Amy Denio - The Big Embrace (2017)

Enjoy 16 funky and fanciful FCC-friendly new songs composed and produced by iconic multi-instrumental musician and member of Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame, composer Amy Denio. Denio has toured the world as a musician since 1987. She runs Spoot Music, has produced 50+ recordings solo and in collaboration with others, and has founded a dozen creative bands. She also produces multimedia performances and installations, and has received dozens of international commissions, awards and fellowships.

Her 10th solo recording The Big Embrace features her sensuous voice, along with guitar, bass, accordion, sax, clarinet, glockenspiel, percussion, and field recordings. Her dark sense of irony is showcased while she sings along with our current hapless leader on Tracks 12 & 16.

Denio Biography
Amy Denio (rhymes with 'Ohio') is based in Seattle Washington. She is an award-winning singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, improviser, record producer and recording engineer. From her participation in Kultur Shock (Balkan gypsy punk rock) to The Tiptons' avant jazz to her own sonic explorations into Latin American and other world music forms, Denio's music and songwriting knows no borders!

Principally a self-taught musician (her parents both played jazz bass), her main instruments are voice, accordion, alto sax, clarinet, electric guitar, bass, found sound, and theremin. Born with an insatiable thirst to learn, she has collaborated with artists on 5 continents for the last 30 years.

She has been producing music in her own Spoot Studios since 1984, founded Spoot Music, her record label and publishing company in 1986, and has composed, recorded and produced more than 300 compositions, releasing dozens of solo and collaborative recordings on Spoot Music and other record labels from America and beyond.

In January 2018 she will finish her commission from film distributor Kino Lorber to create a soundtrack for the silent film ‘Daughter of the Law’ (Grace Cunard, 1921).

In Spring, 2017 she collaborated on ‘The Light’, a multi-media opera about Nikola Tesla which premiered at On The Boards in Seattle. She also co-produced 2 new recordings by her all-women sax quartet The Tiptons Sax Quartet, and produced her newest solo recording The Big Embrace, which was released in December. She also received funding from 4Culture to compose a suite of music for 19-piece chamber orchestra entitled 'Truth Is Up For Grabs', based on current events, poetry by Pablo Neruda and the political economy of war. In 2015, she was elected to the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame by Earshot Jazz. She has enjoyed fellowships in County Mayo, Ireland (Artist Trust) and in Umbertide, Italy (Civitella Ranieri). She has received two Bessie Awards (NYC) for her soundtracks for modern dance. She received the Mayor’s Award in Seattle in 1990 for her artistic vision.

Since 1988 she has collaborated with international musicians at festivals, churches, schools, prisons and mercury mines throughout East & West Europe and North America, as well as in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina.

Denio has taught creative music workshops in universities, youth and art centers and prisons in Italy, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Bolivia and throughout North America.

In addition, she is a photographer, documentary film maker, and nascent writer, and recently created an interactive public 'Sonic Bench', now on permanent exhibit on Vashon Island, Washington.

She’s been commissioned by Kino Lorber, Pacific Science Center, Berkeley Symphony, Italian National Radio, New York Festival of Song, Relache Ensemble, and dozens of modern dance choreographers, theater companies, film makers and radio. These works have been seen and heard at Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Seattle Town Hall, Detroit Institute of Art, Venice Biennale, Roman Theater Trieste, and on top of 3 Metro Busses in Seattle.

In February 2014 she presented her compositions at the Teatro Municipal and Thelonius Club in La Paz, Bolivia in collaboration with excellent local musicians.

Denio often collaborates with choreographer Pat Graney, whose most recent work ‘Girl Gods’ received two New York City Bessie Awards in 2016. In 2003 she composed the soundtrack for the feature film 'Naked Proof', which premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival, and was claimed 'Best Undistributed Film' by the Village Voice (NYC). In 1997 she won the prestigious New York City 'Bessie' Award for her soundtrack for 'Sky Down,' commissioned by David Dorfman Dance. Her piece 'Dishwasher' was included in the John Cage exhibit at the 1993 Venice Biennale. She has also scored several award-winning animated films by Thomas Edward.

She is a founding member of The Entropics, The Tiptons Sax Quartet, Tone Dogs, (ec) Nudes, FoMoFlo, The Danubians, Petunia, Quintetto alla Busara, Die Resonanz, and the accordion quartet Hell's Bellows! (US). She has played in Bosnian group Kultur Shock since 1999. She has been collaborating with Latin American duo Correo Aereo since 2003.

Denio has received grants and fellowships to create new work from NEA, Meet The Composer, Pew Charitable Trust, Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, 4Culture, Washington State Arts Commission, Arts Link, Arts International, Artist Trust, Civitella Ranieri and from various philanthropists.

- Amy Denio / brač (Croatian 4-string), guitars, bass, alto saxophone, clarinet, accordion, field recordings, glockenspiel, shaker, frame drum, cardboard box, voices.
- Ahmad Reza Yousefbeigi / percussion on l'Abbraccione
- Elizabeth 'DB' Lawrence / voice and percussion
- Pete Comley / samples on Rx For the Wife

Track List:
1. l'Abbraccione. 4:44
2. Romadame. 3:36
3. Thanksgiving. 2:44
4. Zap Sistah. 3:15
5. Rx For the Afterlife. 3:25
6. Prostrate Before A Periwinkle. 3:53
7. Rx For the Wife. 4:44
8. Rx For A Scrambled Egg and Peanut Butter Sandwich. 2:00
9. Rx For Recife. 1:55
10. Boat People. 4:00
11. Mayflower. 3:23
12. Donald The Lump. 2:41
13. Feral Fleas. 2:11
14. 7,500 Kisses. 5:13
15. Biopsy of Statecraft. 5:12
16. I Love This Cunterie. 2:13

More Music in My Blog
Follow My RSS Channel