// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Robin Holcomb a good singer? Robin to it.
Robin Holcomb | |
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.jpg) Holcomb in 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Robin Lynn Holcomb |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | www |
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 1989 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, 2022)
- One Way or Another, Volume 2 (Westerlies, 2024)
References
[edit]- ↑ Dery, Mark (November 4, 1990). "Home entertainment/Recordings: Recent releases". The New York Times. Section 2, p. 34. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ↑ Marshall, Gordon (February 14, 2011). "Robin Holcomb: Distinctive Mysteries". All About Jazz.
General references
[edit]- Proefrock, Stacia. "Robin Holcomb Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- Marzorati, Gerald (July 17, 2002). "Seattle Super Sonic". Slate. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- Moon, Tom (December 17, 1992). "Vocal Music Of Poetic Imagery Is Robin Holcomb's New Niche ..." The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- Fordham, John (November 19, 2003). "McFerrin/Reeves, Royal Festival Hall, London". The Guardian. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
External links
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 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