Biography
SOME COMMENTS FROM THE PRESS AROUND THE WORLD:
…stunning…sheer beauty… she rocked! – Cabaret Scenes, New York City
…vivacious brand of jazz…inspired…swinging…cool - Luna Kafé, Sweden
…seductive… polished vocal phrasing… irresistible - Blast Radio 1386, UK
…beautiful...truly original... - L’Arena, Verona, Italy
…astounding command of [her] voice - HMP Magazine, Warsaw, Poland
…a rich and sophisticated mixture. - The Borderland Magazine, UK
…a sultry voice with hints of Piaf – San Francisco Bay Times
PERFORMING IN PARIS JULY 25 and at San Francisco's RRAZZ ROOM at the Hotel Nikko Union Square on SEPT. 13.
Her success in Paris was two-fold: a sold-out concert at the swank, New York-sytyle Swan Bar, and acclaim for her CD at the underground cave disco, Chez Georges, where the young crowd danced on the tables to her world jazz groove.
See Paris clips at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lua-Hadar-in-Paris/114420664760
Video Channel: http://www.youtube.com/luahadar
Hi-res Photo download
http://www.luahadar.com/POP4_calendar_photos.html
Hear or buy latest CD, Lua Hadar with TWIST, at iTunes, most digital download sites and at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/luahadar2
Official Website: http://www.luahadar.com
MySpace Music: http://www.myspace.com/luahadarwithtwist
DESCRIPTION:
Lua Hadar, a unique and original vocalist with a soaring range, interprets lyrics in several languages with a charming, swinging delivery. Her band is called TWIST. Her latest release, called Lua Hadar with TWIST, is now available on CD baby and digital download sites, including iTunes.
TWIST, headlined by the passionate Lua Hadar, plays its own brand of jazz without borders, spiced with elements of Latin, pop, funk, and international cabaret. Hadar wraps her 4-octave range around the elegant piano work of music director Jason Martineau, while the 6-piece TWIST “rocks the casbah,” with some of the world’s best sidemen on reeds, bass, drums, jazz accordion and Latin percussion.
Their CD had the crowd dancing on the tables at the famed music bar, Chez Georges, in Paris, where famous singers including the likes of Bob Dylan have rocked the crowd over the years.
Listeners who enjoy the international flair of Pink Martini, the vocal jazz of Karrin Allyson and Dee Dee Bridgewater, or the virtuosity of Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel will like this vocalist and her sophisticated, high-energy band.
Hadar and TWIST do indeed “twist” familiar tunes from the American Songbook and musical theater into internationally-flavored, Latin-rhythmed arrangements, sometimes jumping genres and styles within a song. They also introduce rarely performed Italian and French songs.
TWIST's mission is to bring an experience of unity to audiences around the world. Their October 2008 debut at the Bangkok International Festival of Dance & Music began that road. Reviews on the CD from all over the country and as far as Poland and the UK confirm the broad appeal of the sound.
"This review only needs one word really – WOW! With a powerful voice booming from the Latin heavens, Hadar spreads a rainbow of passion across the musical landscape… fire power spicier than any dish in a local cabana… simply amazing, a glorious ride into the passions hiding behind the hearts of everyday." - J. Edward Sumearu, The Metro Spirit, Augusta, GA
"…astounding command of [her] voice…her name should be spotlighted worldwide." - Nicolo Furmankiewicz, Department of Virtuosity Magazine, Warsaw, Poland
"The jazz on show here is blended with world music elements, especially French and Latin flavors, which make for quite a rich and sophisticated mixture." - John M. Peters, The Borderland Magazine (UK)
"A sexy lady from New York who swings it internationally. It’s a high-octane release, something new and unexpected." - Chris Spector, Midwest Record Recap, Lake Zurich, Il.
"Hadar is matched with a jazz quartet augmented by Latin percussion and accordion to deliver a unique sound they call "Jazz Without Borders"." - Jeffrey Siegel, Straight No Chaser, Springfield, MA
BIO:
Lua moves from stage to cabaret to jazz club with effervescent ease, switching vocal genres or languages just as easily. A native New Yorker, from a musical family, Lua Hadar has performed as an actor and singer all her life.
After graduating summa cum laude with a B.A. in Theatre Performance, Lua attended the celebrated Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and The Dalcroze School of Music, in Manhattan. She did the rounds as a New York actress while she waited tables at the renowned Storyville Jazz Club, where she heard all the jazz greats of the time (she remembers, with a thrill, serving Sarah Vaughn).
As a young actress, Lua appeared Off-Broadway and was selected to audition both for film director Milos Forman and for Metropolitan Opera coach, Joan Dornemann. This led to years of vocal training and a series of wacky day jobs, ranging from demonstrating The Cuisinart Food Processor in Bloomingdale’s to delivering singing telegrams, dressed as a gorilla in a tux.
