Interview: Stevie Holland Celebrates TALK TO YOUR TOMATOES Album at 54 Below

Stevie Holland – the award-winning jazz vocalist and songwriter – will celebrate her new album Talk to Your Tomatoes with a special New York concert at 54 Below on Tuesday, July 28 at 7 pm. The album came out on April 17 and is available on vinyl, CD and in digital and streaming platforms. It’s an accomplished collection of gems and classics from the pop, jazz and American Songbook catalogs.  It also features sophisticated original songs penned by Holland and her longtime collaborator and arranger, award-winning composer Gary William Friedman, who did the arrangements for this album and also re-imagined his original Broadway arrangement of the song “How I Feel” from The Me Nobody Knows. The instrumentation for this album includes a wide variety of orchestrations that include string orchestra, horn combo and guitar along with the trio on several tracks. Stream or download the album at orcd.co/ttytsh.

Read a conversation with Holland about the new album, and 54 Below concert, below.

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What response have you been getting to your new album so far?

After a several-year hiatus from recording a new album, I’m so happy with the universally positive reaction we’ve received. The jazz world respects the solid musical artistry - and even cheekiness, and the theater and pop worlds are finding it an exciting jazz album that’s accessible and rich with story. My personal response is that I’m finding it my most joyful recording yet.

What was important to you about putting the album out on vinyl in addition to digital and streaming formats?

Getting the requests! Though I know there’s been a niche vinyl market developing, I thought it was more for the indie rock crowd. We initially just planned for CD and streaming. But after the album’s release, we started getting requests to our record label and through social media to press a vinyl edition. As an aside, I didn’t know that the lion’s share of vinyl manufacturing is done in Paris. Our distributor was shipped most of the limited release, but the shipment that came in-house was so adorable – very French; they package them in bunches of 25 in a cardboard box with a little handle like an attaché case! 

Can you tell us a little bit about the process of putting together the arrangements for this album with Gary William Friedman?

With all my recordings, each song is chosen for a very personal reason. Gary and I then pow-wow on the instrumental underpinnings of the overall album, and then how to tell each song’s story. We were keen on creating a rich musical palette that included an intimate vocal guitar duet, a string orchestra backing the trio at times as well as incorporating a cool horn sound. Every song gets thought out arrangement-wise - starting with tempo, then a musical motif or a very specific musical figure that Gary composes to set the song apart from previous interpretations and tell it our way. My albums have been graced by some of the greatest improvisational jazz musicians out there who further the song’s narrative with their instrumental solos. But many folks don’t realize that the players begin their improvisational journey using established musical figures that Gary composed in addition to the songs’ melody and chord progressions.

Are you planning to do anything special at your 54 Below concert?

Not fall off the stage with a trio, guitar and three horns up there with me :-D.

Beyond that, I’m working on making this an exciting musical event that feels firmly rooted in jazz, yet very theatrical.

Do you have any other shows or projects coming up that you'd like to share with us?

We’ve been developing our musical Platinum Dreams since its presentation last year at the York Theatre’s New2NY Series. Looking forward to moving that closer to the front burner. There are other musicals in still in development, a Kurt Weill project, and I’m hoping to produce a star-studded musician-vocalist jazz tribute recording of Gary’s musical The Me Nobody Knows. 

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you for sharing my work, Rebecca. I think in these very challenging times that music and art play a big role in lifting spirits. I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to contribute to that.

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Tickets to the July 28 concert at 54 Below are available here. To order the vinyl edition, visit Amazon here.

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