Sony Holland Press

The road to singer Sony Holland's loving embrace of the Great American Songbook as well as custom crafted originals is long and winding, yet one that has molded her artistry into a masterpiece of tonal warmth and inviting articulation. The title of her generous and outstanding national debut, Swing, Bossas, Ballads & Blues, holds the promise of a musical smorgasbord that the lovely lady passionately delivers with sensuality, grace and panache. Consisting of 16 imaginatively arranged numbers that swing from a mesmerizing "Speak Low" and "Midnight Sun” to "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" done with a New Orleans second line beat - plus 8 unforgettable originals penned by her husband Jerry Holland - the album is the culmination of a life spent searching for her musical niche on two continents and via several musical styles. Every experience served to make Sony Holland a singer classically informed yet jazzily influenced, resulting in a dazzling vocal gift that waxes as effortless as it is indelibly impressive.

Sony was born in a Minnesota suburb to a minister father and a mother who was a trained coloratura and pianist. From home to the church, music was a staple of Sony's childhood. "My mother directed the choir of the church where my father was the pastor," Sony shares, "so we were there all day on Sundays. The first time I ever sang in public was with my mom and sisters doing 'Que Sera Sera' at a mother/daughter banquet. My mother was definitely my first musical influence."

Young Sony was also a night owl who often had trouble going to sleep at night, so her mother would often sing to her or let her listen to the radio while she drifted off. Sony learned many songs early in life in this manner.

As the family moved to Rhode Island and later to Fargo, North Dakota, Sony's taste in music expanded to include Barbra Streisand and Johnny Mathis from her parents' generation as well as the Aerosmith and Rolling Stones of her own. And by high school, she followed in her mother's footsteps with private classical training, singing arias. "At 15 I was studying privately with North Dakota State University instructor Bob Olson to learn technique so I wouldn't ruin my voice, I was singing non-stop with everything from rock groups to school choirs. As a kid I knew I wanted to perform. I just wasn't sure of what or how!"

Sony attended Concordia College in Moorehead, Minnesota, majoring in voice with a minor in piano. After one year - longing to get back on stage and to experience living in a proper city - she relocated to Minneapolis where she joined Top 40 and funk bands. Prince and Jody Watley were all the rage, so Sony found herself doing rave up renditions of hits such as "Real Love." Intuitively, however, Sony understood the importance of continuing her vocal studies...as long as her voice didn't become so "trained" as to only be able to interpret a classical repertoire.

Seeing the limits of the club scene, Sony moved once again, this time to Nashville, where she heard there was a rich professional music scene brewing. "I met a few publishers and recorded a few demos," Sony says, "Then I met Randy Boudreaux who played me a bunch of songs by a guy named Jerry Holland who just had a #1 country hit called 'Friends' on John Michael Montgomery. I really liked his stuff and asked if I could meet him. The next thing I know, Randy set Jerry and I up on a blind date which turned out to be at a country music event called 'Fan Fair' where I got backstage and met a few stars. I hated to admit it...but I was impressed!'"

Sony left Nashville briefly to accept a gig with a Top 40 band, but in a sweepingly romantic gesture, Jerry flew to Denver to rescue her and they were married shortly afterward. They immediately headed to Paris for 10 months. This is where Sony really dug in and began studying the great singers in earnest. "I wanted to find some music I could sing until I was Tony Bennett's age," Sony reasons. "So I started collecting CDs by Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee along with the Mathis stuff I already had." Now fortified with the discipline to apply her voice to this material she was rapidly falling in love with, Sony found a practice space and devoted hours a day without fail to the further development of her instrument and phrasing. Back in Nashville, she put a band together and within a month was gigging steadily at the jazz restaurant F. Scott's - a job she maintained for two years.

