2 posts tagged “music”
Last weekend, I finally got to see Christina Courtin, an up-and-coming singer who counts some of my friends as big fans. She's a small, sweet-seeming gal with a big voice, at turns breathy and brassy. And she is courageous on stage ... really, really out there. She has this way of almost throwing herself into the music .... It fascinated me, because she's actually rather awkward -- at times, she looks like she might fall over -- but she's so courageous and exposed and almost untethered that it works magic on the crowd. And it's clear she's gathering a big following -- the sold-out 150-capacity house was packed with adoring fans (including Meryl Streep).
Last night, my extravagently talented friends Jamie and Michael Leonhart played a double bill at the tiny, lovely Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side. Jamie's a tiny, curly-haired, honey-voiced, utterly mesmerizing jazz singer. A cross between Billie Holiday and Ani DiFranco, if you can imagine such a thing. Her husband, Michael, tours with Steely Dan, won a Grammy, and seems to play every instrument known to man. Their shows are always a treat, but last night was particularly magical: Midway through the set, Michael invited his dad -- the great jazz bassist Jay Leonhart, who happened to be watching from the bar -- to join him on the tiny stage, and make some magic. It was one of those perfect New York moments...
