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Robin Lynn Holcomb is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who combines avant-garde jazz, classical music, and folk music.
The New York Times described her music as "a new American regionalism, spun from many threads – country rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker quilt, and no less beautiful."[1] Despite her eclectic output, she has said that she doesn't try to "genre mash" intentionally "...it just kind of comes up because it's what's in the air. I am drawn repeatedly to hymn-type harmonies. I was fascinated by Civil-War songs when I was a kid. I come back to those things."[2] She also describes her style as "minimalism without being a minimalist...when I write poetry, I go for the fewest words that evoke a lot or let the readers connect the dots, or relate it to their own experience, and the same with music."
Holcomb began playing professionally in New York, in an avant-garde scene that involved her future husband Wayne Horvitz as well as John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, and Eugene Chadbourne. Her work during that period was recorded in the 1988 album, Larks, They Crazy. Her subsequent albums focus more on songwriting.
Discography
[edit]- Larks, They Crazy (Sound Aspects, 1989)
- Robin Holcomb (Elektra, 1990)
- Rockabye (Elektra, 1992)
- Little Three (Nonesuch, 1996)
- The Big Time (Nonesuch, 2002)
- John Brown's Body (Tzadik, 2006)
- The Point of It All (Songlines, 2010)
- One Way Or Another Volume 1 (Westerlies Records, 2022)
- One Way Or Another Volume 2 (Westerlies Records, 2024)
References
[edit]- ↑ "Home entertainment/Recordings: Recent releases". The New York Times. November 4, 1990.
- ↑ Marshall, Gordon (February 14, 2011). "Robin Holcomb: Distinctive Mysteries". AllAboutJazz.com.
- "Robin Holcomb - Biography, Albums, Streaming Links - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- Marzorati, Gerald (17 July 2002). "Seattle Super Sonic". Slate. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- "Archives - Philly.com". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- Fordham, John (19 November 2003). "McFerrin/Reeves, Royal Festival Hall, London". the Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
External links
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- Living people
- American women singer-songwriters
- American women pianists
- American male singer-songwriters
- 20th-century American singer-songwriters
- 20th-century American pianists
- 20th-century American women singers
- 21st-century American singer-songwriters
- 21st-century American pianists
- 21st-century American women singers
- Nonesuch Records artists
- Elektra Records artists
- Tzadik Records artists