You Ask Me Why ... Tova Sings Beyle
This is contemporary jazz at its best
and Tova sings Beyle in a way no other could ….
Ten out of Ten for sheer imagination, interpretation and musical originality.
-Tony Bates
Highlands Fm, Australia
Highlands Fm, Australia
Sublime...Cool and in Yiddish? ...this CD redefines hip!
Nothing short of masterful.
This is high art, yet also highly listenable music...
****
- Glen Dias
singer/musician/co-owner ELIZAGOTH/ALL EARS
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
singer/musician/co-owner ELIZAGOTH/ALL EARS
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
A wonderful tribute album to a wonderful lady
done by a voice that sounds like the angels
had something to do with its creation
-Bill Hahn
WFDU fm Teaneck New Jersey
WFDU fm Teaneck New Jersey
An exciting album
Beyle's songs are so moving and Theresa's voice is a knock-out
...what a combination!
...a brilliant listening experience.
- Harold Ellison "The Jazz Cafe"
TripleU-FM Nowra, New South Wales Australia
TripleU-FM Nowra, New South Wales Australia
Emotionally stirring songs with classic jazz riffs...
makes you feel as if you are in a small cafe somewhere and Tova is singing live, right in front of you.
Tova's sexy voice paired with the jazz flute on "Uhu Fayft der Vint" is a match made in heaven.
-Kate Martinelli Ozcat Radio
Vallejo, California
Vallejo, California
Fantastic Album. Great stuff for our Radio Station.
-Alex Pijnen.
BRTO Radio, Netherlands
BRTO Radio, Netherlands
You need to have this CD in your collection. Great singer and also very good music.
No collection is complete without this essential CD.
-Gi Dussault Upper
Room Radio Show, Montreal
Room Radio Show, Montreal
A beguiling voice... fascinating... the accompaniment is excellent.
I have no hesitation in playing this music to an audience whose first language is Welsh
- why not!! ...we are enjoying it immensely.
Tony Wickham
Radio Maldwyn, UK
-David McCrory
2NVR 105.9FM, Australia
Radio Maldwyn, UK
Excellent disk. LOVE IT
-David McCrory
2NVR 105.9FM, Australia
It's new and familiar at the same time
We are thrilled to find out that you'll be singing here,
and Beyle's songs at that!
-Januk Weinsberg
Warsaw Reform Synagogue, Poland
Warsaw Reform Synagogue, Poland
In her most remarkable, ambitious CD release to date, Theresa Tova collaborates with masterful producer/arranger John Alcorn in celebrating the songs of Yiddish poet and sogwriter Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (National Endowment of the Arts honoree) --reinterpreting these folk gems in settings that are a mélange of jazz, world and contemporary pop grooves. Featuring inspired performances by a group of virtuoso jazz musicians.
The music is fresh and seductive, bridging the gap between the traditional roots of Jewish culture and 21st century sensibilities and rhythms.
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1. Vinter Ovnt ..Winter Evening (Listen)
