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Elin

So, who is this Elin, what is her music all about, and how did she end up on this journey?

Born and raised in Sweden by an Irish mother and a Peruvian father. Grew up in three distinct cultures and continents: Europe, North and South America. Oldest of six children, fluent in five languages, eight-year resident of New York City, instrumentalist and student of music since the age of seven, and utterly obsessed with Brazilian music! This should give you a start at understanding the colorful complexities and remarkable adventures from which Elin draws her inspirations and expressions.

It all began one lazy summer afternoon in Sweden when Elin was 15, in a moment she says altered the course of her life forever… “School was out for summer break and I’d entertain myself, among other things, by going through my parents’ huge record collection.” One day, she randomly picked one out and played it, not really knowing why, only to become mesmerized by a sound she had never heard before. It was João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim. She assumed that this was jazz. Right then and there, she knew she was meant to sing this music. “I’m going to be a jazz singer!” she proclaimed. “Someday, I’m going to go to Brazil, learn to speak Portuguese, learn to play the guitar like that, and learn to sing this music!”

Although Elin had been studying music and playing instruments since she was seven, she never liked jazz nor considered being a singer. But after this, she started buying jazz albums of all the great female vocalists including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan, and got heavily into American jazz, without realizing it wasn’t exactly the same as the music that had originally put her on this path. It would be another seven years before Elin finally got back to her first passion: Brazilian jazz. “When my parents moved to the U.S., I was able to attend the University of Florida. It was during this time that I won a scholarship to attend a language course in Brazil where I could finally learn Portuguese and delve into the music of all the great Brazilian singers, such as Elis Regina, Leny Andrade, and Gal Costa.”

But the major turning point in Elin’s career as a singer came when she met Miriam Jaskierowicz Arman, Ph. D., voice teacher extraordinaire, and author of The Voice: A Spiritual Approach to Singing, Speaking and Communicating (3 editions). The day they met, Ms. Arman immediately asked one of her students to give up her lesson just so she could teach Elin on the spot. From the very first moment, she was convinced of Elin’s talent, and it was then or never, since Elin was scheduled to catch a flight back to NYC in just a few hours. From then on, they worked long distance between NYC and South Florida for several years before Dr. Arman finally moved to New York. “Now, seven years later, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have a career, or even a voice, if it wasn’t for Miriam. I owe her so much! She’s the only voice teacher I ever had that taught me how to use my voice in the right way. And the learning is ongoing.”

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Album Review

Elin: Lazy Afternoon

Read "Lazy Afternoon" reviewed by Suzanne Lorge


Swedish-born singer Elin (née Kathleen Clelia Elin Melgarejo) moved to the U.S. as a young adult, won a scholarship to study Portuguese in Brazil, and later received her musical training in vocal jazz at the University of Miami in Florida. Eventually the peripatetic singer settled in New York City, and the local jazz scene is all the better for it.

Her debut album, Lazy Afternoons, on the Blue Toucan Music label, employs a vast band and exciting Latin ...

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1

Video / DVD

The Sound of Feeling, 1968

The Sound of Feeling, 1968

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

In November 1968, Verve Records released what today may seem like an unusual album but back then was perfectly in sync with the youth-focused times. The LP was called Leonard Feather Presents... The Sound of Feeling and the Sound of Oliver Nelson. Recorded in 1966 (the Nelson big band tracks) and 1967 (the vocal tracks), and produced initially by Creed Taylor and then Jesse Kaye after Creed left for A&M to start CTI, The Sound of Feeling featured a Los ...

2

Recording

John Stein: 'Lifeline'

John Stein: 'Lifeline'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

It's rare when a two-album set is released celebrating the career of a living jazz artist. It's even more rare that the double album should now be No. 4 on JazzWeek's jazz album chart. That's exactly what has happened with John Stein's Lifeline (Whaling City Sound). Both accomplishments are a testament to John's straight-up swing and eclecticism over the years and his passion for for tasty jazz chords. Released in June, Lifeline features 26 tracks spanning 15 albums recorded over ...

Video / DVD

Fania Boogaloo: It's a Good, Good Feeling

Fania Boogaloo: It's a Good, Good Feeling

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Back in the 1960s, there were the Billboard pop and R&B charts. Everything was rock and soul, Black and white, uptown and downtown. But if you lived in New York, as I did then, in Washington Heights, you knew there was a third stream—boogaloo. You could hear it coming out of the open windows of apartments on summer weekends in Washington Heights, from 140th to 175th streets, and in East Harlem. Amazing what you'd hear in the days before air ...

1

Recording

Renowned Vocalist Rebecca Kilgore Releases 'The Rebecca Kilgore Trio, Vol. 1' Featuring Randy Porter, Tom Wakeling

Renowned Vocalist Rebecca Kilgore Releases 'The Rebecca Kilgore Trio, Vol. 1' Featuring Randy Porter, Tom Wakeling

Source: Mouthpiece Music

Jazz vocalist Rebecca Kilgore is one the most prolific recording and performing artists on the scene today. With 50 or so recording projects as a leader or co-leader, she is one of the most respected interpreters of the Great American Songbook. Based in jny: Portland, OR, Kilgore has worked with many of the top jazz musicians in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Kilgore does not disappoint on her newest recording, The Rebecca Kilgore Trio – Vol. 1, which features pianist ...

