A clear and concise book that de-mystifies the how-to of vocal technique and speaks to stylistic features that differentiate classical from non-classical singing styles. Includes a section on African American aesthetics in non-classical styles.
About the Author: Rita teaches Jazz Vocal and Contemporary Improvisation students at York University and Classical Crossover workshops at the University of Toronto. She teaches internationally and has private teaching studios in Toronto and Picton, Ontario. Rita has received numerous composing & recording awards from Canadian Arts Councils. She is the inventor of a musical genre called Sprawl. Her CD, The Birth of Sprawl, was nominated for the Montreal Jazz Festival's Prix de Jazz. Her CD, Sprawl Indigo, made it into the 15 top Canadian jazz albums of the year. di Ghent has twice been nominated Jazz Vocalist of the Year. . "Rita [takes] songs from the pop world and [redoes] them her way. Nina Simone's Do I Move You is taken as a sexy and mildly threatening blues. Bob Dylan's Just Like a Woman is given a treatment so memorable that it is one of the high points of this fine outing." SCOTT YANOW, Jazz Journalist Rita reminds me of how many of the great female jazz singers...also excelled at the blues...that the blues is not the exclusive property of the apparent thousands of post-Aretha soul sisters who think that the way to express feeling is to shout and stomp and over-embellish everything. Rather, in the right hands or tonsils, the blues is as subtle and exquisite as anything by Mozart or Bach...[Rita] shows us that it's possible to sing [the blues] in a highly personal and completely understated way. Will FRIEDWALD, Author and Jazz Critic "Rita sings songs as if they were recorded for the first time. Breathtakingly beautiful. I've had the privilege of recording some of the great singers of our time. Rita captures all the nuances of the great jazz singer. " NICK BLAGONA, Record Producer "...evocative songstress, Rita di Ghent's... trademark haute-cabaret presentation and impeccable good taste are in full swing on this highly enjoyable recording. She effortless conjures up visions of smoke-filled speakeasies, and the bluesier numbers are well-served by her smoky, understated vocal style." LESLIE MITCHELL-CLARKE, Music Journalist "[on Rita di Ghent's albums], there is no going to extremes and no falling short and no disappointing. What is being offered is excellently sensual jazz singing. Honest know-how. Exquisitely sound. Just it, itself. The same skill as Billie Holiday...the very essence of jazz." OSKU RAJALA, Editor, Jazzrytmit Magazine "Une chanteuse hot dans la tradition avec une belle voix mezzo qui colle a merveille!" JAZZ HOT MAGAZINE