Jean Synodinos
Breathe
© 2006 Jean Synodinos (750532966229)
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A smart-sexy, genre-fractured collection for the big kids in the room. Picture Patti Griffin, Sarah Vaughan and Led Zeppelin in your kitchen. All whiners and purists may now leave.
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Jean Synodinos listens with amazement to the stories people tell her. Those curious single pearls of wisdom, or the full volumes of odd things that just happen to people proving truth is stranger than fiction. In Jean’s case, it’s things like:
-- That humiliating defeat on a nationally-televised game show at the hands of a McDonald’s manager.
-- Those 500 meals of baked ziti consumed in a 2 year span while in a hit off-Broadway show.
-- The 6th grade teacher who suggested she never, ever sing.
Turns out that teacher was just dead wrong. With a voice that’s been hailed as “big league” and “show-stopping,” award-winning songs and accomplished acoustic guitar work, Jean is always out to push the envelope a little bit more with each song and each show. Energetically. Enthusiastically.
With songs that skate between genres, Jean jumps from rock to jazz to pop in order to find the right groove and tone for each song. Known for her dynamic performances, she lives to "read the room" and deliver shows that keep audiences returning for more. But those stories…
“It’s not to suggest that these stories necessarily find their way into songs, but these are the things we all tell each other to break the ice, to get to the next level, to know each other better,” suggests Jean. “Compare a life to a song, and it seems to me that the curious story is the equivalent of the good chorus, while the stuff of every day living, well there are your verses—and that’s the real meat on the bones, isn’t it?”
Following up on her acclaimed debut CD Lucky, Jean has just completed work on, Breathe, set for release in June 2006. Picking up where Lucky left off, Breathe’s eleven tracks groove even harder musically and dig even deeper lyrically. The disc features thoroughbred performances by Charles Rieser on guitars (The Scabs, Boombox), Brad Houser on bass (Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians), and Rob Hooper on drums (Guy Forsythe, Colin Gilmore).
Jean lives in Austin, TX with her husband, guitarist and producer Charles Rieser. A breast cancer survivor, Jean reminds women to get that mammogram! Always kind to animals, she also gardens in spite of repeated failures.
*** Visit jean's website at www.jeansynodinos.com to read all the reviews! ***
*** Be Jean's friend on MySpace at www.myspace.com/jeansynodinos***
HERE'S HOW TO SAY JEAN'S LAST NAME:
sin-uh-DEE-nus. It's easy!
reviews
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- author: Minor 7th Webzine
If I lived in Austin I'd never be home. I'd live at the bars and coffeehouses, savoring the rich musical food that is the center of this city. Jean is one of the musicians providing the feast and girl howdy, there's nothing like that smoky voice with just a hint of grit like yeah, she's been there and done it and done it. And hot damn, those songs! There's nothing predictable about these tasty songs of love and regret with the occasional odd character, fueled with her rhythmic acoustic guitar and rootsy arrangements. It's not folk. Exactly. More like sultry alt-country, low on the twang please, with pop and jazz too. "Yes is the sexiest word," she sings in "Yes (AM)" and "Yes (PM)" and baby, you better believe it. You can hardly hear the little bit of country flavored electric guitar because it's all pushed by the thwap of a snare, a booming bass, and that voice. She downshifts with "Breathe," a finger picked ballad in waltz time. In "Drop My End of the Bone" she's angry, a bad ass electric guitar underlining the mood. I wonder if "Misfits on Parade" was actually written in the coffeehouse where she describes the odd characters, one of them her, who deeply misses someone. The creative tumble of lyrics has urgency like it was scribbled on a napkin. "Houses of the Holy" has a kickin' funk guitar part while "Leave My Mark" features a cool jazzy electric.
- author: John Zeigler, Program Director, KUMD-FM
Excellent tunes, great band… very fine disc!
Jean's gotten even better!
author: J-sin, Smother.netFolk-rock that is a great pick-me-up is a rare find in these days where melancholy seems to drip from the sky. Jean's vocals are dynamic with a tasty amoung of range... she's gotten even better on this terrific follow up [to "Lucky"]! It's an album that I'll be pondering often since it has a new residency in my stereo.
Even better than "Lucky"!
author: John Hammel, Homegrown Radio"Ms. Synodinos' vocals are even more assured than on her previous album "Lucky," and her music gains in depth with added stylistic accretions of sound without sounding dilettantish. She incorporates elements of folk, jazz, rock, blues, et al, in a seamless way that enhances the singer/songwriter genre in general and her own unique perspective in particular.
Why is she not a household name in the folk world??
author: Christy Claxton, Stave MagazineSynodinos definitely has breadth, and "Breathe" begs the question, "Why is Jean Synodinos not a household name in the greater folk world?" All I can figure is that the white boys in charge are damned intiminated by this great artist.
Tiny gestures can speak volumes.
author: David Pyndus, Pop Culture PressTiny gestures like the brush of a finger or a side glance can speak volumes. Jean Synodinos is adept at turning such gestures into philosophical songs that incorporate jazz with a tough blend of organic folk and blues rock.
Jean writes poetry that can be sung.
author: John Conquest, Third Coast MusicThere's no mistaking that marvelous voice, but if that alone gives her a decided advantage in the massed ranks of Austin's Girls with Guitars, she piles it on by writing songs that are estraordinarily inventive and distinctive. She writes poetry that can be sung.
Jean has really nailed it now!
author: Steve PattersonJean has always knocked me out with her tasty lyrics and her smoky, tremmy voice, but I always wanted her to take it to a more rocking level. She has done it all on this release. Even though she hails from stuffy old Pennsylvania, she belongs in Austin. This CD proves she can stand in there and trade licks and lyrics with the best of that crowd.