[Dixielandjazz] **New CD: INTO YOUR OWN May 13th Official Press Release**

[Robert Ringwald]

INTO YOUR OWN: Official Press Release

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Rock Paper Scissors

Putting Your Love Out There: Gritty, Witty Vocalist and Trumpeter Bria Skonberg’s

Intimate Take Coalesces in the Universally Appealing Songs on

Into Your Own

“I love problem solving, getting a bunch of different variables and finding a way

to make them fit,” reflects Bria Skonberg. “I want to appeal to people who like to

be a bit challenged, but still want to bop around to good music.” The singer, trumpeter,

and composer comes up with the perfect solution to this equation and dives headfirst

into a very personal, highly catchy set of songs with bravado and confidence on her

new CD,

Into Your Own

(Random Act Records; release:

May 13, 2014).

Her affability on-stage, coupled with her husky singing voice and furious trumpet

chops, have made her a darling of trad-jazz audiences. Her talents have caught the

attention of the mainstream jazz press, garnering Bria a “Rising Star” spot in

DownBeat

Magazine’s 2013 Critics Poll, an “Up and Coming Star” nod from the Jazz Journalists’

Association, and accolades from far and wide. The gigs are steady, with Bria appearing

at nearly 100 shows at clubs, festivals, schools and concert halls all over the U.S.

last year.

All that activity leads to new experiences and new influences. An endlessly curious

and hardworking composer, Bria spends quite a bit of energy finding ideas to mix

and match. A move from her modest hometown in Canada to The Big Apple a few years

ago only opened the world of the possible even more.

“The first ten years of my career, I did a lot of re-creation, very traditional jazz,”

recalls Skonberg. “Then I started taking risks... and then some more risks, and then

doing some serious re-imagining. New York is about putting yourself out there, being

in this big pond and hearing there are ten people who do what you do.” It made her

look around the wide-open world of music, and realize that there was more room for

her own voice in her music.

In addition to the international membership of the group (two Canadians, one Aussie,

and Americans from New Orleans and the Ozarks), world influences appear in the recent

addition of percussion to Bria’s band. Played on

Into Your Own

by Mino Cinelu, the French percussion master whose credits include work with Miles

Davis and Weather Report, the very varied rhythmic approach to the album bespeaks

of Bria’s search for the hip and modern.

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It’s not just an instrumental approach. As World meets Jazz meets Pop on

Into Your Own,

Bria’s vocal stylings provide much of the album’s modern sensibilities- she goes

from jazz club smoky to stadium style belting in the blink of an eye, and sang all

of the harmonies and overdubs. “I’m proud of the range of voice that is shown on

this album, both stylistically and note-wise.”

Bringing to the fore the fresh, instantly engaging side of jazz comes naturally to

Skonberg. “I like wit,” she muses. “I was brought up in a traditional jazz music

culture where that was what the performers did; they had a bit of a schtick without

compromising musicianship. There’s a big emphasis on entertaining people. I hope

I’m able to make the subject of jazz more approachable to a general audience.”

Skonberg could not stick to the shtick, or to traditional approaches. The use of

percussion and her penchant for running her trumpet through a fuzz pedal to create

an almost other-worldly distorted wail certainly shake things up, but it’s the underlying

inspirations for the songwriting, the artists who sparked moments on Into Your Own,

which show a true, firm departure from more traditional ideas. “My favorite singer

is Lauryn Hill. She tells the truth as she sees it,” explains Skonberg with a laugh.

“The artists that I gravitate towards—Lauryn, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell—created

their own style, a pop format with jazz flexibilities and different interests.” Into

Your Own excels at making new ideas feel like welcome, familiar tunes.

It’s a productive approach, especially as Skonberg hones in on personal experiences,

yet uses her songwriting skills to cast them in a universal light: “I keep looking

for non-specific spirituals. Something that makes you feel uplifted, a gospel number

without directly mentioning religious figures,” explains Skonberg. “How do you deal

with those feelings, with things like mortality and abiding love?” “Break My Fall”,

a light rock ballad with a serious gospel tinge, is one answer, along with the trad-jazz

vibe of “Six More Weeks.”

Yet the strongest statement of this kind comes with “Go Tell It,” a funky Bo Diddley-esque

romp with a consequential edge, a spiritual-inspired call for love, acceptance, and

expanded understanding. “I’ve learned to trust those ideas that come to me, my instincts.

What comes to you when your mind is clear. Then you have to go hash them out on the

piano,” she states. “‘Go Tell It’ demanded concentrated effort, because of what the

song says. I thought of ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain’, of Martin Luther King and the

Civil Rights Movement. And then I thought of the LGBT movement, the civil rights

movement of our time.”

For Skonberg, supporting this movement is about more than writing a catchy tune.

Skonberg and her label, Random Act Records, take this commitment

seriously, and 10% of the proceeds from sales of Into Your Own will be donated to

the Human Rights Campaign, an organization dedicated to achieving gay, lesbian, transgender,

and bisexual equality. It’s a cause she and Random Act’s President, Scott Elias,

are happy to support.

“We wholeheartedly agree with Bria’s assessment – Everyone is equal, or everyone

is not. It’s that simple,” states Scott. “Her songs speak to everyone about the excitement

of love, what it means to be alive here and now. They’re paeans to LIFE!”

More intimate matters also inspired Skonberg, though the spirit of the songs remains

the same. A family member’s recent health problems had Bria thinking about age and

mortality—something John Lennon unfortunately knew about all too well. Bria’s breathy,

dreamy version of Lennon’s “Julia” stands on its own as a look into personal loss.

The bouncy Brit-Pop-goes-to-New-Orleans “All My Life,” sums up the sentiments that

hit at the heart of the album. “I was dreaming about the future,” Skonberg says.

“I wanted to create something positive, something people can sing along to, a little

anthem.”

You’ll find new favorites to sing along with, as Into Your Own

brings the trad and modern together to a comfortable, loving place. As Bria says:

“That is really the vibe of this album: accepting people and putting your love out

there.”

-30





-Bob Ringwald K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
916/ 806-9551
“As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.” ~ John Glenn