All-original folk album Japanese Bathhouse now available, with critical acclaim from Relix, Tape-Op, Tasty, babysue, Subba-Cultcha and more. "Sails delightfully along between the waters of pop and jazz, with gentle breezes and soft ocean sighs to soothe you on the way." (Performing Songwriter Top 12 DIY Album)
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ZapStar: Rebecca Zapen/Gary Starling Group (Jazz, Bossa Nova): Rebecca Zapen (violin/vocals), Gary Starling (guitar), Chelsea Chason (bass), Peter Miles (drums)
New album, ZapStar, with their take on swing, bossa nova and ballad standards.
Tracks: On the Street Where You Live, Like Someone In Love, It Might As Well Be Spring, How Deep Is The Ocean, It Ain't Necessarily So, Things We Said Today, Nuages, Bernie's Tune, I Only Have Eyes For You, When You Wish Upon A Star, I Thought About You, Here Comes The Sun
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Rebecca's debut jazz CD Hummingbird available on CDBABY.com. Features jazz standards, and 5 originals penned by Rebecca. Muppets fans, we did a version of "Halfway Down the Stairs".
Suzanne Vega, Nick Drake, Jonathan Richman, The Roches, Stephane Grappelli, Elliott Smith, The Beatles, Tierney Sutton, Chet Baker
Sounds Like
An eclectic and diverse texture created by harmonized vocals, ukulele, guitar, violin, upright bass, and accented by melodica and glockenspiel. Some of our music has a 1930's/40's sound ("Smile"), but also in the mix are Appalachian violin droning, klezmer-esque pizzicato, fingerpicking arpeggiated folk, bouncy ukulele swing, and a dash of tap dancing.
Video: We Didn't Bother (Rebecca Zapen). Editing thanks: Chris Estes, RZ
Video: My Jacked Up Means Well You so rebecca and joel were having a rehearsal over here at the house for a show they have coming up and towards the end we decided to shoot a little video. we hooked the camera up to a bendy tripod and wrapped it around the head stock of joel's guitar. he laid down on the floor and rebecca and i played along to one of his songs. it has lyrics. there's a recorded version of it coming up on joel's record whenever we actually get around to finish recording it. but if you go to his myspace at www.myspace.com/joelmalizia i'm sure you can hear it if he's got it posted. if not, there's certainly a nice selection of his songs.
Historic footage from the New Piano Tap Dance Party. Oh, the ribaldry!
(I apologize in advance for your imminent neck cramp. Embrace the sideways camera angle.)
Tappa Tappa Zappa Zappa
"Nothing adequately prepares for the way in which her deeply personal album instantaneously envelops and never loses its grip.... The title song and others bring to mind no less than early solo McCartney and Brian Wilson's SMiLE.... One of those near-perfect hidden gems..." -- RELIX
{ NEW VIDEO! } A rated-G musical re-enactment of my visit to a Japanese onsen (bathhouse). The title track of the album JAPANESE BATHHOUSE, by Rebecca Zapen. Jeremy Douglass - filming, editing, melodica. Jamie Perlow - backup vocals, shimmy-shake. The album and 3 of its songs have received nominations in the Just Plain Folks Awards 2009.
{ VIDEO } Our 'spin' on "I Have A Little Dreidel" by Rebecca Zapen and Jeremy Douglass; our latest submission to the Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest. Please join the Bushman Music forum to show your support of the video. www.deltafrost.com
{ VIDEO } "Smile", in which Rebecca plays a Her and a Him, and PlayMobil figures play Jacques Cousteau and Florence Nightingale via stop-motion animation. 2nd Place winner in Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest. Rebecca is endorsed by Bushman Music Works.
{ Biography }
Violinist, vocalist, and songwriter Rebecca Zapen won Best Album & Song (cabaret genre) in the Just Plain Folks Awards 2009, receiving 5 nominations. A classically-trained violinist and versatile musician, Rebecca was named Jacksonville's Musician of the Year 2008. Recent career highlights include her performance as the musical guest on Public Radio International show Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?; original songs in a national promotion for Crocs Shoes; winning 2nd in the Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest and her resulting endorsement with Bushman Music Works. Zapen was a Finalist in the 2007 DiscMakers' Independent Music World Series. Other highlights include appearances as jazz vocalist with the Hollywood Philharmonic Orchestra, and as the mandolin soloist in Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's production of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. She is an award-winning composer, earning the Silver Medal of Excellence for Best Use of Music in a Short Film at the 2008 Park City Film Music Festival. Her original songs appear in Look Both Ways, which won for Best Music in the 2009 San Francisco Seven Day Film Festival. As a session musician, Zapen has composed for and performed on recordings for soundtracks, television, public radio, theme parks, and various musical groups. Her music has been featured on NPR's All Songs Considered: Open Mic. Past performances include Florida Folk Fest, Gamble Rogers Fest, Jacksonville Jazz Fest, and venues such as Hotel Cafe (L.A.), The Bitter End (NYC), and Paganini Auditorium (Italy).
