Halie Loren

The first thing you notice is that voice: deep and rich and warm, gorgeous, graceful, and somehow earthy and ethereal at once. It is an instrument perfectly pitched and primed to each line, with each audible breath. Just as warm and familiar and frankly right as the needle hitting the groove on vinyl.

And so it goes. In describing the vocal talents of Eugene-based singer/songwriter Halie Loren, the adjectives just start piling up. Heartfelt is one. Confident yet vulnerable, strong but inviting. Authentic is another adjective that rushes to mind—emotionally authentic, which, really, is the key to great jazz and great art in general. Not the play-it-safe jazz of Kenny G or the narcoleptic whispers of mall-bound Musak, but the real deal. Think Peggy Lee and Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell, or, more recently, Diana Krall, Norah Jones. But such comparisons are only historic reference points, a means of entry. What’s important to understand is that when Halie Loren sings, you not only hear the music. You feel it. She’s right there, in the room with you, filling the space with intimate stories of love and heartbreak, memory and hope, experience and passion—in a word, life.

Were Loren’s resume to end here, with her vocal talents, it would be more than enough. Singing of that quality is rare, a gift. But Loren is no mere interpreter of standards (though she does that with refreshing facility). Having cut her songwriting teeth when, as a teenager, she spent an educational year rubbing elbows with some of Nashville’s top composers, this young artist—she is but 25—has penned original numbers that are stunning for the depth and maturity the show. Take, for instance, the title song from her 2008 release, They Oughta Write a Song: in a bittersweet croon that is equal parts hurt and healing, Loren delivers lines like, “If there were prizes for those sighs of regret/you’d be the envy of the oh-woe-is-me set/romance is through/it’s just the piper and you…”

Yeah, that’s the stuff—the blues, clever with pain, a sentimental journey hardened into sad-happy wisdom. Loren, as the saying goes, knows her way around a song, whether it be a composition of her own or one of her surprising and always dead-on covers. Witness the way her ingenious arrangement (composed with frequent collaborator, pianist Matt Treder) turns a radio-overplayed ballad like Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” into something utterly new and unexpectedly affecting, or check out the swinging upbeats and jaunty phrasing that gets the foot tapping to “Dock on the Bay,” without once betraying the spirit of Otis Redding’s masterpiece. Loren’s choice and performance of standards—from “Summertime” and “God Bless the Child” to “Blue Skies” and “La Vie en Rose”—is exquisite and respectful and inventive, another sign of her artistic intelligence.

In a relatively brief span of time, Loren appears to have achieved enough success and received enough kudos to define an entire career. Since her stage debut at the age of ten at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Alaska, Loren has continued to wow and woo audiences with her warm, intimate live performances; she is an elegant, electrifying performer, full of charisma and cool. And she has garnered more than her share of in-the-know acknowledgment, both critical and professional: from the Female Rising Star and Alternative Entertainer awards she won before she was 16, to later awards from such worthies as Billboard International and the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, up to the present, where she is currently nominated for several Just Plain Folks awards—and one in the category of “new folk.”

Loren’s debut release, Full Circle (2006), was hailed for exhibiting “a power and grace that are nearly unheard of in popular music.” And along with last year’s acclaimed They Oughta Write a Song, Loren (accompanied by Treder) also released Many Times, Many Ways, a delightful collection of holiday songs that would melt the heart of the most tone-deaf Scrooge.

Still, for all she has already accomplished, it is what lies ahead that should truly thrill any fan of Loren’s music. This past year found her characteristically elevating her craft, getting better with each live performance, each newly written song or recorded work. At present she is planning a recording project that will fuse her unique songwriting chops with her deep roots in jazz, and which Loren says will be something altogether different from any of her previous albums. It is just this willingness to explore new avenues of creativity—combined with her inexhaustible drive and inimitable talents—that gives one the feeling that Loren is on the verge of setting the wide music world on fire. It’s only a matter of time.

Awards

Just Plain Folks Music Awards 2009 - Best Vocal Jazz Album, "They Oughta Write a Song" album Billboard World Song Contest 2004 - 2nd Place, Jazz Song category, "They Oughta Write a Song" (written by Halie Loren and Larry Wayne Clark) Pacific Songwriting Competition 2005 - 1st Place, Country category, "What We're Fighting For" (written by Halie Loren and Larry Wayne Clark) Pacific Songwriting Competition -

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CD/LP/Track Review

Butterfly Blue by C. Michael Bailey

Interview

Halie Loren: Butterfly Soaring

CD/LP/Track Review

Simply Love by Dan Bilawsky
Stages by Dan Bilawsky
Heart First by Dan Bilawsky
They Oughta Write a Song by M F

“Halie Loren has displayed the rare ability of being able to make the most familiar song sound fresh and relevant, and a talent at transforming unlikely material into jazz.” (Scott Yanow, Jazz Reviewer, LA Jazz Scene Monthly)

“Knowing that Halie Loren is a young artist, already a masterful vocalist, interpreter and song-writer, you can't help but grin anticipating what sublime music she'll record next. If I'd gotten this CD sooner, I would have put it as one of my top ten for ‘08.” (David Gizara, Host of Thursday Night Jazz, KLCC Public Radio —Eugene, OR)

“This album hits all the right notes from start to finish as Halie Loren sounds as if she were born to sing jazz

“This album hits all the right notes from start to finish as Halie Loren sounds as if she were born to sing jazz. They Oughta Write A Song deserves to take a place among the great vocal jazz albums... Loren's silky alto slides through the songs here like a hot knife through butter…smooth and full of a sensual grace that recalls Eartha Kitt at the top of her game. . I keep wanting to point out particular songs as highlights, but the difficulty is that everything here is just so good that the word highlight becomes meaningless. That being said, Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps is amazing. There is a mischievous quality to this performance that allows Loren to reach even higher and touch perfection for two minutes and twenty-one seconds.” (Wildy Haskell —Read the rest of the CD review at wildysworld.blogspot.com)

“I feel the same sort of wonder I felt when I first heard Eva Cassidy. I am stunned that Halie is only in her early 20s. This is an artist I want to keep track of because once the world hears her, I think she has the talent and ability to be a major performer. I highly recommend this CD.” (Jim Kloss, Whole Wheat Radio - wholewheatradio.net)

“Halie Loren has such talent and a passion for what she does with her music. Halie should be not only nation wide, but world wide with her music.” (DJ KRVM Radio 91.9 FM, Eugene, Oregon)

“This (They Oughta Write a Song) is one of the most exciting new songs I have heard. It has a classic standard sound, yet it is fresh, contemporary. And Halie Loren's singing is just perfect for it. I can't get it out of my mind. It's a winner, as is the entire recording.” (Fred Crafts, Former Fine Arts Editor for LA Times and Entertainment Correspondent for KWVA Channel 13 & The Register-Guard, Eugene, OR.)

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