Jennifer Grassman's new album, Serpent Tales & Nightingales.
Jennifer Grassman will perform a special concert at Dowling Music Recital Hall on Saturday, March 6 at 7 pm celebrating the release of her new album Serpent Tales & Nightingales. The elegant venue provides the perfect setting for this event as Jennifer performs on a Steinway grand piano. The concert will be filmed live and available for purchase on DVD immediately after the concert which will then be followed by a reception at The Black Labrador. Clear your calendar and make your plans now. Advance tickets are available online for $10. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door for $15.
It has become the norm that musicians not only focus on their art and creativity, but that they become equally involved in the business and management of their own careers. With the release of her third album, Serpent Tales & Nightingales, Jennifer Grassman demonstrates excellence on both fronts.
Having had the release of her two previous CDs funded and promoted by an independent record label, Grassman created a unique business model and put herself in charge of self-releasing her new album. Setting a very reasonable budget goal of $7,000, Jennifer raised money through donations, sponsorships, house concerts, and by offering creative incentives. It addition to covering the expenses of the project, it was also a way to involve her friends and fans in the process of creating the album. As Jennifer explains:
“Not only does it make the finished product more personal and special to everyone; it also allows me to put that extra oomph into production that I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. If we hadn’t had as many sponsors as we did, we would have definitely had to cut some corners production-wise, or wait longer to release the album, and that’s always very frustrating. For example one of the things I was able to invest in directly because of sponsorships was the digipack packaging as opposed to regular jewel cases. The digipacks are made of 100% recycled material, and are much more durable then jewel cases, which often crack, scratch, or break. We were also able to hire more studio musicians to perform on this album.”
In addition to the studio musicians accompanying Jennifer on Serpent Tales & Nightingales, Matthias Blad of the Swedish metal band Falconer sings a duet with her on “Blackbird”. There are also guest appearances by JJ Worthen, Cynthia Butler and saxophonist Todd Oxford.
Working with producer MD Thompson for the second time and recording at his Ivory Tower studio in The Heights, the end result is a beautiful sounding album with immaculate production values that rival those of albums made with much larger budgets.
Like many of her contemporaries (Kate Bush, Loreena McKennitt, Tori Amos) Jennifer Grassman’s music is not easily classified and offers a range of musical styles including the 1930’s jazz of “The Haunting” and “The Mad, Mad March Hare Acoustic Exposition”. Lyrically, Grassman writes songs that tell a story and often contain references to great literature. One of the best examples of this is "Guildencrantz," the shortest song on the album clocking in at only 53 seconds. Lyrically concise and direct, it’s title is an amalgamation of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, the two interchangeable minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet who have been the subject of several parodies that elevate them to major characters.
With the completion and release of Serpent Tales & Nightingales, Jennifer Grassman has not only demonstrated her ability to maintain her artistic integrity and produce a quality product, she has also shown other independent recording artists what they can accomplish through hard work, determination and the support of their fans and friends. And I didn’t even mention that Jennifer designed the art-deco inspired self-portrait that grace the front cover.
Serpent Tales & Nightingales can be heard streaming at JenniferGrassman.com.
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Comments
What an extremely well written and thoughtful commentary! I enjoyed reading it very much!
Wow, excellent article! Thanks for including the video. She has a beautiful voice. I have put the date for the concert on my calendar.
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