Music
Press
If you're looking for a rewarding way to celebrate America's greatest gift to the world - its music - this is a fine place to start. Subtitled "Two Hundred Years of American Song, " this 20 track collection by the Valatie husband-wife duo of Sheri Bauer-Mayorga (vocals) and Lincoln Mayorga (piano) is the aural equivalent of a Ken Burns documentary, a broad-scoped survey of American popular music via works by songsmiths ranging from Stephen Foster to Randy Newman, Louis Moreau Gottschalk to John Fogerty, Hoagy Carmichael to Tom Lehrer. Ambitious? Very. But the Mayorgas are up to the challenge, and they make it all flow like the rich, resilient, single-cloth epic it is.
Arranger and composer Lincoln Mayorga is behind the award-winning scores of such films as "The Rose," "Chinatown," "Fame," and "Ragtime;" while Sheri Bauer-Mayorga has worked in New York's theater and new music scenes, and frequently appears on WAMC's "Dancing On the Air." With light accompaniment from bass, drums, guitar, violin, and sax, the couple lovingly thumbs the pages of the American songbook, for a warm session of front-parlor intimacy. As the program passes from ballads to be-bop to ragtime and pop, one under-referenced aspect hits home about America's musical tradition: its consistent affinity for protest tunes. (See Otis Blackwell's "Tell Me Why You Like [Franklin Delano] Roosevelt," Och's "Love Me I'm A Liberal," and Fogerty's "Deja Vu (All Over Again).") So if history has anything to do with it, dissent is far mor American than Applebee's or NASCAR will ever be. - Chronogram/Peter Aaron
"Accompanied by some highly respected guest artists, this disc [AMERICAN SNAPSHOTS: 200 YEARS OF AMERICAN SONG] shows the breath of music styles we call "American" and in the duo's hands, it creates a diverse, though cohesive palette."
- Steven Ramm
"Capturing two hundred years of American music on one CD is quite ambitious, and while one could easily second-guess the twenty selections made by Sheri Bauer-Mayorga and Lincoln Mayorga, one still has to acknowledge that the couple did a fine job in connecting the dots...Sheri has the vocal range to tackle such diverse material, and Lincoln...is renowned for his eclecticism on piano, spanning classical to jazz to pop. " - Seth Rogovoy
"She has a voice worth traveling many oceans to hear, as comfortable with folk songs as she is with jazz standards, haunting ballads, and uptempo romps." - John Mason
"You mean Mayorga can actually play Gottschalk AND 'Kitten On the Keys'? Perfect. It's gonna be a great show. - Studs Terkel
"Her lucid, rangy voice moves through the song like a front porch swing." - Antonio D'Arcangeles
"With a voice that ran the gamut from Joni Mitchell sweetness to Buffy Saint-Marie gruffness, Bauer-Mayorga enlightened the audience with her classic folk tunes." - Peter Bergman
"Lincoln Mayorga reveals unquestioned flair for the Gershwin style and demonstrates wonderful rhythmic esprit in all that he does. These performances must be considered top rank." - Igor Kipnis
"The eminent pianist and teacher, Karl Ulrich Schnabel claimed few pianists could play classical and non-classical styles equally well, with one exception: the wonderfully named Lincoln Mayorga."
- Jed Distler
"The pianistic flare of an Artur Rubinstein and the droll standup delivery of some of our best young comedians"
- Franklin, PA
Discography
"On The Wrong Side of the Railroad Tracks"
TownHall Records
"American Snapshots: 200 Years of American Song"
TownHall Records
"Sophisticated Innocence"
TownHall Records
"Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues"
Sheffield Lab
"Rhapsody In Russia"
Sheffield Lab
Single tracks available on Rhapsody, iTunes, e-tunes, Liquid Digital Media, et al
Photos
Bio
"TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICAN SONG...IS THE AURAL EQUIVALENT OF A KEN BURNS DOCUMENTARY." - Peter Aaron/Chronogram/ June 2007
LINCOLN MAYORGA
"You mean Mayorga can actually play Gottschalk AND 'Kitten On The Keys?" Perfect. It's gonna be a great show." -Studs Terkel, WFMT, Chicago
As a pianist, composer, and arranger, Lincoln has toured internationally with a versatile repertoire. He has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists from Phil Ochs, The Limeliters, Barbara Streisand, Ketty Lester, The Four Preps, Arnold Steinhardt, Itzhak Perlman, to Frank Zappa, and The Piltdown Men. As an LA session man he can be heard on the sound tracks of "The Competition," "Harold and Maude," "Chinatown," "Little House On The Prairie," and movies from Walt Disney Studios. Known in the session world as "The Crossover King," Lincoln's piano recordings cover a gamut of styles from ragtime to Chopin and include "Sophisticated Innocence," "Brahms In Autumn," "Lincoln Mayorga & Distinguished Colleagues," and "Rhapsody In Rivets." Lincoln is co-founder of the audiophile label, Sheffield Lab, and founder of one of the country's oldest independent labels, TownHall Records.
www.lincolnmayorga.com
SHERI BAUER-MAYORGA
"She has a voice worth traveling many oceans to hear, as comfortable with folk songs as she is with jazz standards, haunting ballads, and uptempo romps." -John Mason, Hudson Register Star
Sheri has worked the underground, downtown, alternative, and grassroots scenes as a pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. A graduate of the Hartt School of Music and The Conservatory at Brooklyn College, she lived her salad days in NYC playing contemporary American piano repertoire and appeared at The Kitchen, Clementi Loft Concerts, Lincoln Center's New Music Series/Julliard, and New Music America (Philadelphia and NYC). Acknowledging a soft spot for American song (nourished by an upbringing in a singing "stand-around-the-piano" family), Sheri began running after tunes from traditional to folk to jazz, and singing them. She has performed and toured this repertoire with the Chekov theater company, "The Actor's Ensemble," with Lincoln Mayorga and The Berkshire Bop Society, and produced and recorded two eclectic programs for TownHall Records, "American Snapshots: 200 Years of American Song" and "On The Wrong Side Of The Railroad Tracks." She has appeared at Caffe Lena, The Chautauqua Institute, The Hudson Opera House, The Spencertown Academy, Linda Norris Auditorium, PS/21, and Steinway Hall LA. Then there are summers spent sharing traditional folk songs, games, and dances with children at schools, community theaters, and libraries. Sheri is founder and director of the Columbia Colunty Children's Vocal Ensemble.
www.sheribmayorga.com
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