2. Uhu Fayft der Vint...Uhu Whistles the Wind (Listen)
3. Shoyn Farendikt zikh dos Lidl Funem Tog ( Tararara)...
The Song of the Day has Ended
4. Ir Freygt Mikh Farvos ...You Ask Me Why (Listen)
5. Bleter ...Leaves
6. Harbstlid...Autumn Song
7. A Zemerl Aza...A Little Tune Like This
8. Zumerteg ...Summer Days
9. Geven Amol Iz a Shtetll...There Once Was a Town
10. Mayn Khaverte Mintsye...My Friend Mintsye
11. Der Saksafon Shpiler...The Saxophone Player
12. Zilber Shtern...Silver Stars
LISTEN TO SOUND CLIPS
Produced by John Alcorn
All arrangements by John Alcorn with Matt Herskowitz
Except track number #4 arranged by Matt Herskowitz with John Alcorn
Recorded at Kick Audio, Toronto, Ontario, May 2006
Engineered by Jeff Wolpert, Assistant engineer Ryan Aktari
Additional recording by John Alcorn at The Back Room, Toronto, Ontario
Mixed and mastered by Jeff Wolpert at Desert Fish, Toronto, Ontario
CD design A Man Called Wrycraft
Front cover Tova portrait by Nat Chauve-Crepel-Flory
Beyle portrait by Beyle Schaechter–Gottesman
Photo of Tova by Mircea Popescu
Hair by Bill Hume
Styling and make-up by Tara Pearson
Manufactured by Accudub
©2006
MUSICIANS
Matt Herskowitz - piano
Artie Roth - bass and electric bass
Daniel Barnes - drums
Brian Katz - classical and electric guitar
Jane Bunnett - flute
Kelly Jefferson - tenor saxophone
John Macleod - trumpet
Julie Michels - duet plus guest vocals "
Tabby Johnson, Sandra Caldwell and Tara Pearson- guest vocals
;)
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THIS CD NOW
1. Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
2. My Buddy
3. My Funny Valentine
4. Vous m'éblouissez (You go to my head)
5. Isn't It A Lovely Day To Be Caught In The Rain
6. The Song Is Ended
7. Vos Geven Iz Geven (What Was Is What Was)
8. Night And Day (Tog und Nakht)
9. Sheyn Vi Di Levone
10. Suppertime
11. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
(Los es Shnayen, Los es Shnayen, Los es Shnayen)
12. Der Saksafon Shpiler
LISTEN TO SOUND CLIPS
Produced by Theresa Tova
Recorded by Jon Cornwall at the
Top O' The Senator
Toronto July 2002
Mixed by Jon Cornwall at Stellarton, Nova Scotia
Mastered by Jeff McCullough at Wellesley Sound, Toronto
Cover Photo : Tim Leyes
Live Shots and Hair : Bill Humenick
Graphics and Design : Gary Da Ponte
Manufactured by Punch Media
©2002
MUSICIANS
Mark Eisenman, Richard Whiteman - piano
Alex Dean - Saxophones and Flutes
John Sumner - Drums
Kieran Overs, Steve Wallace - Bass
John Alcorn - guest vocals on "The Song Is Ended"
;)
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THIS CD NOW
1. Belz
2. Sheyn Vi Di Levone
3. Leybke
4. Tell Me Where Should I Go? ( Vu Ahin Zol Ikh Gayn)?
5. Harshl
6. Oygn
7. Papirosn
8. Play A Little Song For Me In Yiddish
9. Brother Can You Spare A Dime ( Brider Gib Mir Khotsh Eyn Daym)
10. Under Your White Starry Heaven ( Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern)
11. Abi Gezunt
12. Telling Stories
LISTEN TO SOUND CLIPS
Produced by John Alcorn
Arrangements by
John Alcorn, Theresa Tova and The Musicians
Recorded and mixed by Jeff McCulloch
at Wellesley Sound, Toronto
Assistant recording engineer - John Nazario
Mastered by Brett Zilahi, Metalworks
Art direction, design and layout by
A Man Called Wrycraft, Toronto
Tova photography by Kevin Kelly
Hair by Bill Humenick
Makeup by Tara McDonald
Manufactured by Accudub
©2000
MEMBERS/MUSICIANS
Mark Eisenman - Piano
John Alcorn - Piano
Artie Roth - Bass
Daniel Barnes - Drums
Steve Greenman - Violin
Perry White - Tenor sax, baritone sax
Martin van de Ven - Clarinet
Dave Wall - Guest vocal
To View Past Events see resumé
April 28th, 29th 30th & May 1st, 2011
Bella The Colour of Love
PIFA festival
Philadelphia, Pennsylvanial
June 13th-18th, 2011
Toute Comme Elle- Just Like Her
Luminato Festival,
Toronto
Sultry, sassy, witty, funny, enormously talented , graced with a velvet contralto, Theresa Tova, without a doubt one of the most versatile performers in Canada is equally at home in any venue.
After a successful career as an Award winning actor/ writer in both stage (Still The Night-4 Dora awards & Governor General Award nomination for excellency in Dramatic litearature,) and television (ENG- Gemini nomination Best supporting actor,) Tova has recently followed her heart in a new direction and now includes her phenomenal theatrical talents by presenting emotional interpretations in musical concerts.
Stage fright ? She's never heard of it. It would deter her from the enjoyment she gets by being on stage and sharing her artistry with her audiences who automatically become her friends in what critics call her spontaneous house party style. Concert Halls, Cabarets and Supper-Clubs, Gala Celebrations and International Festivals, Television, Film and "the Theatre". That's where Tova is at home.
Tova at her most intimate best.
"Jazz Diva Theresa Tova, should just add a middle name: Terrific."
