Wren Harrington Creates "GPS" for International Song

Wren Harrington - Vocal Stylist with Jazz Tinged Music

==============================================================================Wren Harrington gives us a "GPS" for International song. She is "a vocal stylist who sings Latin and jazz tinged American songbook and international standards". She is one of my awesome Violettes owners, but she has a much bigger claim to fame than that. The once exclusively opera singer now explores more musical styles. She demonstrates this in her new recording, "Light Travels", in which she explores the riches of popular Latin American, Brazilian, Italian and American classics from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s . In "Light Travels", she shows her sophisticated palette of vocal colors in addition to expert fusion of jazz and global musical styles.==============================================================================

1. Violettes: Can you tell us where the idea for your new album, “Light Travels” comes from or how the song collection was selected? Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your new album?

Ms. Harrington: Thanks so much for your kind words! To quote the press release, “Light Travels” is a collection of jazz infused not-so-standard tunes from the American Songbook, Latin America, Brazil, and Italy of the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. I’ve been interested in Latin, South American and Italian music for a very long time, and feel that the prolific songwriting of the 30s-50’s of the Americas and Europe was particularly rich. I also love our American Songbook (Gershwin, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, etc.) and feel that good songs, regardless of language or musical idiom can cohabitate really well on a concert or recording. If they share beautiful melodies, lyrics and potential for deep emotional expression, then they do well together! I have performed on a number of occasions with different musicians in Mexico and Italy, and wanted to record something that would in essence, be the “GPS” for international song.2. Violettes: You have traveled the world. Do you have interesting stories from your music adventures in various countries Ms. Harrington: There are so many. Here's one.Many of my performing experiences abroad have occurred because of crazy timings. One such occasion took place on the island of Procida, a small island off the coast of Naples, Italy. I was vacationing there with my teenage son and we were staying in a beautiful bed and breakfast. I was in my room one day, humming the tune of a song called "Senza Fine", which is a song by Gino Paoli, and was a big hit in the 60's. I hear a knock on my door, and the owner, Vincenzo was all excited and said "wow, you sing that song, I love that song - listen, my cousin is the mayor of the island, and we have our Sagra del Mare festival concert next week. He's in charge of the talent for the concert and I'm SURE he would love to have you sing that on the concert." So I said - well - "OK - sounds fun. Just let me know the details". I didn't hear anything for a week. It was the day before we had to leave the island and I was taking one last swim. All of a sudden, I saw on the beach Vincenzo, waving his hands madly and motioning for me to come ashore. I was worried - I thought that perhaps something had happened to my son, or the hotel was on fire - I didn't know! Vincenzo said "you must come with me NOW because my cousin the mayor and his staff want to hear you sing "Senza Fine" because they think they want you to sing at the festival." I was dripping wet - sandy, and only had my sarong. I told Vincenzo it was impossible to come because I was sopping wet, wet hair, and that was no condition to do an audition. He BEGGED me to come anyway and motioned towards his Vespa. "PLEASE, hop on my bike and I'll TAKE YOU TO HIS OFFICE, it is imperative!" Probably because I was feeling the abandon of being in another country, or maybe it was just the craziness that I loved that made me hop on the back of Vincenzo's bike and roar off to the mayor's office to do the audition. Of course, you can imagine the awkwardness that I felt, walking into a formal office with streaming wet hair wearing only a bathing suit and a sarong and seeing a long table surrounded by Italian politicians in suits and singing a song. But I did - and the next day, I performed "Senza Fine" with an orchestra in the "Sagra del Mare" festival concert on a floating stage at the marina of Procida Island. The Sagra del Mare Festival is a festival that commemorates the island's reverence for the sea and all that it means to the life of the island. It was a huge honor for me to sing because I have been visiting this tiny extravagantly beautiful island for many years and feel a real sense of belonging to the people and culture there. All because I was humming in my hotel room!3. Violettes: What languages do you know. Are you fluent in the languages or mainly fluent in the language often used in opera. (If that makes sense). Which language is your favorite? Ms. Harrington: I speak and read Italian and Spanish and have working knowledge of French, German and Portuguese. I love all languages, but Italian is my favorite. Maybe because I learned it first and sang many operas in Italian, but I truly do love the musical nature of spoken Italian, and especially, Neapolitan, which is the unofficial language/dialect of the area in and around Naples, Italy.4. Violettes: I have always loved improvisation on any instrument. But I don’t often hear vocal improvisation. Do you do vocal improvisation when you sing jazz songs? If so, at what point in your career did you learn this? Ms. Harrington: Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, and Sarah Vaughan were HUGE vocal improvisers and you’ll fall in love with their amazing improvisation! Personally, I don’t do too much heavy improvising, and don’t consider myself a scat singer, but I do some improvising with the melody of songs that seem to invite it. I started out as a classical singer and relied exclusively on what was written - so I have to work on improvising. But it’s something I’d definitely like to do more of!5. Violettes: You do acting and musical theatre in addition to Opera. Are you involved in teaching, giving clinics or any other kinds of music projects?Ms. Harrington: I actually don’t do much opera anymore, unless I do a reading of a musical that is a “crossover” legitimately sung musical (borderline opera). However, I perform in concert and in musical theatre, and am a voice teacher and teach classical singing technique as well as popular styles. I have a handful of dedicated students whose ambitions range from having opera and musical theatre careers to jazz and cabaret careers. I feel that the hallmarks of good singing stem from a solid background in classical singing (proper breathing, zero tension, focused placement and good intonation to name a few.) I have a number of projects in the works. In addition to performing myself and working on new material for performing and recording, I’m producing an “opera-in-the-schools” outreach program called “Oper-Addicts”, which will introduce kids all over New York City (and maybe the Northeast region) to the joy of opera and musical theatre and give kids an opportunity to experience the beauty and healing nature of music and drama. There will be 4-5 young opera apprentices and a pianist who will travel to schools all over and perform mini-operas and musicals. Eventually it will become a creative workshop for children, who will have preparatory materials beforehand and will be invited to participate. Very exciting!More about Ms. Harrington at www.wrenmarieharrington.com.          Enjoy listening to Wren Harrington and samples of her album, Light Travels.

It would be a great Christmas gift for an International Song fan and even a jazz singer fan!

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