Callie Cardamon

Callie Cardamon is a West-Coast standards singer whose distinctive interpretations of jazz and pop standards have earned her a global following.

Raised in the Midwest, Callie first attracted major-label attention when she was completing an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and recording songs on the side. At the suggestion of Jovan Mrvos, then A&R at Arista Records, she moved to Nashville to hone her songwriting skills.

Callie was later signed as a singer-songwriter to Sony CBS-New York, but due to the vagaries of the music business, her major-label debut was not released. Instead, she started Primavera Records with Eric Rawson (co-writer/arranger/producer) and released “Time and the Weather,” a CD of all-original material, in 1997. The album, featuring the light-hearted "Spanish Wine" and the mournful "Sometimes I Need a Mother” was well-received by the indie community.

Despite success on indie stations, Callie stopped writing and recording for several years, having grown disenchanted with the business end of making music. During this time, Greg Michaelson, an accomplished vocalist and friend, re-inspired her delight in music and in singing by introducing her to the Great American Songbook. After a long recording hiatus, Callie released “Easy Street” (2010), honoring the great writers and singers of the mid-twentieth century (and featuring her sexy original “Love Jazz”). "Easy Street" received extensive global airplay, with DJs worldwide pronouncing "Love Jazz" a "new" standard.

“The standards are archetypal songs,” Callie says, “and thus they have the power to speak to a broad range of listeners. That’s what interests me. I love inhabiting a song that has been alive for decades. It ensconces me in Time itself in a way no other experience has the power to do. I love that the songs have enchanted listeners for so long. It’s a privilege to sing them.”

For the next several years, Callie recorded under the name C.C. Grace, releasing three more albums of originals and covers, which have gained her a new following of folk-rock fans.

With "Jump for Joy," a 5-song EP released in 2020, Callie returns to jazz.

Callie lives in Pasadena, California.

Tags

July 25, 2020

Singer Callie Cardamon Shines On New Ep With Amazing Vocal Range

About "Jump for Joy"

"Callie's songs fits her passionate voice like a glove. Love every track. Outstanding singer! Clear diction, seductive arrangements with responsive backing to this smooth and mellow voice."

Rob Scott "Midday Jazz" ... Radio 2 RRR FM 88.5 ... Sydney, Australia

"Jump for Joy" is an absolute joy to listen to. The selection of songs and presentation is so refreshing, and Callie's voice is out of this world. Add to all of this the extraordinary sound recording quality, and you have an incredible musical journey."

Peter Hammond Producer / Presenter ... 2MAXFM ... Narrabri Australia

About "Jump for Joy"

"Callie's songs fits her passionate voice like a glove. Love every track. Outstanding singer! Clear diction, seductive arrangements with responsive backing to this smooth and mellow voice."

Rob Scott "Midday Jazz" ... Radio 2 RRR FM 88.5 ... Sydney, Australia

Peter Hammond Producer / Presenter ... 2MAXFM ... Narrabri Australia

About "Easy Street"

Callie brings to her interpretations an intimacy steeped in sensitivity, and yet she takes risks that reward even the most jaded listener. If the American Songbook is to survive, and these songs are as much a part of our cultural DNA as any other, then they are safe in these tender hands. In my more than thirty years of musical experience of working with many fine recording artists, few have given me as much joy and pleasure as Callie has and none has made me more proud to have had the opportunity to work with her.

Jovan Mrvos, formerly Columbia Records A&R Dir. & East/West Rec. VP of A&R

Callie Cardamon’s treatment of the jazz standards is refreshing to say the least. She uses her pure voice to deliver the tunes’ emotions with depth and sophistication.