In search of a city with more places to perform, Sony and Jerry headed west to San Francisco and quickly began winning the city over...from the ground up! "I started off ‘busking’ there," Sony says smiling at the memory of singing at Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiradelli Square. “None of the other street performers thought I would last, but I was determined to make a living. I sang in the cold, the rain, the wind, even when no one else was around” she recalls, “but that’s how you start to get good.” As her reputation grew, Sony landed sweet gigs at top venues such as Jazz at Pearl's and Yoshi's, with lines out the door. These shows also led to extended overseas gigs in Bangkok and the Park Hyatt in Tokyo (immortalized in the Sofia Coppola film Lost in Translation).

Now Sony herself has been gloriously immortalized with a great national debut CD Swing, Bossas, Ballads & Blues. The project consists of half classic compositions that span the ages and half songs evocatively tailor made for her by her husband. It is being released on the couple's own Van Ness Records label and was engineered by Capitol Records veteran Leslie Ann Jones at George Lucas' state of the art Skywalker Sound Studio. For the sessions, Sony surrounded herself with some of San Francisco's finest players - keyboardists Larry Dunlap and Art Khu, saxophonist Charles McNeal, bassist Seward McCain, drummer David Rokeach, and guitarists Jim Nichols, Dave MacNab and Steve Erquiaga. The overall effect is simply WOW!

Sony brings a relaxed and assured glow to standards such as "The Shadow of Your Smile" and "My Funny Valentine" as well as the gems "Meditation" and "Here's That Rainy Day." "The Great American Songbook standards are iconic for a reason," Sony states. "I love to sing them and they are always someone's favorite song in the audience." And what she has done with the languid adoration of Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is so aurally transfixing that several fans fervently insist that Sony has made the song all her own.

As much or more delightful are the songs written just for her by Jerry Holland that range from the divine opener "As You Are" (penned after a tiff he and Sony had before a gig) to the clever "You're the Best" (a parody of Cole Porter's "You're the Tops" turned into a break-up song). "Jerry is like a 21st Century Cole Porter in my eyes," Sony shares of her husband who writes both music and lyrics. He not only turned their early overseas memories into the swinger "I'll Remember Paris," he turned a friend's confession that he considered suicide daily until the birth of his son into the bouncin' Vince Guaraldi-esque "Saving My Life Everyday."

Elsewhere, the smoky "Million Dollar Dreams" was inspired by studying Sharon Stone's character in Casino (nice work if you can get it) while the steaming pot o' blues "Act Like You're in Love with Me" is a come hither reminder to never take your lover for granted. Jerry explains "Sony and I work together, live together and socialize together, so every once in a while we might neglect one another. You could subtitle this song 'The Long Term Relationship Blues!'"

Perhaps most revealing are the two remaining originals. "I Can't Blame Them for Trying” tackles the dilemma of being in love with someone that others wish (and sometimes even go after) to be their lover. "Even though Sony sings it," Jerry shares, "I wrote it about how I feel when guys hit on her!" And then there's the guitar driven Lou Rawls-esque soul of "I Was No Angel Myself," a playfully wistful lark inspired by a fiery young cousin of Jerry's described as "danger on heels!" "The last time I saw her she was 10. All of a sudden at 18 she comes up to San Francisco from San Diego to visit me wearing a mini mini skirt. But Sony and I were both wild and crazy in our teens so all I could do was smile." Listeners will smile, too, when they enjoy that song and all of the wonderful material on Sony's long-overdue debut, Swing, Bossas, Ballads &Blues.

Looking back on the path she's traveled to arrive at this sparkling moment, Sony reflects soberly, "You know, I tried to quit the music biz a few times... Kids today don't know what it’s like to live in a band house with your group mates and no heat in Casper, Wyoming in the dead of winter! Sometimes you just don't see the fruits of it all, but I always came back. The most fulfilling thing for me thus far has been Jerry and I building a fan base in San Francisco from nothing to selling out Yoshi's."

"It's passion and drive that continues to make me push even harder,” Sony concludes, "and I have a lot of work yet to do."

