JEANNE NEWHALL AND KAZUNORI KOGA
INSTRUMENTATION:
Jeanne Newhall Vocals/Piano and Keyboards
Kazunori Koga Acoustic and Electric Guitar
HOME BASE REGION:
Los Angeles, California / Osaka, Japan
NEW & NOTEWORTHY:
- Showcase Performances Central California Coast 2014-15
- Catalina Bar & Grill Hollywood Shows 2013-2014
- Tours of Japan: October 2017; February 2017; April 2014; October 2013; February 2013
- 265 Songs Available for Digital Downloads And Streaming iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, etc.
- Catalogue of 21 Albums, 1 EP, & 2 Singles The Glide Deluxe Edition (2011) includes Jeanne’s Cover Version of Jakob Dylan & The Wallflowers’“6th Avenue Heartache” featured on ABC mystery-drama “HAPPY TOWN”
- Composer for an Independent Feature “family art film” that claimed several festival awards, “The Legend Of Billy Fail”, available on Netflix.
CONTACT:
EMAIL: marzipanjn@sbcglobal.net
MESSAGE: https://www.facebook.com/jeanne.newhall.music
LINKS:
WEBSITE : https://www.jeannenewhall.com
BUY CDs : http://bit.ly/JeanneAtAmazon
DOWNLOAD : http://bit.ly/iTunesSKY
FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/jeanne.newhall.music
TWITTER : https://twitter.com/jeannenewhall
YOUTUBE : http://m.youtube.com/user/jeannenewhall
INSTAGRAM : http://Instagram.com/jeannenewhall
FEATURED VIDEOS:
“The Dove” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3SFm3qzhgM (LIVE Compilation from the Japanese Tours with Kazunori Koga)
“If Not For You” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmAi9HWnwTQ (Official Video-filmed on location Hollywood, CA — Cover Version of the Bob Dylan classic)
PRESS RELEASE:
LAUNCH OF NEW EMOTIONAL POWERHOUSE DUO — JEANNE NEWHALL & KAZUNORI KOGA
The acclaimed Los Angeles based singer, songwriter, and pianist Jeanne Newhall has joined musical forces with Osaka based guitar guru Kazunori Koga to form an exciting Duo. Together they bring a vast array of influences, from jazz and blues to new folk, pop, and R&B. Their compelling and heart-warming story, whether told by Ms. Newhall in English or Mr. Koga in Japanese, will inspire a belief in all things magical.
Several months before Ms. Newhall’s first performances in Japan in March of 2013, she was contacted by a gentleman who had been an avid fan. He owned a small jazz club in Osaka where a couple of her American friends and well know celebrities in the music scene had also performed. Ms. Newhall was convinced to make her maiden voyage to Japan to perform several shows with a band comprised of several Japanese musicians. Among the musicians was Kazunori Koga bringing both his acoustic and electric guitar mastery to the mix. It was not long before they recognized each other, like familiar old souls.
As Mr. Koga describes, ” a special chemistry emerged between us. I contacted her after the shows to let her know the connection that I felt between us.” As Ms. Newhall says, “his intuitive and soulful sensibilities provided a foundation for me to sing and play as never before. I could not wait to perform with him again.”
As a result of the first meeting and shows in March 2013, Ms. Newhall invited Mr. Koga to come to Los Angeles in May to perform a concert with her at the famous Catalina Jazz Club Hollywood. A mere 24 hours after Ms. Newhall and Mr. Koga reunited on stage at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, they gathered at Castle Oaks Studio in the canyons near the Pacific Ocean with legendary bassist Abraham Laboriel and Alex Acuña’s protegé percussionist Walter Rodriguez to record her 2013 release, “SKY.”
As a result of the popularity of the album “Sky” which features Kazunori Koga on all the songs, Ms. Newhall returned to Japan twice more in October 2013 and April 2014 for several performances with the Duo in Osaka, Kobe, Esaka, and Kyoto.
BIO: (abbreviated)
As a singer, songwriter and classically trained pianist, Jeanne Newhall has always made a habit of change. Her explorations have taken her to the realms of jazz and R&B and pop rock and folk, ever expanding her musical universe and revealing themselves in her rich, warm vocals, lyrical vocabulary and the immaculately nuanced notes of her piano.
Her influences include Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Phoebe Snow, and Nick Drake. In her newest adventure Jeanne and Japanese guitarist Kazunori Koga converge musically and spiritually in their live performances as well as their brilliantly beautiful collection of iconic cover songs from the 1980s. “STILL LOVING YOU” boasts twelve tracks that will rock your nostalgic soul and surprise and intrigue devoted fans as well as first-time listeners.
