Lorraine Feather, now an Orcas Islander, releases new cd, "Ages" as follow-up to "Language"
Ages, the follow-up to lyricist/vocalist Lorraine Feather’s acclaimed 2008 release Language, debuts on February 9, 2010. Language received numerous rave reviews and rose to #1 on the JazzWeek radio airplay chart. Media coverage reached a peak when NPR’s Susan Stamberg interviewed Lorraine on the Weekend Edition program.
The music on Feather’s new release is by Russell Ferrante [Yellowjackets], Shelly Berg, Eddie Arkin, Béla Fleck, and Dick Hyman, who all guest as musicians (some of the tracks also incorporate unusual percussion such as a trash can and dog bowl). The original songs on Ages range from the hilarious to the heart-rending; Feather’s lyrics cover a wide range of topics including marriage, death, B vitamins, long-held yearnings, grammar school, and Scrabble—commentaries on life as she has known it “from zero to sixty.”
Besides her career as a jazz singer-songwriter, Feather is a working lyricist who has earned seven Emmy nominations. In 2009 she produced an animated short based on her Fats Waller reinvention “You’re Outa Here.” The short has been shown at 35 festivals internationally to date, and has won several awards, including Best Music Video at the South Beach Animation Festival.
“Satirical songs of noncommitted lovers and nonhuman voices… zany observations… Ms. Feather’s patter, sung with a conversational ease, suggests Dave Frishberg in double time mixed with the antic playfulness of Jon Hendricks.” – Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“Lorraine Feather is one courageous writer. She executes this high-wire act without a net and lands on her feet every time.” – Alan Bergman
