Sorry I didn't write you back sooner...I'm glad to hear you got the card and more excited that you are all coming. It should be lots of fun......if I don't see you sooner have a good holiday season!!
Just stopping by to thank you for being a part of the GetWrite Mixtape Movement !!! Check out our latest installment in the GetWrite Mixtape Series...Stop by and let us know what you think about it after you Download it For FREE. Your Support is greatly appreciated
Peace
Brent Hall GetWrite Mixtapes
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hey! just wanted to say hi and see what was cookin'? Nothin crazy new over here, just enjoying a peaceful day. Have a great Sunday :) much love ~adrian edward
WHAT UP FAM? THE LONG AWAITED SOLO DEBUT RELEASE “CHRIST LIFE OR NOTHIN” IS HERE IN STORES NOV 10TH 2009... YOU CAN PRE-ORDER ON LINE @ AMAZON.COM , ITUNES , CD UNIVERSE , RHAPSODY , BESTBUY.COM , FYE , CHRISTSYDERECORDS.COM , ECT…
Michael Brunnock's in depth interview with journalist Suzanne Connolly is uploaded and available to watch. It can be seen either on Michael's front page www.myspace.com/michaelbrunnock or on Fairplay Collective's video page http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=64241695
Hi! new friend Thanks for the add plz check out my vids and tell your friends to add earnis! Sleep & fast to stay healthy & young, read & run, get fun, live open-minded...
Have a great week….
EARNIS! pop rock soul rnb groove&dance, jazz, Motown, alternative, reggae, hip hop…
Hi Bettie Ross, Heaven & Earth is on hiatus now as Stuart Smith and Richie Onori have joined forces with bassist Steve Priest to reform "Sweet". For those of you unfamiliar with the band, Sweet originally formed in the early 70s and went on to sell over 40,000,000 albums with 11 International Top Ten Hits such as "Ballroom Blitz", "Little Willy", "Love is Like Oxygen", "Fox on the Run", "Teenage Rampage", "Action", "Blockbuster", "Hellraiser" and many others. This reincarnation of the band reformed last year, playing their first show in June, and went on to play festivals throughout Canada and the States and had played to over 300,000 people before the year was out. During this tour last year they recorded a live CD available on Amazon entitled "Sweet, Live in America" which has received rave reviews - pick up a copy and please Add Sweet As Your Friend On Myspace! http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Live-America/dp/B002GP5VGU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1250558963&sr=8-1 Also, check out our friend Red Hot Chili Pepper Chad Smith's new band, Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats and their iTunes Top 10 Funk/Jazz debut release, "Meet the Meatbats"! http://www.myspace.com/bombasticmeatbats
JFJO returns to LA in support of their new album One Day in Brooklyn on Wed. Sept. 9th at Catalina Jazz Club w/Eartha Austria Trio. This is an EARLY SHOW - seating starts ay 6:45pm and music at 8pm! See you soon!