1

Award / Grant

Bahamian Trumpeter Giveton Gelin Wins Award And Ten-City International Tour

Bahamian Trumpeter Giveton Gelin Wins Award And Ten-City International Tour

Source: Tony Franquiz

Twenty-one-year-old jazz musician Giveton Gelin will perform a ten-city international tour of North America after winning the 2020 LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award, including a performance at the Blue Note Jazz Festival in jny: New York City, where Gelin is currently studying at Julliard. Gelin was selected by a high-profile jury of musicians, journalists and record producers, chaired by Mikhail Fridman—an international businessman, philanthropist and jazz fan—and jazz guitarist George Benson. His winnings include the ten-city tour and a full ...

3

Book / Magazine

Alfred Music Releases "The Musician's Lifeline" By Renowned Authors Peter Erskine And Dave Black

Alfred Music Releases "The Musician's Lifeline" By Renowned Authors Peter Erskine And Dave Black

Source: Dave Black

Alfred Music, the leading publisher in music education since 1922, announces the release of The Musician's Lifeline: Advice for All Musicians, Student to Professional. Written by Peter Erskine and Dave Black, The Musician's Lifeline represents the combined experience and knowledge of the authors gained through their lives in music. In addition, it includes advice from over 150 of the best musicians the authors have the honor of knowing, with topics ranging from sight-reading, learning, listening, auditions, the music business, practice, ...

Career

3 Questions To Ask Yourself When You're Feeling Overwhelmed As An Artist

3 Questions To Ask Yourself When You're Feeling Overwhelmed As An Artist

Source: HypeBot

As an independent artist struggling to make a place for yourself in the music industry, it's easy to start to feel overwhelmed and burnt out. Here we look at three important questions to pose to yourself when the burdens of navigating a truly challenging business have become too great. Guest post by Angela Mastrogiacomo of the TuneCore Blog Being a musician or an entrepreneur doesn’t exactly come with a guide book, does it? Truth be told, I spent a good ...

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Event

Abelita Mateus & Friends: "Mixed Feelings" CD Release Performance On October 2 At Dizzy's Club!

Abelita Mateus & Friends: "Mixed Feelings" CD Release Performance On October 2  At Dizzy's Club!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

October 2. ONE NIGHT ONLY! Featuring Guitarist Romero Lubambo, Bassist Peter Slavov, Diego Urcola on Trumpet and more! Abelita Mateus & Friends Dizzy's Club- October 2nd Broadway at 60th St., 5th Floor, NYC 7:30pm & 9:30pm / cover $35- students $20 Phone: 212-258-9595 Abelita Mateus: piano, vocals Peter Slavov: bass Diego Urcola: trumpet Matt Marantz: tenor saxophonist Alex Kautz: drums ...

4

Recording

A Family Feeling: Temple University Jazz Faculty Record New Music By Bruce Barth

A Family Feeling: Temple University Jazz Faculty Record New Music  By Bruce Barth

Source: All About Jazz

In June, six members of Temple University’s noted jazz faculty gathered in Bunker Hill Studio in Brooklyn to record eight tracks of new music composed by Bruce Barth. Terell Stafford, director of Jazz Studies at Temple, lead the charge and the result, Family Feeling, is a reflection on the warm camaraderie between Terell Stafford (trumpet); Dick Oatts (also/soprano saxophone); Bruce Barth (piano); Tim Warfield, Jr., (tenor/soprano saxophone); David Wong (bass); and, Byron Landham (drums) that has been forged over many ...

8

Recording

Brazilian Pianist / Composer Abelita Mateus Releases "Mixed Feelings" on August 1st

Brazilian Pianist / Composer Abelita Mateus Releases "Mixed Feelings" on August 1st

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

From São Paulo to New York City.... Everybody Loves Samba! Featuring Guitarist Romero Lubambo, Bassist Peter Slavov and more! “A mixture of excitement, sadness, 'saudades', happiness, failure, regret, luck- all of the things I was feeling at the time are in my music. I lived in Brazil for the first 30 years of my life. When I decided to move to another country, I had mixed feelings about the new challenges I was about to face. For my ...

All About Jazz (June ’07): “Elin is not a dark singer. This is not a criticism. Brazilian jazz celebrates that which is radiant and joyous and moving and in this regard, Elin more than matches the material she sings.”

Down Beat Magazine (Jan ‘07): “Zeal, ambition and musical ESP fire Elin’s Lazy Afternoon… [she] delivers a debut that has all the wonder of a magical discovery... Elin draws you in, turning familiar songs into an intimate and personal concert. Like a Frank Sinatra devotee, she controls the song’s tempo and demeanor through her lush phrasing and luxurious delivery, each word flowing like liquid chocolate.”

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Lazy Afternoon

Blue Toucan Music
2007

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