"It's about time, Andrina!" That's all Chicago native Andrina Singer heard when she told her friends that she was finally going to record an album of her favorite songs. Andrina's life in music began at age ten when it was discovered she could play the violin by ear. Years of training culminated with study at the Chicago Conservatory and performing with the Oak Park-River Forest Symphony Orchestra.
Andrina didn't start her professional career until years later when she was a young wife and mother living in the suburbs. Her first job was as a strolling violinist and vocalist at the lakefront Holiday Inn with it's famous revolving restaurant. This exposure led to her performing at the posh supper clubs and fashionable lounges that were so popular then, including a fifteen year continuing association with the Vince Geraci Orchestra, where Andrina was featured on the unique five string electronic violin. Since then Andrina has played with such notables as Melba More, Joel Gray, and Tony Bennett. She has also worked as a solo performer all over the midwest, but has kept the Chicago area as home to stay close to her family.
When asked why she chose to do a light jazz album, Andrina said that there are so many feelings in music, this album represents just one of my feelings.
We get to experience those feelings first hand as Andrina takes us through this collection of timeless standards, starting with the bouncy, "Ain't Misbehavin." We're then drawn into the evocative, "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life," and then flow into the languid, "Summertime." Andrina picks up the pace with the classic, "Nice Work Medley" and leaves us in a wistful mood reminiscing about, "The Way We Were."
We were delighted with Andrina's vocal gift and her violin virtuosity on this album. When asked about any future albums, Andrina said she was thinking about a light classical album for violin featuring some of those songs that everybody recognizes... but nobody knows the title of!
We wanted to know why, after so many years, Andrina decided to bring out this recording? She told us that there were two main reasons. First, as a legacy to her family, and especially her granddaughter, a young lady who is showing musical talent in her own right. And secondly, to give and recieve. Andrina said "You get something back from the people you touch with your music. I like to think that my music is like a love letter that I'm sending to posterity."
When you listen to this album, I'm sure you'll agree that Andrina is sending a love letter to us all!
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.joanhammel.comTrack List:
1. Ain't Misbehavin'
2. Summer of '42
3. How About You
4. Memory
5. Through The Eyes of Love
6. Midnight Sun
7. Triste
8. What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?
9. Summertime
10. Quiet Nights
11. When Sunny Gets Blue
12. Here's That Rainy Day
13. Nice Work Medley
14. So Many Stars
15. The Way We Were
Other Genres:
