jean mann

Seattle Duo Brings Fresh Music to Lander
-Julie Hwang, Lander (WY) Journal April 20, 2005

Talking about Jean Mann's "artistic side" would take an awfully long
time. In addition to her music that will bring her to Lander at the
end of April, this singer/songwriter lives her art through cooking,
glass working, drawing with pastels, and creating light strands.

But for the past few years, music has proven her favorite outlet. "I
can't explain it. I never wanted to stop," Mann says of the first time
she picked up a guitar in 15 years. "And I knew that. Even though my
fingertips hurt like crazy."

Mann, who will be joined by Bill Corral to form Bohemian Blue, has
released two records since 2000: Blossom and Seasons. This
singer/songwriter has been compared with Ani DiFranco and Joni
Mitchell, but plays a unique style she's dubbed "alterna-folk."

Rather than rules, Mann writes based on sound and pure emotion. "You
don't need to be a virtuoso on the guitar in order to start writing,"
she says, citing Neil Young's simple two-chord songs as a huge
influence. As an artist more about sharing than performing her music,
she finds opening her life to the audience easier than physically
sitting in front of them. "People come up and tell me, 'Thanks for
putting a voice to what I was feeling,'" Mann says. "I know how lucky
that is to have an outlet like that."

"She's completely self-taught," Corral says, "and I like that because
it lends an innocence and freshness to her music." He adds years of
guitar experience, harmonies, and a myriad of instruments to Mann's
honest music. Between his full-time job, operating a small recording
studio (Froglips), playing with his contradance band Les Pieds Chauds
and the Jean Mann Trio, Corral holds a pretty full plate. But at least
it's balanced. Corral works his nine-to-five as an engineer, a
profession that addresses the technical side of his brain. "And it
keeps me in clean underwear," he says, laughing.

The two Seattle artists met while driving to a musical conference in
San Diego last year. "We're sharing the expression of my music," Mann
says of their performances, which she sees as a collaborative effort.
"It's a great gift if someone is willing to do that." Corral refers to
it as a type of call-and-response. "I like having the freedom of
expression, and that's what Jean allows me to do," the jazz and
classical musician says. The two recently started writing music
together. "By the time we get to Wyoming, we may have some new songs,"
Mann says.

In addition to their easy musical communication, Mann and Corral
connect visual art and music. "That's the way my music feels to me,
the way my art looks," she says. Corral, who mostly writes
instrumentals, sees music in terms of painting visual textures with
sound. He tries to add this texture to whatever Mann plays. "When she
writes her songs," the mandolin player says, "she has a palette of
musical notes, and she's creating a visual image."

Despite a consciously flexible, go-with-the-flow type of mentality,
Mann holds a definite vision for the future. On top of continuing her
other pursuits, she soon starts recording her third album. She'd like
to build a home recording studio and maybe do some soundtrack work.
Mostly, though, Mann simply seeks to continue living her art. "I want
to keep creating and feel vibrant about it," she says. "And learning.
Always learning."
- Lander (WY) Journal

Jean Mann
" Seasons "
Genre: pop
reviewed by Annette Warner -July 2005
Raw, earthy, captivatingly honest. The lyrical tales of Mann’s release, Seasons, digs into a past that leaves a nice taste in my mouth. Jean Mann captures a sound that, while simple, delivers an emotive-filled and unbridled honesty with a ear catching bag of melodies. Sweet vocals.
I like it and want more…..: ) - gogirls.com

Singer/Guitarist jean mann (all lower case), a Seattle transplant originally from Bellingham, Washington, is making a name for herself in the independent music scene. Although she's played piano since the age of 14, mann didn't start playing the guitar regularly until 1995. Her leap to songwriting came in 1998 and within two years she released her first album, Blossom. Blue Flower Friday, mann's do-it-yourself label, is now getting ready to launch her second album.
Citing Neil Young, Rickie Lee Jones and Jeff Buckley among her influences helps explain the soulfulness of mann's voice and the versatility of her music. On her self-written six song demo, mann has a simple, straight forward attitude that fosters her music. The first cut, Home to my Heart, features superior harmonies by mann and superlative violin backing by Eric Martin. A love story, Home to my Heart has a gentle, flowing guitar while track two, Fly, ups the tempo quite a bit. Fly was originally featured on mann's debut album. It is an in-your-face tune reminiscent of Michelle Shocked's Short, Sharp, Shocked days. Like Shocked, mann subscribes to an alterna-folk sound. Both philosophize intelligently with eloquent metaphors and subtle innuendo.
Seasons continues mann's poignant story telling with a melancholy, blues feel. Her richly textured voice aches with every emotion. Color of Your Soul starts off on a quiet path but soon erupts with powerful guitar licks and sassy, sturdy vocals. The next track, Truth Is, slows it back down. One of the more placid ballads on this demo, Truth Is demonstrates mann's knack for sweetly plaintive vocals. That spirit is carried over in Tell Me. A sentimental, romantic tune, Tell Me has both grace and passion just like the artist who sings it. Look for mann to sing tunes from this demo at Blue Flower Cottage Concerts, her house concert 'venue' in Seattle.
It's clear that jean mann has a soaring spirit that is divinely evident in her music. She is a true artist, not only in the musical world, but also in the art world. She paints, draws and does glassworking. Her work has been exhibited all over the Seattle area and her music is next in line. Listening to mann's music transports you to the folk grotto of the mind where affecting metaphors and stark arrangements intertwine to form a soul-stirring compilation. Blossom, mann's debut CD, may be purchased at "http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/blueflowerfriday". Check out "http://www.jeanmann.com" for more information.
- CJ Cauley, Shock Value online zine