[Michael Posner - Globe and Mail]
"Towering, pan-cultural jazz-cabaret diva...
an impressive performance"
[George Evans- Planet Jazz]
"Tova's version of Vous m'éblouissez should be listened to
with a glass of red wine in hand"
[Jaymz Bee - JAZZ FM]
"C'est une vraie bête de scène"
[Luce Botella- Maisons de la culture Montréal]
“An artist Canadians should celebrate”
[Toronto Star]
“Classy, jazzy and deliciously sensuous”
[Wholenote magazine]
“Impressive”
[Jazz FM]
“A purity of musical emotionalism”
[RPM]
“Uplifting and thoroughly enjoyable”
[Downtown Jazz]
“Incandescent sensuality” and “one succumbs to her charms”
[L’Express]
“Passion and polished precision in a lush alto”
[Geoff Chapman-Toronto Star]
“A velvety voice that would make the phone book sound good”
[Capital Xtra]
“When Tova sings Aznavour, C'est HOT!"
[Chantal Jolis-Radio Canda]
“It don’t matter what language you sing in... it’s jazz”
[Abbey Lincoln]
“I could watch this woman perform all night- she’s that good”
[CBC Radio]
“Unlocking her past by breaking new ground”
[Maclean's Magazine]
Tyrone Guthrie Award 2000-
for Telling Stories
Glen Dias [singer/musician/co-owner ELIZAGOTH/ALL EARS]
(Theresa) Tova's new CD "You Ask Me Why" is nothing short of sublime. It is very hip. And if that seems an old-fashioned or passe term, how about this? This CD redefines hip! Cool, and in Yiddish?! Anyone who knows Tova's voice, from previous recordings or live shows, knows this power house chanteuse can belt. Well, there's no trace of it here. Every vocal pass is restrained and nuanced. These songs by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, as interpreted by Tova, are packed with emotion, whether bittersweet and introspective or life-affirming and joyful. In fact, this whole album embraces life in all its aspects, and not a word or a note is wasted. Rather, they are tasted, both by the singer and by her sensitive and virtuosic accompanists. The whole performance, guided by producer/arranger, John Alcorn, (arrangements assisted by pianist, Matt Herskowitz, whose spacious playing sparkles with gem-like luminosity) is nothing short of masterful. This is high art, yet also highly listenable music...jazz, if you must, but much more than even that broad category can convey. The only question I have is this: can we be certain this recording is not from Europe
Philip Ehrensaft [Whole Note Magazine]
Classy, jazzy, and deliciously sensuous cabaret/Broadway singing are terms that first come to mind when listening to Theresa Tova’s second CD. I was fortunate to attend the final recording session and thoroughly enjoyed reliving the experience. She was backed by a jazz quartet including Alex Dean and Steve Wallace, two of Toronto’s master improvisers. Tova interweaves her two musical worlds of Broadway and the current renaissance of Yiddish culture, with some beautifully voiced French lyrics thrown into the mix. You’ll hear why Tova holds her own during forays into New York’s Darwinian music world. Nine of the twelve tracks are classics from the interwar golden age of musical theatre and, with an entirely apt turn, three are belted out in Yiddish. Much of Broadway’s great music was created by Jewish songsmiths taking their talents uptown into mainstream America.
The jazzy arrangements are also apt: jazz musicians leapt and still leap on the harmonic possibilities of Broadway classics; jazz was a natural magnet to Jewish musicians like Benny Goodman who grew up with improvised Klezmer music; and Duke Ellington transmuted Yiddish music into “oriental foxtrots.” An excellent final track is the only contemporary song: a recent Yiddish poem provides lyrics about a jazz saxophonist blowing away in a New York subway station. I’d love to hear a future Tova CD centred on new songs as good as this one.
Reviewed by Ari Davidow 3/22/03 [Klezmer Shack]
Okay, now for something delightfully different. Anyone who has ever seen Theresa Tova perform on stage, or singing Yiddish, has surely said, "why should this amazing singer be limited to Yiddish?" Indeed. And, for that matter, why should Yiddish be segregated by itself, as though our songs and ballads belong in a ghetto? Isn't it obvious how much popular Second Avenue song was influenced by the wonderful jazz of the period (and vice versa!). Proof that great music is universal is offered up in this new recording by chanteuse Tova, which mixes the best of popular song in Yiddish, English, French--sometimes, even, English translated into Yiddish a lá Mandy Patinkin.
