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Deidre Rodman

An Idaho native, pianist/composer Deidre Rodman moved to New York in 1997 after receiving a master¹s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas. She found work (and her husband!) playing for the Big Apple Circus, and spent her free time going out to hear all the music she could. Soon she was collaborating with many great musicians: reedist Roy Nathanson from The Jazz Passengers (they co-lead a 10-piece big band), bassist Steve Swallow (new duo CD with him coming out on Sunnyside May 9th), vocalist Darius De Haas (Daydream, a Strayhorn recording, won the 2002 Bistro Award for Recording of the Year), vocalist Debbie Harry (they recorded a song together for the soundtrack of Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story), vocalist Mike Viola (of Candy Butchers fame), and, The Lascivious Biddies

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189
Album Review

Deidre Rodman / Steve Swallow: Twin Falls

Read "Twin Falls" reviewed by Celeste Sunderland


The pairing of pianist Deidre Rodman and bassist Steve Swallow may seem unlikely at first, but upon further investigation, it appears to be just right. They hit it off while touring in Switzerland six years ago and their new duo album chimes with a rare trust. Named for the Idaho town where Rodman was born, the disc presents seventeen tracks, ten of which are under two minutes. The result is an collection of fully composed tunes dappled ...

204
Album Review

Deidre Rodman / Steve Swallow: Twin Falls

Read "Twin Falls" reviewed by John Kelman


Ask any budding electric jazz bassist who their biggest influence is, and chances are they'll cite the late Jaco Pastorius. And why not? During his tragically short life Pastorius revolutionized his instrument and contributed a small but significant body of work that's still being mined to this day. Why, then, is Steve Swallow so far off the radar in comparison? He's just as distinctive a bassist as Pastorius, and a writer who has penned classics like “Como En Vietnam, “I'm ...

202
Album Review

Deidre Rodman / Steve Swallow: Twin Falls

Read "Twin Falls" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson


Deidre Rodman's third release on Sunnyside is accompanied by a poetic statement of purpose: “Growing up in Idaho, she begins, “the mountains became a part of my consciousness. We are led to expect a backward-looking meditation on natural beauty. A backward-looking meditation is what we get, but its reference points are socio-cultural, not geological.

To start, her playing is accented by country & western and gospel music, black and white. Rodman plays country piano the way that Keith Jarrett might ...

99
Album Review

Deidre Rodman: Simple Stories

Read "Simple Stories" reviewed by Celeste Sunderland


They crest along sound waves, escape between murmuring lips, and dwell within the subconscious. Simple stories exist in the space between black holes. They linger, provoke a smile or a tear, then get swallowed up into the abyss. On Simple Stories pianist/composer Deidre Rodman tells her tales with lush, personal, careful compositions. "Girl With Ponytails" traverses a sound spectrum. Beginning with a pulse that beats slower than the human heart, the piano and rustling drums gracefully arouse low ...

105
Album Review

Deidre Rodman: Simple Stories

Read "Simple Stories" reviewed by Nic Jones


What's in a title? In the case of Simple Stories both everything and nothing, and repeated listenings fail to overcome the elusive quality of the music. Also, if there's some kind of underlying concept here, then that also remains equally elusive and – yes – secret. Part of the problem may lie in the lack of memorable melodies. Pianist Deidre Rodman's music (who's responsible for all of the music and lyrics here) contains no jarring deficiencies, but on the other ...

87
Album Review

Deidre Rodman: Sun Is Us

Read "Sun Is Us" reviewed by Dave Nathan


For her maiden album pianist/composer Deidre Rodman and her regular quintet successfully leads the listener through a maze of sounds built on compositions and arrangements designed to express assorted sensory emotions among them, excitement, contemplation and introspection. Modern avant-garde ideas find their way to fulfillment through the inventive use of instruments played against and with each other during this performance which seems to end too quickly. There's eye raising juxtaposition of rhythm and pitch on such tracks as “Nuggets". On ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Twin Falls

Sunnyside Records
2006

buy

Simple Stories

Sunnyside Records
2003

buy

Sun Is Us

Sunnyside Records
2001

buy

Sunday Drive

From: Twin Falls
By Deidre Rodman

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