Maria Walsh: vocal, flute Carole Nelson: sax, piano Julie Cruickshank: piano Phil McMullan: drums Andrew Csibi: double bass
About the Members of Zrazy
Maria Walsh
A native of rural Tipperary, Maria Walsh grew up on a farm, played the piano and sang to herself.
Maria jokes that her childhood spent in a "convent boarding school/prison" deprived her of hearing much of anything. However in her late twenties, after hearing jazz vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Maria began her career as professional vocalist.
Today, her most-recognized quality as a vocalist is her sincerity."I hope to express an authentic self without clich.. or affectation" Maria says.
Always with an interest in percussion, she also plays flute and harmonica, programmes, and co-writes some of Zrazy's material.
Maria has also hosted a weekly program on Jazz FM Radio in Dublin, focusing on female musicians.
Carole Nelson
Born and raised in London, Carole studied piano to ARCM performance level. By 17 however, she was performing in her first pro band on the London jazz & R 'n B scene. In 1985 Carole moved to Dublin where she met Maria.
A prolific songwriter, she writes most of Zrazy’s material. Her instrumental virtuosity encompasses piano, Irish tin whistle, alto, soprano, &tenor saxophones and programming. She has written for film, theatre and television, and has composed an opera, ‘Gilgamesh’.
Award Winning Original Jazz/Celtic/Pop from Ireland Maria Walsh -
Lead Vocals, Bodhr..n, Producer Carole Nelson - Sax, Piano, Producer Top 3
Winners in 2001 Billboard Song Contest Jazz Category. Winner of GLAMA award in
2000. Received Gold Disc for ..1 hit single Ooh Ah Paul McGrath. Irish Arts
Council Award for "Private Wars"
AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS Winner of GLAMA
award in 2000
Best Album 05 OMA, USA
Winner, Billboard Song Contest (Jazz) 2001 Gold Disc for ..1 Single, Ireland
1993 GLAMA for Best Jazz (New York) 2000 Irish Arts Council Awards 1999 &
2003 Best New Band 1993 Hot Press/Smithwicks Music Critics MUSIC,
VIDEO & FILM Dream On ('04 Ireland) Living Our Lives ('03) Private Wars
('99) Permanent Happiness ('96) Give It All Up ('93) Soundtracks for
film/documentaries for: RTE TV, Ireland ARTE TV, France Channel 4 TV,
UK NBC TV in USA Biography
Irish vocalist Maria Walsh and
UK saxophonist/pianist Carole Nelson, formed Zrazy in 1992, winning the Hot Press Irish
Music Critics Award for Best New Band the following year. Their first two CDs, Give it All Up
and Permanent Happiness, were pure pop/dance delights, integrating Celtic lyricism,
poetic sensibility and traditional instruments with funky loops and techno
grooves.
In 1999 they released their third
album Private Wars. Recorded in Ireland with their jazz quintet and released on their own
ALFI label, it was a stunning collection of eleven original jazz songs. Irish music critics
were unanimous: "...the single most sensuous, moody, set of love songs released by an
Irish act this year." (Joe Jackson, The Irish Times).
Dream On is Zrazy's newest
release, recorded in Ireland on their own ALFI label and mixed in Nashville, TN by Michael
Moryc and guitar supremo Denny Jiosa.
Dream
On
Dream On is an album
of joyous ambient creations that burst with vibrancy and warm jazzy soulfulness. With
Zrazy's trademark sensual vocals from Maria Walsh & superlative songwriting from
saxophonist Carole Nelson, Dream On has already received rave reviews from the Irish
critics.
From the ecstatic groove of
Angel Walking, the 9 min funkathon of Drive, to the Cuban swing of Keep It Real & the
irresistible Dream On title track, the Zrazy gang get happy & get down. Dream On winds
down with the ultimate chill out, the elegiac Amen.
Dream On wins the OutMusic
Award for Best Album 2005 in Chicago Cultural Institute June 05.
The other Zrazy CDs
Private Wars First released in 1999, was
re-released in the USA July 2002 by Morada Music & has received significant airplay on
jazz, college, satellite DMX, and national public radio (NPR)
stations.
The collection includes 11
originals and two jazz standards, with the accompaniment of Geraint Roberts, Myles
Drennan and Andrew Bold. Zrazy recorded most of the songs on this critically acclaimed
jazz album in one take. The song 'Remember That You Did it First With Me' won the USA
2000 GLAMA Award for 'Best Jazz'. The title track 'Private Wars' was a winner in the 2002
Billboard International Song Competition.
Living Our Lives Living Our Lives
was recorded live in Columbus, Ohio and released in June 2003. Combining original celtic
with jazz and electronica, it begins with the calm simplicity of 'Amen', powers its way
through the anti-war dance track 'Make the Connection' to the goofy humor of 'Suburban
Girl' and 'Going Up', and winds up with Denny Jiosa's remix of their jazz groove
'Ecstasy'.
Living Our Lives is
a sensual, spiritual, emotional and political ride through the uncategorizable world of Zrazy,
with all the excitement a live performance can bring.
Permanent Happiness Released in 1995, ranges
from pulsating techno to undulating dance rhythms to disco to classic piano/voice ballads.
Carole and Maria describe this recording as "their Berlin techno period".
The album earned Zrazy a
record deal with Pure Records/Mercury USA and was re-released as Come Out
Everybody in '97. The track 'Confession' was used by filmmaker Paula Crickard for the
short film 'John x 2' broadcast on UK's Channel 4 in 1999. The album also features the
joyous and sexy anthem 'Come Out Everybody', nominated for the USA Gay and Lesbian
Music Awards.
Give It All
Up Zrazy's 1993 debut album features
'I'm In Love With Mother Nature', described by the Irish Times as "one of the most
important singles ever released in Ireland."
Combining rhythm and blues,
soul, jazz and traditional Irish ingredients, Give It All Up catapulted Zrazy into the Irish
music scene and earned them the Hot Press/ Smithwicks Music Critics Award for Best
New Band in 1993.
Two music videos were made
for the album, Laughing So Hard and When U Cry", and the controversial dance track "679
-4700" was featured in a French ARTE documentary on the future of Irish music.
OMG!!! I remember seeing you at the Womens' Music Festival in Illinois about 5 or 6 years ago. I loved it! You rock! I still cherish the CD I bought there (Give it All Up). I've been wondering about the years since, and I'm glad to see you're still in circulation (not that I ever doubted it). Keep it up! By the way, my car full of friends, gay and straight girls, were all a little in love with you two back then, *grin*.