Jeremy Wilson, Creator & Maintainer of www.jazzstandards.com

Cardamon's voice is as lush and seductive as any I've heard in some time. This is my needle in the haystack album of the year. Best get up with Callie and savor her classy wares. Definitely one of the most righteous debuts in recent memory. (about Callie's first CD "Time and the Weather")

Philip Van Vleck, music journalist

Interview by Jeremy Wilson about "Easy Street" (www.jazzstandards.com)

In creating an all standards CD, you need to choose from over a thousand standards. How did you choose the tracks?

I picked the songs I like to sing the most. I enjoy singing every line of “When Sunny Gets Blue” because the melody is delightful and each phrase is a joy to sing. Lyrics are extremely important, of course, but if the melody isn’t challenging or interesting or moving, I’m not interested in singing the song. My favorite songs—the ones I feel powerfully enough to want to cover—are songs which have a haunting quality. Even a fun song like “Easy Street” gives me a happy haunt, if you know what I mean. I feel moved when I feel haunted, and when I feel moved, I want to sing.

Which of the tracks did you find the most challenging?

“Moon River” was the most difficult to make my own. I kept recording it as a waltz, listening to it the next morning, and throwing it out by early afternoon. I was going to let it die an honorable death, deciding it was just too hard to cover in any interesting and new way. But one night I decided to just swing it and let go of the waltz, and it fell right into place. Some songs I feel I can cover almost exactly as I learned them—like “When Sunny Gets Blue”—but certain songs demand reinterpretation or the question arises: “Why bother doing that song again?” And if you don’t have a good musical answer to that question, you probably shouldn’t cover it.

“Love Jazz” was the most challenging in that it is an original, and I had the strange experience of attempting to perform a “standard” I’d never heard before. I’ve always written songs, but they’re of the singer-songwriter variety, whereas I intended “Love Jazz” to have the feel of a song from the past, a song written FOR a singer, not BY a singer. I had to sing it a million times (OK, that’s an exaggeration!) before I felt I owned it.

Which tune on your new CD is your favorite?

I have a lot of favorites! I can’t commit an answer to a question like that. Today it’s “Easy Street,” but yesterday it was “I Remember Sky.” Songs are like friends, and you love each of them for a different reason. One day you feel like taking a walk with Alice, and the next you feel like talking about a movie with Bill. But you love them both dearly. Don’t make me choose!

One of your tracks is not a standard by virtue of the relatively few covers it has had. That is Stephen Sondheim’s “I Remember (Sky)” from the 1966 TV musical Evening Primrose. It’s a beautiful song with thought-provoking lyrics and your treatment of it is one of the best I have heard. How did you come upon “I Remember” and what were you thinking and feeling when you recorded it?

I first heard an awesome version of “I Remember Sky” on Dianne Reeves’ “I Remember” album. I was haunted, and I’ve remained so. It’s a very stately piece. You can hear rain falling quietly through the chords. I was also enchanted by the mysteriousness of the lyrics. My initial thought was that the song was about someone in prison—all the references to memories of life “on the outside” made me think it was about someone who hadn’t seen daylight for years, maybe someone in a major depression. It also seemed as though the “I” might be a dead person…there’s such a sense of loss of what it means to be alive.

I lived with the song for a long time before it occurred to me to investigate the musical and learn what it was actually about. I won’t give away the mystery here—in case the reader wants to look it up—but it’s a pretty fascinating thing. As powerful as the lyrics are, though, I never would have fallen in love with the song if it weren’t for the melody.

I’m not sure what I was thinking about when I was recording. If it’s a good recording session I’m not thinking about anything! I’m flowing in a current of phrase and melody, just one part of the myriad parts which make up a musical moment. As for what I was feeling, no matter how sad or moving the song is and how much I feel the pain of the “I” in the song, I’m still happy because I’m singing. It’s what C.S. Lewis would call “a sorrowful joy.” I’m very happy that you like my version! I hope Stephen Sondheim likes it, too.

Thank you very much, Jeremy, for taking the time to ask me these questions. Your website has been an invaluable resource to me, and your interest in my music has sustained me throughout this recording project.

February 23, 2010

Show less