Making her Native Language recording debut, vocalist Erin Bode stakes a claim as one of her generation's most imaginative and melodically inspired singer/songwriters with The Little Garden.
Bode produced the session herself, working closely with her band (drummer Derrick Phillips; bassist (and husband) Syd Rodway; and songwriting partner Adam Maness on piano, guitar, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer), to give each song a subtly calibrated instrumental setting. With the cohesiveness of a jazz combo, her band gracefully delineates each tune's narrative arc. Several pieces feature expanded arrangements with strings, backup singers, and special guest soloist John Ellis on tenor sax and flute.
Recorded by the ensemble playing together in the studio -- with minimal use of overdubs -- The Little Garden (Erin's fourth CD) picks up where Bode and Maness left off on her acclaimed Over and Over release (2006). Their gift for writing deceptively simple, endearing melodies has deepened over time, as have their lyrics. “These songs are the culmination of what we've been working on for the past two years," Bode says. “On Over and Over, there was a lot of music that we wrote at a particular time of our life. Both Adam and I had just met the people we were going to marry, so there were a lot of love songs. The songs on The Little Garden have more life situations, things you go through daily, and so it's a natural progression."
While many reviewers have compared jazz-tinged Bode to Norah Jones, and Eva Cassidy (an early source of inspiration), she has forged her own path and sounds as little like her aforementioned peers as Nancy Wilson does Dinah Washington. She doesn't shy away from the singer/songwriter label, feeling that it's a wide enough river to accommodate all of her influences and interests.
“Genre boundaries are being blurred these days," Bode says. “You can be a folk singer/songwriter or an R&B singer/songwriter. I guess I'm a jazz singer/songwriter because of the instrumentation. When you're expressing your life through songs, and pouring out what you're going through and your thoughts on things, that feels like singer/songwriter territory."
The youngest of four children, Bode was born in Wayzata, Minnesota and moved with her family to St. Louis when she was in high school. Encouraged to pursue music by her father, a Lutheran minister, she sang in the church choir and performed in high school musicals. Her musical life took a left turn at Webster University when she started studying with Christine Hitt, an esteemed jazz pianist and singer who turned Bode onto jazz and invited her to perform at some of her gigs.
Bode graduated with degrees in music and foreign languages (Italian and French), and stayed in St. Louis, where she produced her first studio album in 2001, the well-received Requests. Signed to the St. Louis-based MaxJazz label, she gained national attention with the release of 2004's Don't Take Your Time, an eclectic session of American Songbook standards and more contemporary songs that featured a top-shelf cast of New York sidemen. She introduced the world to her current band two years ago on Over and Over, a CD featuring mostly original material. Since then, Erin has performed on national TV and the popular Prairie Home Companion radio show. The Little Garden, is the latest, and strongest, musical statement by Erin Bode and her band -- sure to be even more widely appreciated.
Bode produced the session herself, working closely with her band (drummer Derrick Phillips; bassist (and husband) Syd Rodway; and songwriting partner Adam Maness on piano, guitar, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer), to give each song a subtly calibrated instrumental setting. With the cohesiveness of a jazz combo, her band gracefully delineates each tune's narrative arc. Several pieces feature expanded arrangements with strings, backup singers, and special guest soloist John Ellis on tenor sax and flute.
Recorded by the ensemble playing together in the studio -- with minimal use of overdubs -- The Little Garden (Erin's fourth CD) picks up where Bode and Maness left off on her acclaimed Over and Over release (2006). Their gift for writing deceptively simple, endearing melodies has deepened over time, as have their lyrics. “These songs are the culmination of what we've been working on for the past two years," Bode says. “On Over and Over, there was a lot of music that we wrote at a particular time of our life. Both Adam and I had just met the people we were going to marry, so there were a lot of love songs. The songs on The Little Garden have more life situations, things you go through daily, and so it's a natural progression."
While many reviewers have compared jazz-tinged Bode to Norah Jones, and Eva Cassidy (an early source of inspiration), she has forged her own path and sounds as little like her aforementioned peers as Nancy Wilson does Dinah Washington. She doesn't shy away from the singer/songwriter label, feeling that it's a wide enough river to accommodate all of her influences and interests.
“Genre boundaries are being blurred these days," Bode says. “You can be a folk singer/songwriter or an R&B singer/songwriter. I guess I'm a jazz singer/songwriter because of the instrumentation. When you're expressing your life through songs, and pouring out what you're going through and your thoughts on things, that feels like singer/songwriter territory."
The youngest of four children, Bode was born in Wayzata, Minnesota and moved with her family to St. Louis when she was in high school. Encouraged to pursue music by her father, a Lutheran minister, she sang in the church choir and performed in high school musicals. Her musical life took a left turn at Webster University when she started studying with Christine Hitt, an esteemed jazz pianist and singer who turned Bode onto jazz and invited her to perform at some of her gigs.
Bode graduated with degrees in music and foreign languages (Italian and French), and stayed in St. Louis, where she produced her first studio album in 2001, the well-received Requests. Signed to the St. Louis-based MaxJazz label, she gained national attention with the release of 2004's Don't Take Your Time, an eclectic session of American Songbook standards and more contemporary songs that featured a top-shelf cast of New York sidemen. She introduced the world to her current band two years ago on Over and Over, a CD featuring mostly original material. Since then, Erin has performed on national TV and the popular Prairie Home Companion radio show. The Little Garden, is the latest, and strongest, musical statement by Erin Bode and her band -- sure to be even more widely appreciated.
For more information contact Michael Bloom Media Relations.