"A decidedly modern jazz diva. Her voice combines the pop stylings of Nancy Wilson with the open throated bell tones of Streisand."
Jane Ganahl, SF CHRONICLE
"Fantastic! So smooth she'll melt your speakers with her take on the American Songbook." Doug Thomas, KSSJ SACRAMENTO
"Sony Holland's new disc, "Out of this World," is another winner. The
San Francisco-based vocalist, a local treasure, delivers superb takes on
such classics as "Old Devil Moon" and "I've Got You Under My Skin."
Jim Harrington, OAKLAND TRIBUNE
"Out Of This World will introduce the infectious and warm singing of Sony Holland to a larger audience." Scott Yanow, LA JAZZ SCENE
"An effervescent singer! She's a cross between Peggy Lee & Nancy Wilson." Richard Connema, TALKING BROADWAY
"She's going to be a smash! Great voice, great style, great songs..."
Don Bowen, KRML JAZZ RADIO
"Her voice and style bring to mind the music of Peggy Lee."
Craig Hurst, ALL ABOUT JAZZ
"Listeners can practically see her smiling through their speakers"
Donna Kimura, JAZZ REVIEW
"This lady can SING!" Fernando Malin, JAZZ NOW

OUT OF THIS WORLD - Recorded at San Jose's Open Path Studio, the album is aptly titled, as it flies us past the old devil moon to starry skies. Standards take on new vibrancy with Sony Holland's impeccably smooth technique, marvelous phrasing and sincere emotion. A velvety sensuality drips from her voice. The lovely, lilting "The Nearness Of You" and bluesy, softly swinging "The Thrill is Gone" are among the many highlights. Her original composition "By The Sea" holds its own with the pop classics. A Minnesota native who moved to San Francisco in 2003, Holland has played the Bay Area's top jazz venues. There will be a CD release celebration at Yoshi's in Oakland's Jack London Square on Jan. 29. (Paul Freeman, The Daily News Group)

Lots of independent releases come sailing into the girlsingers.org mailbox - not so many of them make it into heavy rotation on the iPod commute mix. This one will be there for quite a while. Go past Norah and Diana at iTunes or your corner brick-and-mortar shop. This one's worth a special order, if you have to. It belongs in your collection.
Highest Recommendation
Doug Boynton, http://www.girlsingers.org

"If you only buy one independent CD this year this should be it. On A San Francisco High is deservedly the best CD I've reviewed in 2003."
Gian Fiero, THE MUSES MUSE
"On A San Francisco High is a great album by one of the best new singers around." Bruce Von Steirs, BVS REVIEWS

Out Of This World is the latest release of fab smooth jazz standards from San Francisco’s own chanteuse Sony Holland who serves up delightful and sophisticated lemon-drop jazzsters that will swing even the most jaded ears. She has done extensive performance runs in Asia but now gigs throughout the Bay Area lurking in the city’s most treasured jazz haunts. My picks: “It’s An Understatement,” “The Nearness Of You,” “Come Fly With Me,” “In A Sentimental Mood” and “By The Sea.” DJ Puss Puss, SF BAY TIMES

For several years Sony Holland was among Music City’s best jazz singers, and though no longer living here, it’s good to hear Out Of This World (Van Ness), Holland’s latest that was recorded last year in San Francisco. It contains sweltering ballads such as “The Nearness of You” and “At Last,” plus demonstrative treatments of “Skylark,” “The Thrill Is Gone,” “Old Devil Moon,” and “In A Sentimental Mood,” plus a nice original “By The Sea” and another Holland number “It’s An Understatement” that emphasize her interpretative skills on her own lyrics. Sony Holland’s equally impressive regardless of tempo or musical situation, and she does find ways of injecting her own personality into even numbers like “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” or “Skylark” that have certainly been done by tons of vocalists. Hopefully Sony Holland will eventually return to Nashville, at least for a few concerts. In the meantime, Out Of This World reveals that she’s sorely missed here in Music City.
Ron Wynn, the Nashville City Paper