The airy music and vocals of Jean Mann's Seasons offer a welcome simplicity in our world of continuous noise. Her songs live in a world inhabited by the constant and enchanting presence of the moon, sun, water and trees. Without interruption or flourishes, Mann's lilting (and sometimes haunting) voice muses over the undiluted structure of acoustic guitar.

The Dance, a waltz that invokes visions of the old world, opens the album. It includes the evocative sounds of mandolin and cello, performed by Beau Gordinier and Kim Blanchard, respectively. Their talents pepper Seasons with nostalgia-flavored sounds.

Mann's perspective distinctively colors her songs. Blue Trees, written in remembrance of a friend, allows spirit to shine through loss: I always know where you are / In mountain mist, a breeze on high carries you home / A drop in the river, in the vein of the earth / Ever flowing on. And all is at peace in your world.

In The World, which Mann refers to as her "love note to the world," gently nudges, It's always easier for me when the sun shines bright / And the sparkles lay across the water / Hey, I figure if they can dance so, just think what I can do with the day.

Seasons jingles and meanders with possibility: Spring springs ahead, and still the snow is falling down on my head / But wait a minute, that's pink petals scattered on the ground / Outside, the season of love abounds. In lieu of silence, Mann's music exudes a quiet peace. Seasons is as soothing as a forest stream. - Sara Zeno, Soundaffects.net

"The moody, ethereal quality of Jean Mann's title cut, 'seasons', was just the thing for a cold gray morning with rain threatening to turn into snow." Susanne Millsaps, KRCL Salt Lake City, UT

"The songs of jean mann offer the listener wonderful melodies and insightful lyrics."
-Michael Dickes, KOHO, Leavenworth, WA - various

June 23, 2004
Singer/songwriter Jean Mann looks to both music and painting for creative expression.

Jean Mann is shy, but her music isn’t.
The Seattle-based songster – a familiar artistic presence here for her pastels and glass lamps, as well as her music – says she must overcome stage fright each time she sings, but has no qualms about opening her life to scrutiny in her self-revealing songs.
“The challenge of performing in front of people is a big one for me,” Mann said. “It’s interesting, because the lyrics are personal and putting myself out there that way, that’s my gift.”
Mann delivers her original material with a voice that’s been compared to a cross between Joni Mitchell and Edith Piaf – although she cites as influences like contemporary folk artists like Neil Young, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake.
A self-trained musician, Mann finds a new composition by strumming desultory chords until a musical phrase catches her attention. She may find lyrics on the spot, capturing the new song on tape.
Her style, which she dubs “alternafolk” ranges from the driving beat of “The Dance,” to the haunting “In the World,” written in the wake of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and intended to be an upbeat personal statement in the bleak aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
“We need to look at things with a peaceful and hopeful eye,” she said. “That’s all we can do.”
The lyrics reflect that message:

“You’re not alone in the world,
though you feel at times well so does every one else
when you really come down to it.
Well I’ll admit, some days it’s harder than others
to get out of bed and face the day.
It’s always easier for me when the sun shines bright
and the sparkles lay across the water.
Hey, I figure if they can dance so, just think what I can do with the day.
One day you’ll look around at what you’ve done for yourself,
and you’ll see you did what you could, and you should be proud, so proud.”

In contrast, “The Dance,” penned in just five minutes, turned into an impromptu collaboration about the joy of moving to music.
“My mandolinist lived next door at the time, so I called him as soon as the song came to me,” she said. “He turned it into a gypsy song.”
Now when she performs “The Dance,” Mann scans her audience to enjoy the sight of listeners swaying in time to the music.
“I look out into the audience and men, in particular, are swaying side to side. I never wrote a song, before, that did that to people.”

Mann took up the guitar seven years ago, but didn’t start composing until her mother’s terminal illness in 2001.
While the songs she wrote weren’t directly about her mother’s imminent death, her creative impulse was triggered by the trauma, she says.
“The death of my mother brought an experience I didn’t have an outlet for,” she said. “The art started at the same time. I’ve been exploding with creativity.”
Choosing to emphasize her creative side would have pleased the mother, who, Mann says, had always championed her daughter’s artistic pursuits.
The two media – music and visual art – have served distinct purposes, Mann says.
“The art was a way to focus on something else, a positive distraction,” she said. “The music helps me get out the feelings of what was challenging me.”
But both creative expressions must flow from deep within to touch an audience, Mann believes.
“When the door (to creativity) is open, then the expression feels very natural,” she said, “and that’s the only way I can be, I realize: totally myself.”
- DEE AXELROD, Bainbridge Island Review

