2 posts tagged “jessie baylin”

 12/14/2008 00:10:42  ♥ written by vu ()

For that most wonderful time of the year, I'm planning on doing a Christmas three-parter. It's not as ambitious as last year's xmas special, I'll have to confess.

This first entry is for Jessie Baylin.

Jessie Baylin - That's What I Want For Christmas Nancy Wilson - That's What I Want For Christmas 3 comments SheDaisy - That's What I Want For Christmas

I did see her briefly as she appeared on stage to do a duet with Matt Nathanson. I'm happy to let you know that I have her album, Firesight (released on Verve Forecast from June 24^th). Before we get to the album, I do want to stress because of this Christmas article that she does have a Christmas EP as a special iTunes-only download. It comes bundled with "See How I Run (Radio Mix)" and the video for "Was I On Your Mind". Three songs and video for $2, considering that Apple sells individual video for $2 - so this is actually a pretty good deal.

I did end up checking out the video for "Was I On Your Mind" via the poor quality of youtube. The video looks to me like a cross between sexy and smarts (Baylin in bed with an apartment full of books... and, erm, candles).

As for "That's What I Want for Christmas", this song is a reworking of an old jazz standard. I couldn't find anyone else doing the song, but probably the most famous version is by Nancy Wilson (missnancywilson.com). Miss Nancy Wilson might be best known for being the host of NPR's Jazz Profiles, a show that I subscribe to.

What I like about all the versions that I've heard, is that the song is simply a love song about wanting love instead of gifts, all wrapped around a classic Christmas big band-esque arrangement. Well, except for the cover by country/western act SHeDAISY (shedaisy.com/myspace.com), which sounds more pop.

Jessie Baylin's choice in cover should give you an insight on her influences, which apparently consists of classic jazz/pop women singers, such as Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.

I couldn't find any details about her previous releases (according to wikipedia she released You, an album of "intimate, stylish amalgam of pop, jazz, blues, Western swing"). Although they said the album was available on iTunes, I couldn't find it.

Fortunately, I do have her Part Of You EP, which has the "You" song. There's definitely a kind of rootsy feel to the EP (with a bit of guitar picking in there).

There's really no information on how you can purchase Part of You, all the searches I did all point to her major-label debut album, Firesight.

My favorite songs on Firesight is "By Any Rules" and "See How I Run" (which I think gave such a good impression as the first song). "See How I Run" has a catchy melody, and I thought the album version sounded just fine... but apparently they remixed it for a radio version.

I can see why Baylin decided to go with "Was I on Your Mind" as the video, it's poppy and about longing for someone. It seems to me that most of her songs are about searching/struggling to find someone special... even though in real life she's engaged to drummer of Kings of Leon, Nathan Followill.

So expect to see more of Baylin's easy-on-the-eyes and easier-on-the-ear in the near future as she heads on tour with with Marc Broussard in January (who recently appeared on W♥M).

In the meantime, you should head over to Daytrotter and download some live tracks before she becomes too famous. She's already very popular, just check out her personal blog with heaps of followers. (An interesting thing I've noted is that she's currently listening to Glasvegas, who are appearing in a future xmas xtravaganza post).

Firesight is out now, you can find it at most retail locations. Her That's What I Want For Christmas EP is only available on iTunes for a measly $2 with video!

 11/19/2008 02:39:48  ♥ written by vu ()

First of all, huge apologies to Paul Doucette from The Break and Repair Method, who I was supposed to do coverage on for this concert last night. I can only tell you that I was confused about the start time, Pantages Theater website lists "8:00pm", which I thought was when doors open. By the time I found the venue, found street parking (the parking gods just was not with me), and walking in the cold - I arrived at 9 and Matt Nathanson had taken stage at 9:15!

The report I got from the two women in front of me was that there was actually two opening band, The Break and Repair Method and Jessie Baylin (who later resurfaced to do a duet with Matt). How they were able to fit both their set in under one hour is beyond me.

What I can tell you, based on what I was told, was that the both were well received, although the girls did not know that Paul is actually the drummer from Matchbox Twenty, a very popular band from the 2000s (moving over 45 million records -- remember their Mad Season album?)

Judging from the mostly college students in the sold-out show, both Break and Baylin probably enjoyed a warm reception. Even after the show, there was a huge line-up at the merch table for all three bands.

Well, since I missed their set, I just wanted to make you aware that Doucette is more into indie folky with his latest project, The Break and Repair Method. Their debut album is called Milk the Bee and it was released earlier in September. You can enter into a contest to win yourself a signed copy. On that link you can find another link to download "You Won't Be Able to Be Sad" - which is the song I'm using.

As for Matt Nathanson, he seems really young and lively on stage. He really loves pop music, and even admitted to stealing riffs and chords from his favorite songs. Some of his covers includes James' "Laid", Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl", Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton's "Island in the Stream", Kim Wilde's "Kids in America", Lisa Loeb's "Stay", and the Everly Brothers' "All I Have to do is Dream" (and probably other more obscure ones that I didn't know about). As a cover lover, I approve.

Other things I've noticed, his guitarist wore a Thievery Corporation T-Shirt and they had brought an upright bass on tour with them - shame it was only used on two songs on "All We Are" and the closing encore song.

PS, sorry for the dodgy photograph, I was at a respectable distance from the stage - and this was an old-fashion seated theater so I could not move around.