Opening with several songs in English, starting with "Guess I'll hang my tears out to dry," and "My Buddy," "My Funny Valentine," Tova moves on to "Sheyn vi di Levone", a Yiddish-English "Night and Day", and more. The audience especially enjoys (and me too!) her switch to Yiddish on "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"--"Christmas was always such a sad time for a little Jewish girl in Calgary". This is intimate jazz singing at its best. The fact that some of it is in Yiddish only goes to show how universal Yiddish is, and how well Yiddish song fits jazz and an intimate club atmosphere. The translations of Yiddish back into English are also excellent. Ending the album with a recent Bayla Schaechter-Gottesman song, "Der Saksafon Shpiler" is perfect.
I really enjoy this CD. I can now enjoy some of my favorite jazz standards along with wonderfully intimate jazz versions of some of my favorite Yiddish songs. It works most excellently. And I can't wait to see Tova on stage again. Until then, this will suffice, and keep me longing for more.
[Maclean's People - Shanda Deziel]
OLD SONGS, NEW SINGER
Sometimes the best way to move forward is to look back. For actress-turned-singer Theresa Tova, that meant modernizing Yiddish folk and vaudeville tunes on her first album, Telling Stories. The result is a jazzy, sometimes melancholy musical journey through her Jewish heritage that will surprise listeners of all backgrounds. "A major musicologist in the Yiddish world came to hear me sing, and he said to the woman who brought him, 'Does she know it's not supposed to be done like that?' Afterward, he took me out for martinis because he thought I was doing some interesting stuff." With Telling Stories, Tova wanted to reclaim her history and bring its stories to a wider audience. "I'm not a teacher, though I understand that I am teaching people by showing them a way into my culture," she says. "Being the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, I grew up with a big black hole in my heritage."
The 45-year-old wife and mother of two played the spunky editor on the early-'90s television series E.N.G. She is currently completing a five-month run in Stratford, Ont., of two productions -- Patience and Fiddler on the Roof. When the season ends in November, Tova intends to focus more fully on her singing career. "I've spent my whole life as an actor pretending to be something I'm not," she says, "and there's such liberation in being a musician and being able to express who I am. There's no written dialogue of what I should say." Spoken like a true jazz singer.
[RPM-]
Though understanding the rational behind societally mandated diminishment of Yiddish theatre we nevertheless miss it and its glory days of Menashe Skulnik, Maurice Shwartz, Muni Wesienfeld ( Paul Muni), Molly Picon and other like actors. Still Yiddish will survive so long as there are champions of it suchas THERESA TOVA. An accomplished singer and actor whom we’ve muchly enjoyed in RAGTIME and at the Stratford Festival, she here sings Yiddish Popular songs in a hugly evident and loving labour of love. Whatever its sources Yiddish is a language/dialect/patois whatever that can inbue otherwise mundane words with a richness of emotion unsurpassed even in Italian. Miss Tova expertly and again lovingly mines its rich ore to deliver a purity of musical emotionalism that stuns even the most disspassionate listeners. As proof, we offer the only song previously familiar to us. The Great Depression song Brother Can You Spare A Dime? Sung in Yiddish brings tears to the eyes. An excellent album.
THE HISTORY LESSONS
[CD review translated from the French newspaper L’Express]
AN INSPIRED MARRIAGE BETWEEN JAZZ & YIDDISH MUSIC: Established since the 30’s if not earlier, the affinity between Jazz and Yiddish music of Eastern Europe we have taken to calling Klezmer Music does not have to be justified. Be it the glorious glisses of a clarinet opening Gershwin’s 'Rhapsody in Blue' of 1924, or the feverish reprise of 'Bay Mir Bistu Shayn' that was popularized by the Benny Goodman Quartet 1937, we could feel already that Klezmorim and Jazz men were made to understand each other. Nevertheless nobody has tried to imagine what the likes of Sarah Vaughn and Billie Holiday would have given us had they been formed by the New York Yiddish musical theatre school of which Broadway is in a certain way the continuation. So it falls to Theresa Tova to give us this experience with 'Telling Stories'. To do this the Toronto Singer and actress is very well qualified. She brings together the sensibility of a musician with the responses & techniques that reflect the years where from 'Fiddler On The Roof' to 'Ragtime' she bowed to the exigencies and demands of musical theatre.
In passing we should say that this is Ms. Tova’s first album in a career that has spanned 25 years and she knows very well how to surround herself. To place her trust in John Alcorn who produced the album and a good part of the arrangements was already a step in the right direction. Add to that a half dozen Toronto musicians, divided equally in the Jazz and Klezmer world, among whom we find the ecstatic clarinet of Martin Van de Ven previously with the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, and you have the perfect ideal frame or combination.