BIO: (full version)
In my own words….I started private piano lessons at age 6. My parents gifted me private lessons until I went away to college. That included lessons in New York City with Lithuanian concert pianist & Steinway Piano Artist, Nadia Reisenberg when I was 12. The Julliard teacher became famous for her performances of the Mozart Piano Concertos. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Reisenberg) I was a child piano prodigy being primed for a career as a concert pianist. I had won a musical contest and performed “Malaguena” on live TV at age 8, as well as memorizing piano concertos and winning several awards over the years with the Phoenix Symphony Young Musicians Competition from ages 11-15. Leah Spielberg, Stephen’s mother, was my accompanist for several performances. She studied with my musical mentor and teacher, Dr. Wallace Hornibrook in Phoenix. At 15, I entered the Indiana University School Of Music to study with virtuoso Abbey Simon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Simon) I finished my Bachelor Of Music Piano Performance degree at Arizona State University with Eugene Pridonoff as my teacher in residence.(http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=7789) After graduating, I decided to step away from the classical world (I was persuaded to record a classical piano album for my family in 2000) and embrace jazz, pop, and r&b. I wanted to improvise and play without notes on a page. While studying the craft of songwriting and post-college composition, I logged multiple hours of various gigs: piano solo; voice & piano; gigs with my 4 piece band “Marzipan”; gigs with other bands; gigs in Singapore, Greece, England and all over the United States. I composed and performed a 2 hour evening of synth music on my Korg T1 for Victor Vasarely’s 1st Art Show in the U.S. By contrast, I played and sang with the renowned Stan Deveraux Band at the Arizona State Prison for inmates on death row. And, even more contrasting, I played Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” for Dr. John Chowning at Stanford University in front of a crowd. Dr. Chowning invented the FM (frequency modulation) theory that later became the famed Yamaha DX7. Simultaneously, I was inspired to start recording my own compositions.
I began recording on my independent record label Marzipan Music in 1992, self-producing and globally releasing the first album “Novice” that year. Eventually, I was asked to become a Steinway & Sons Piano Artist. Following that, the Hal Leonard Publishing Company, largest music publisher in the world, released a SongBook of 14 of my original vocal and instrumental songs a few years ago. Since “Novice”, I have written or arranged and produced 20 albums, 1 EP (short album), and 2 singles. Some of the albums are ensemble (with a band), some are piano solo and one is under my pseudonym, “Squashead.”
Throughout the later 90’s and 00’s, I toured regularly, either with a trio or solo. I have toured with English guitarist Peter White and performed with Brenda Russell, Boney James, Sheila E., Mindi Abair, and Kirk Whalum. A couple of highpoints: I opened for Grover Washington Jr. at the Winterpark Festival in Orlando Florida; for “Tower Of Power” at the JVC Winterpark Music Festival in Winterpark, Colorado; and for Joan Baez at the Charlotte North Carolina CityFest. The song “Grey Mist At Dawn” from “Zebra” posted in at #21 on the Radio & Records charts, “Nightbird” from “Meeting Places” became a permanent part of the KKSF San Francisco Music library, and my Christmas holiday album “Beautiful For No One To See” was voted “best synth entry” by the Gavin Report. I signed onto Blix Street Records to release my first all vocal singer-songwriter album “Wild Blue” in 2006. Blix Street Records is known for hosting all of the exquisite Eva Cassidy and Mary Black recordings. The follow-up release, “Glide Deluxe Edition” contains my version of The Wallflower’s “6th Avenue Heartache.” The song was featured in June 2010, in the ABC mystery drama, “Happy Town.” When the show ended, I wrote and released a tribute song to the writers, producers, and thousands of stubborn diehard fans who never wanted the intrigue to end. I think “Happy Town” is still airing episodes in Italy. (http://bit.ly/eAda0Z)
My 18th album is an offering of gratitude, inspired by my longtime daily practice of yoga. “Blossom Of Transformation” is a collection of original and traditional Bhakti yoga chants performed in a call-and-response style so the listener can sing along. Singing praises to the Divine has long been believed to contain the magical formula to keep the human soul afloat in the dark.
The 19th album, “Sky” was released in January 2014. It is the most personal and visceral album to date, since it was 10 years in the making of the songs. They were primarily composed in Trinidad, California in a house by the ocean. The recording of “Sky” was a milestone experience for me to share with Abraham Laboriel, Kazunori Koga, and Walter Rodriguez. After three tours of Japan in 13 months, my focus is to continue to present the duo of Jeanne Newhall and Kazunori Koga (Japanese guitarist) to the world. We started our liaison in February 2013 during my first tour of Japan.
The most recent solo piano release, “French Kiss” April 2015 is a solo piano album that completes the French music trilogy of albums previously entitled “French Café” and “Paris Nights”.
The newest release in October 2016, “Still Loving You” is an album of captivating songs from the 1980s. The beloved 80s era inspired me to produce & arrange classics from the Pet Shop Boys, U2, Foreigner, The Police, Scorpions, Fine Young Cannibals, Blondie, Stevie Nicks, Rolling Stones, Tom Waits, Indigo Girls, and Crowded House. Kazunori Koga from Japan and I braid a set of vocals and piano together with his dazzling guitar – an irresistible sonic twist from the original renditions of the songs.
In the meantime, may we all come together to thrive on the repetition of the mantra to provide stillness, clarity, and bliss.
For more information on the music go to:
Amazon http://amzn.to/nxY6q4
iTunes http://bit.ly/qcbNsG