Zapen's first musical memory was that of sitting under the baby grand piano as a toddler, her ears filled by the sounds of her mother playing Chopin, Beethoven, and Mozart. Her college years were filled with opera, orchestra, chamber music, and late night jazz jams. The journey continued to twist and unfold, rich in varied musical experiences: Tom Waits tunes via CB radio and Celtic harp, a four-year trip to the Old World in Klezmania, spoken word with eclectic folk, Gypsy jazz. She walks her present path as a performer of range and depth: a classically-trained violinist, a jazz crooner/violinist in quartet ZapStar, and an award-winning songwriter/composer. Rebecca's "dreamy, ethereal vocals swoon and sweep atop sublime melodies and infectiously charming lyrics, instantly hypnotic and effortlessly charming" (Subba-Cultcha UK). Accompanying herself on ukulele, guitar, and violin, Zapen's music is "mellow, creative, happy, and smart" (Celebrity Cafe).
Her beginnings were traditional enough, with a classical music education beginning at age 3 with the Suzuki Violin Method, and culminating with her graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with music and biology degrees, attending Florida State University on a music scholarship. Since then, her musical involvements have been with groups whose styles include jazz, swing, classical, klezmer, country, folk, rock, and spoken word. Zapen has performed with or opened for artists such as Vassar Clements, Big Sandy & His Fly Rite Boys, Tommy Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Chris Botti, Anathallo, and David Bazan, and has played in musical groups, symphony orchestras, and music festivals in U.S., Great Britain, Switzerland, and Italy.
Her versatile violin playing, pure clear voice, and ability to write nostalgia-infused music have earned her comparisons to Astrud Gilberto, Suzanne Vega, Leonard Cohen, and The Ditty Bops. Her influences include Stephane Grappelli, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chet Baker, and Nick Drake.
Zapen founded her own record label in 2003, naming it Bashert, which is a Yiddish word meaning "destiny" or "fate". Rebecca's recordings include Japanese Bathhouse, released in Fall 2005 after a European summer tour, with songs about anything from pirate love gone wrong to bread crumb trails to nudity in foreign lands. Relix describes Japanese Bathhouse: "Nothing adequately prepares for the way in which her deeply personal album instantaneously envelops and never loses its grip.... The title song and others bring to mind no less than early solo McCartney and Brian Wilson's SMiLE.... One of those near-perfect hidden gems..." During ZAPENation Tour 2006, Rebecca's acoustic folk-jazz trio (including dobro and double bass) gave 22 performances during its six-week tour of the United States. Her discography also includes debut release Hummingbird (2003), laden with bossa nova and blending violin, voice, sax, marimba, and rhythm section into a warm spacious sound; self-titled folk EP Michelle Payne & Rebecca Zapen (2003); and Songs of Bother and Woe (2005) which gives a taste of her nostalgic indie folk-pop, with a sound that ranges from simple ukulele and vocals to lush arrangements of strings and brass, and musical accents from melodica and glockenspiel. ZapStar (2006), features the Rebecca Zapen / Gary Starling Group's interpretations of jazz standards and even a couple of Beatles classics via their combo of guitar, upright bass, and drums, with Zapen on violin and vocals. Her newest album of original folk, tentatively titled Grandfather's Song, is slated for an early 2010 release.
Quirky talent: strong urge to turn T.V. show themes into bossa novas.
Unusual performing experience: Scrambling down a Mayan pyramid, running across a huge field, and hiking my way up another pyramid, to meet a violinist playing his Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. We met, and I played an American fiddle tune on it. It was rather surreal.
Rebecca out of all the time I spent in Jax you are the true gem, thanks for such lovely music... may God bless, please visit www.audiohipster.com for some new mic's we are offering. Doyen Carla and Noah
thank you so much for the lovely feedback! i always love hearing people's opinions of my stuff, especially talented, lovely people such as yourself! your music makes me want to grab a boy and do the charleston, and your voice is so beautiful.
Belated congrats on your win, Rebecca! You're incredibly talented and deserve all the good things! How are you feeling these days...by the way??? Hope all is good!
Hi, thank you for supporting me and my music! I wanted to let you know that my new single, "Live For Today", will be out on the 12th of October! The new album, "Fragile", is due out in November. http://www.tanjamaritsa.co.uk
Thanks Rebecca... Hope to see you soon, so I know you have a very full schedule, but add us to your calendar and come join the party next time you're out our way!
Violinist, vocalist, and songwriter Rebecca Zapen won Best Album & Song (cabaret genre) in the Just Plain Folks Awards 2009, receiving 5 nominations. A classically-trained violinist and versatile musician, Rebecca was named Jacksonville's Musician of the Year 2008. Recent career highlights include her performance as the musical guest on Public Radio International show Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?; original songs in a national promotion for Crocs Shoes; winning 2nd in the Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest and her resulting endorsement with Bushman Music Works. Zapen was a Finalist in the 2007 DiscMakers' Independent Music World Series. Other highlights include appearances as jazz vocalist with the Hollywood Philharmonic Orchestra, and as the mandolin soloist in Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's production of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. She is an award-winning composer, earning the Silver Medal of Excellence for Best Use of Music in a Short Film at the 2008 Park City Film Music Festival. Her original songs appear in Look Both Ways, which won for Best Music in the 2009 San Francisco Seven Day Film Festival. As a session musician, Zapen has composed for and performed on recordings for soundtracks, television, public radio, theme parks, and various musical groups. Her music has been featured on NPR's All Songs Considered: Open Mic. Past performances include Florida Folk Fest, Gamble Rogers Fest, Jacksonville Jazz Fest, and venues such as Hotel Cafe (L.A.), The Bitter End (NYC), and Paganini Auditorium (Italy).
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! How's life treatin ya'?