Lua’s style as a vocalist has been molded by exchange experiences in places as diverse as Bali, Russia, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand and Italy. Her fascination with world cultures is reflected in the sophisticated song choices for TWIST.
Her love for languages led to a 5-year residency in Italy, with a Verona-based Italian theatre company, where she played hundreds of performances on tour in Spain, Switzerland and all over Italy. There, Lua continued to develop her signature style and also learned to direct, produce, tour manage, and of course, sing - in Italian. Her performances included 300+ of a one-woman Italian version of the American musical Peter Pan; it’s lyrics artfully rewritten by Italian lyricist-writer-producer, Nini Giacomelli.
In 2003, her American vocal trio won awards and praise at The Italian National Festival of Comic Songs & Songwriters: From the Shaman to the Showman, in Italy’s Vallecamonica. The Kitchenettes trio, co-founded in San Francisco by Lua in 2001, and often described as “The Andrews Sisters on acid,” made a huge hit and were featured online in GQ Italy. In 2000, Lua sold out a solo concert produced by the Centro Culturale Teatro Camuno, co-producers of the Shaman to the Showman festival, along with Festival Club Tenco and the late songwriter and RAI TV producer, Sergio Bardotti.
In the States (New York and San Francisco) Lua formed her own company, New Performance Group, producing original material and music performances, delivering instruction in the performing arts, and continuing to create with her Italian colleagues. In San Francisco, she recorded four CD’s, most recently her new CD, Lua Hadar with TWIST, independently released on the Bellalua Records label, in May 2008, at New York City's Iridium Jazz Club.
New York critic Joe Regan Jr. wrote about the May 10th release performance: - "a stunning evening - sheer beauty - every selection was dramatically on the nose - she rocked - her physical presence and body language remind one of the great Latin, Abbe Lane, at her peak. The evening was pure pleasure!"
Lua Hadar with TWIST made an equally stunning international festival debut in October 2008, at one of Asia's top venues, The Thailand Cultural Center, featured in the Bangkok 10th International Festival of Dance and Music, where Lua was greeted with cheers and a record number of CD sales.
In addition to producing event series and master classes, Lua has created, produced and performed three solo cabaret shows, garnering the critics’ praise on the West Coast in venues such as The Empire Plush Room, Jazz at Pearl’s and Hollywood’s The Gardenia and M-Bar Supper Clubs.
Lua has often appeared in musical theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area, with companies such as 42nd Street Moon, The Exit Theater and Theatreworks, working with directors and composers such as Paul Gordon, Robert Kelley, Robert Weinapple and Don Seaver, as well as with TWIST’s music director, Jason Martineau. Lua was featured in the 2006 debut showcase of the new chamber musical, Viva Concha, by Candace Forest, slated for a Russian cultural exchange.
TWIST’s Musical Director, Jason Martineau, is an award-winning pianist, composer, arranger, and instructor, and has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1995. As jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader, “Dr. J” directs the 6-piece TWIST, comprised of piano, bass, drums, percussion, reeds, accordion and headlined by Hadar on vocals. A native New Yorker as well, his association with Lua began in 2005 in San Francisco, with the production of her first CD, It’s about Time (Bellalua Records, www.luahadar.com).
Lua is very active in the San Francisco Bay Area as a performing arts consultant and mentor. She maintains a private Vocal Studio where she trains professional singers and actors.
Lua's love for The Great American Songbook, begun in her New York childhood, mixes with the international flavors of her life, so jazz club and concert audiences enjoy an eclectic mix of grooves and languages, from the familiar to the exotic, but always with Lua’s unique twist.
Instrumentation
Vocals: Lua Hadar
Music Director: Jason Martineau
Piano: Jason Martineau, Sheldon Forrest, Dave Austin
Bass: Andrew Higgins, Tom Hubbard, Mike Carr, Mario Suracci, Eugene Warren, John Wiitala, Daniel Fabricant
Drums: Jim Zimmerman, Scott Latzky, Dave Rokeach, Randy Odell, Kent Bryson, Dave Rokeach, Bob Blankenship
Reeds: Tony Malfatti, Dave Pietro, Mark Hodgkins, Robert Kyle, Ray Loeckle
Latin Percussion: Patricio Angulo, Joe Passaro, Antonio Gutierrez-Hernandez, Jacob Lawlor, Michaelle Goerlitz
Accordion: Dave Miotke
Discography
Lua Hadar with TWIST
Unexpected Broadway, solo with pianist Sheldon Forrest
Dining at The Banquet, with The Kitchenettes vocal trio
Lo Shomano, Italian National Comic Song Festival CD
It's about Time, solo with The Jason Martineau Jazz Trio
CD's available at:
Medium Rare Records, San Francisco, CA
The Groove Yard, Oakland, CA
Cdbaby.com/luahadar
iTunes, Rhapsody, and many other digital venues.
Links
| http://www.luahadar.com |