Now to the repertoire where the obstacles could have been numerous. To avoid the cliches of "My Yiddishe Mame" and yet to still offer us the necessary points of reference. To use with moderation the pathos that is inherent in this music. “Papirosn”, a story of a little cigarette peddler, is to the Yiddish repertoire what “La Charlotte pris Notre Dame” is to the French song, without becoming overly tragic or suicidal. Allowing room for swing without falling into the trap of over the top cabaret in the vein of Sammy Davis Jr.. To showcase the intricate nuances of the idiom and still allow herself to translate several of the verses into English. All in all one has to recognize that Theresa Tova succeeds more than honorably. For every piece in which she adopts the mannerisms of LIza Minelli she balances with a series of performances where she gives us an incandescent sensuality and in others a melancholy that is irresistible and where one succumbs to her charms. It does not matter which mood, Tova and her musicians achieve here quite a feat... to redefine totally these fragments of memory to better reveal to us its true essence.
[KlezmerShack - Ari Davidow]
And now for something completely different! Actress Tova, who recently performed for then-President Clinton in Ragtime, as Emma Goldman, has taken Yiddish Theatre songs and transformed them to an incredibly wonderful cabaret format. This is theatre music as Molly Picon might be singing were she performing in Toronto today, rather than in the heyday of New York's Second Ave. After a somewhat overdone recording of what is presumably a grandmother talking, the album opens with a version of "Belz" that rivals other modern theatre renditions, such as Mandy Patinkin's, Tova continues with a well-considered and powerfully, beautifully sung set of Yiddish and Yiddish-American songs. Punctuated by little gems, such as the jazzy break at the end of "Leybke," this album is a treat for show music fans, through and through. This harks back to a more recent Jewish tradition, that of Yiddish Theatre, but is no less welcome for that. She presents the songs in impeccable, modern cabaret settings, with excellent accompaniment. Whether the songs are English translations of more poignant Yiddish, as in "Vu ahin zol ikh geyn?" (Tell me where should I go?), or pure Yiddish, whether the songs originated on Second Ave., or in the depression (her Yiddish version of "Brother can you spare a dime"), whether she sings alone, or accompanied by the blessedly ubiquitous David Wall, as in "Shpiel", this album is pure delight. [GRADE: A]
[WORLD BEAT- Geoff Chapman]
THERESA TOVA, has a CD out dubbed TELLING STORIES.. with songs in Yiddish and English she’s backed by leading TO musicians who are active in Klezmer and Jazz. Tova, who’s won critical acclaim for her role in TV’s E.N.G. and for her award winning musical STILL THE NIGHT- which she wrote, starred in and co-produced- sings with passion and polished precision in a lush alto on the album
[CAPITAL XTRA- Frank Shane]
I was a little skeptical. A contemporary Jazz album of Yiddish theatre and folks songs? TELLING STORIES is a deligtful surprise. Canadian songstress and actress THERESA TOVA has a smooth velvety voice that would make the phone book sound good.
[LIFESTYLES MAGAZINE-Lisa Armony]
..Originally known as an award winning actress and not as a singer- hard to believe when one hears her voice which the media has called her “velvet contralto”....What’s next for Canada’s Yiddish Diva?.. What’s making everyone misty- eyed is Tova’s Debut CD, TELLING STORIES, a collection of Yiddish tunes performed in her own upbeat, contemporary Jazz style.... the brilliance of these songs lies not only in their beautiful minor keyed tones, but even more so in their wit and timelessness.
[JEWISH FREE PRESS]
THERESA TOVA’s new CD is magical. Theresa Tova has an incredibly rich, full and sexy voice. It the kind of voice that fills a room and pulls at your heart-strings. And when that voice belts out Yiddish theatre and folk songs, it evokes romantic visions of smoke filled cabarets in pre-war Europe and memories of a by-gone era, when Yiddish culture thrived. ..TELLING STORIES is Tova’s first CD and hopefully not her last.
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Images from the "Telling Stories" CD booklet
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For concert bookings, email agent
For all other matters, email manager
email Theresa Tova
email Webmaster
Representation:
ROBERT MISSEN @ The Bobolink Agency
415 Blythewood Road,
Burlington, ON,
L7L 2H1, Canada
905-632-6047
rmissen@sympatico.ca