We headed out the back door; the frozen wood cracking under our feet, suddenly the reality of 20 degree F hit us as we tried to open the driver door. Upon failing, I snaked through the passenger door and we were finally on our way to “jean mann: Seasons”, with special guest Kym Tuvim.
On the way I couldn’t help but wonder if jean would be barefoot, with toe rings sparkling against little puffs of snow.
Entering Richard Hugo House, we are greeted with its warmth and the presence as jean’s love is flowing through the air, a relaxed atmosphere welcomes us to enjoy the evening in this wonderful venue. Hugo House has a really hip cabaret area where you can have coffee or a drink and lounge around. In the center is a sweet little stage, raised and equipped with sound and lights. The main theatre is well equipped and flexible, providing a neutral space where jean and crew set up a very beautiful stage with a large carpet accented with candles and flowers. jean could not have picked a better venue.
Contemporaries arrive in support of jean: Nancy Dillon, Shannon Beck, Brendan Hill, and Wes Weddell...a community of music lovers gather together to nurture each other and celebrate the release of a fine CD, “Seasons.”
Earlier in the day I was listening to jean’s CD and I was filled with pastoral scenes, renaissance impressions and chanting grooves. Then jean made my vision a reality with a slide show of her pastel paintings accompanied by Kim Blanchard on cello, who improvised, blending sound with light.
We were all suddenly on a journey through beautiful, soft, peaceful landscapes and close ups of the beauty around us. Now I know why I had these visions when hearing her music. From a multimedia vision to a multimedia event by the artist who inspired the vision, what a treat, thank you jean mann!
I was excited to see in my email from jean, that Kym Tuvim was making a special appearance, having seen her name popping up all over I was suddenly going to watch her play.
Kym showing real class starts off with a gracious thanks to jean for friendship, love and support, calling her a renaissance woman, then in her relaxed and firmly rooted style she showed us what the buzz is all about, powerful vocals with tasteful/dynamic guitar accompaniment. Kym invites jean up to join her on “I Will”, which she wrote for her mother who recently passed away and tells how she met jean who had also lost her mother and was thankful to find a contemporary she could relate to about it. Their harmonies blended with their shared understanding of life’s cycle, their mothers wisdom carried on in friendship through their art. Everyone was moved by their love. Kym does it all from tender songs like this to gutsy blues numbers, she keeps it real, makes you feel welcome and is a solid, passionate performer fit for any stage!
Congratulations to Kym Tuvim on her CD “On The Mend”, A Top 5 Pick of 2003 by: Drew Pearce, Acoustic Music Magazine.
After an awesome set by Kym Tuvim and intermission everyone settles in for
“the jean mann trio”: jean mann on Acoustic Guitar and Vocals, Kim Blanchard on Cello and Beau Gordinier on Mandolin (just coming off their live radio show Friday on KBCS 91.3 FM). With Special Guests: Brendan Hill (Blues Traveler), Arni Adler (Uncle Bonsai), Adrian Moore and Melet Whinston, a stellar line up, just to sparkle things up a bit.
jean, bare feet on her magic carpet, surrounded by flowers and light, describes the experience as “a nice light feeling”, like the newly fallen snow a few days earlier. She felt as though she was giving birth to her CD after the long 2-year journey from conception to birth, an experience of release.
The jean mann trio starts off with Adrian Moore sitting in on Guitar. They start to weave their magic spell on us, drawing us in to their bliss, a magic carpet ride. Then “Blue Trees”, a song for Wally her long time friend, “a nature boy all his life.” Joined by Arni Adler on Accordion and harmony and Melet Whinston on harmony and bells. The ensemble paints a picture of a friendship that lives on as jean sings soulful poetry of Wally, a friend passed on whose spirit is still in the natural world all around her. Changing the groove a little, Brendan Hill joins jean on shaker and they funk it up on “Swimmin'”. Is this shades of jean to come? After a magical set all the guest artists join in on my favorite tune on the disk, “The Dance”, an old world waltz that carried us away to another time and place. jean was glowing as the room filled with beautiful music, a superb finale to a fine evening of music performed by a great cast of musicians in celebration of her music.
All this from a woman who wrote her first song 4 years ago and started playing guitar 7 years ago. Quite an accomplishment and one I’m sure she is proud of, as she should be.
Kym later said, “there was so much love in that room”, and there was! As I learn more about jean I see that love is her favorite recipe, using music to cook up love, and boy can she cook!
Wes Weddell did a fine job as emcee, keeping the night flowing. Wes is one of those musicians who doesn’t wait around for it to happen, he makes it happen, he started the “Puget’s Sound Concert Series” at Meadowbrook Community Center the second Friday of each month featuring NW songwriters. Wes reminds us that this is what independent music is all about, a community of players and writers working together to enhance their own music and the music of others. Kudos to Bill Corral for a fine job on sound!
By the time this article goes to print the fans in Bellingham will have experienced the return of this Bellingham native with her CD release party at The Whatcom Museum, where she learned about the NW and was first inspired to be an artist.
We never did get the driver's door to open but enduring the cold was well worth being a part of jean mann: “Seasons”. - Michael Guthrie, Victory Review Acoustic Music Magazine