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Charmin and Wynton Marsalis
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Taste and understatement. Swing and savoir faire. Grace and grooves.
Intimacy and panache. Singer Charmin Michelle delivers all of the above and
more.
Ms. Michelle's savvy art is both fresh and timeless. Her conversational
style recalls such earlier greats as Billie Holiday and Nancy Wilson. Yet
it's free of any tiresome camp or easy nostalgia. Charmin Michelle truly
understands, feels and puts her imprint on small group swing singing. Born
in Birmingham, Alabama, Charmin moved to chilly Minnesota while still a
small child. She's called the land of Prince and Bob Dylan home ever since,
though the singer's no stranger to the pleasures and pitfalls of the road.
Charmin's had both fun and hair-raising experiences entertaining U. S.
Troops around the globe, and has recorded with funkateer Jesse Johnson's
Revue and his popular spin-off group, Ta Mara and The Seen.
Her first tour to Europe was as a featured guest with internationally known
pianists Mulgrew Miller and Kirk Lightsey the summer of 1997. That tour was
set up at the beset of Hammond B-3 organ legend the late Brother Jack
McDuff, who was one of the singer's biggest fans. "She's really
different. I call her Chow Mein" McDuff laughs. "With her trio,
less is more. And they're right in the pocket."
Since 1998 she has performed in jazz festivals thoughout Spain, Portugal
and France with the Tuxedo Big Band who hail from Toulouse France, pianist
Ignasi Terrazza and big band leader Oriol Bordas, both of Barcelona Spain.
Less is more could be Charmin Michelle's motto. Her club and concert sets
are always cool, calm and collected. Even when she's moonlighting in the
blues world fronting the jump band, The Senders, she never shouts or
strains. "I've always admired singers who can belt out tunes, but I know
I'm not a belter." Michelle told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
"So I try to use dynamics and emotion to get my point across. And I
choose tunes where the lyric and melody has a lot of meaning. That way I
can express a lot of feeling without having to shout it out."
Michelle makes her point more subtly, both as an interpreter of
seldom-heard gems from the Great American Songbook, and as a songwriter. On
her critically-acclaimed debut disc "Your Eyes" (currently out of
print), Charmin revives such underexposed Billie Holiday numbers as the
breezy, Sailboat in the Moonlight", the haunting "Ghost of
Yesterday", and the blues-rockin' "Now or Never". She also
ably tackles, "You're My Thrill", Mack Gordon's obscure "Me,
Myself and I". In September of '98, she released her second CD
entitled "Destination Moon".
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Charmin and Shapira
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Charmin &
Shapira
Vocalist Charmin
Michelle and guitarist Joel Shapira have performed together in various
group settings for over five years. With the creation of the Charmin &
Shapira duo, the two bring their extensive resumes and highly personal
musical stylings to a new level of intimacy. A diverse repertoire of great
American standards, gentle bossa novas and swinging modern jazz tunes is
presented with unique and insightful arrangements, perfectly suited for a
lively nightclub, a relaxing get-together, or an elegant wedding ceremony.
Booking
Information:
Joel Shapira (651)646-3274
E-mail: joelshapira@hotmail.com
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