Dean Madonia
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Dean Madonia

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"Dean Madonia "The Light of Reason" & "Madness and Desire, One Night in America""

Dean Madonia
"The Light of Reason"
&
"Madness and Desire, One Night in America"

Born and raised in Kalamazoo, pop-rock pianist Dean Madonia is still an occasional face on the West Michigan music scene; sometimes he plays at Mojo’s in Grand Rapids. But Madonia is spending a lot of time in his new home of Nashville, trying to make the move from bar gigs to the big time. Interesting back story: Madonia lost his right ring finger and the tip of his pinky in a lawn mowing accident three years ago. And yet, the man plays on – and plays well. Madonia – with his band — has recently released two CDs: The Light of Reason and Madness and Desire, One Night in America. Two of the best songs on "Reason" are “American Love Song” (with its Beatles White Album feel at the beginning and end) and “No Tomorrow,” a hard-driving song that could easily be a radio hit. While Madonia wrote most (all) of the songs on Reason himself, Madonia friend and songwriter Scott Avery penned the tracks on Madness and Desire. This is a darker and more mellow CD than Reason. The final song, “Mile Marker Zero,” is perhaps the best; it’s about
starting over and not being judged by the past.
By the REVUE Editorial Staff - Revue Magazine (Aug 1, 2006) - Revue Magazine (Aug 1, 2006)


"Nashville Music Guide (Apr 1, 2006)"

Nashville Music Guide
April 2006 By Brad Fischer

ONE NIGHT IN AMERICA
Artist: Madness & Desire
There are twelve songs on this new CD from Dean Madonia and madness & Desire penned by Scott Avery. This soft rock album will remind you at times of Cat Stevens with its ryyhmic storytelling vocals that come from the soul. But you will also hear other influences that carry you along into the theme of the album. Produced by Dean Madonia for Soft Monkey Music, the CD offers excellent instrumentation as well as superb arrangements. A toke or two won't hurt what you hear either. Look for it at record stores or at www.deanmadonia.com on the web.
Rating: Seven Stars ******* (out of seven)
Brad Fischer - Nashville Music Guide (Apr 1, 2006) - Nashville Music Guide (Apr 1, 2006)


"" A Star For Our Generation""

MTV local, June 9, 1998 Review of Deep Sky

" A Star For Our Generation"

Singer/songwriter DEAN MADONIA performed sans band on a recent Saturday at Tuna's, a waterfront bar and grill in North Miami Beach. Despite a rocky start, his solo performance went on without a hitch. His voice is a cross between the late SHANNON HOON of BLIND MELON and PEARL JAM'S EDDIE VEDDER. He performed "I'll Fall In Love Again" and "On The Way Home" from his CD Deep Sky on his own label, Soft Monkey Music Inc. At one point he actually left the stage to personally sing "Happy Birthday" to one lucky lady in the audience! Madonia also performed various cover tunes at the request of the audience. But don't call him Dean when he's performing someone else's material. His moniker is "Underdog" to his loyal fans and friends when he's covering other artists. He plays everything from HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH, WALLFLOWERS, TOAD THE WET SPROCKET and NIRVANA to INXS and THE CARS. Dean is very comfortable on stage; this is mostly due to his early beginnings in music. Both he and his father began to take piano lessons when Dean was only eight years old. Once his father worked regular gigs, he'd play during his dad's breaks. His musical repertoire also includes keyboards and guitar. As the writer of his own music and lyrics, Madonia's sound is directly related to his musical influences and personal taste. He says his lyrical influences were artists such as PAUL SIMON, BILLY JOEL, JONI MITCHELL and TORI AMOS. In his music, though, you can really hear undertones of JAMES TAYLOR, TONIC, and COLLECTIVE SOUL. His live performances are great and his album is even better, but if you can't catch him at one of his shows, you can hear him on Sundays during 94.9's "Zeta Goes Local" show, college radio station WVUM, "The Beast and Baker Show" on 790 AM as well as a few underground stations who shall remain nameless. The hardest working guy in the local scene, Dean plays several gigs weekly, performs with his band at local clubs, and recently competed in the "Baywatch Official Battle Of The Bands" as well as touring all over Florida in support of the new album. This talented guy won't be gigging for long. "I would like to get out of the bar business and get into the music business," he told me during one of his breaks. To find out more about DEAN MADONIA and his band, where they'll be performing and where to get the Deep Sky album, visit his website at www.gate.net/~madoniac/deep.html. -- Maxine Hinds MTV College Stringer feedlocal@mtvmail.com (June 9, 1998)
Maxine Hinds - MTV local - Maxine Hinds - MTV local


"July 2 1998 Review of"

Jam Magazine, South Florida Edition Musician Directory Issue # 251, June 19 - July 2 1998 Review of "Deep Sky" Florida Independent Reviews Dean Madonia Deep Sky Soft Monkey Music, Inc. **** (four stars)

Dean Madonia takes us on an emotional journey with Deep Sky. As composer, arranger, vocalist, guitarist, and keyboard- ist, Madonia is one very talented fellow! The opening tune, "The War Came Home To Me," is a good overall mix of what is to come on the following tracks that range from rocking rhythyms to easy listening ballads. If a hit is a good song that stirs your emotions, Madonia has some sure- fire, heartfelt, winners on his hands! "Without A Net' and "Ill Fall in Love Again" are two examples of Madonia's passion. These are truly beautiful ballads that take us on an emotional journey without being "sappy." That's partly due to the order of the tracks. Rocking tunes like "The Falling Of Our Love," "Walking the Solitude," and "Wishbone" fall strategically between the easy listening tunes and ballads. Deep Sky, produced by Madonia and Mark Loren, carries your interest the whole way through and is definately a great musical work, with good hooks, instrumentation, vocal displays, and messages. Deep Sky is well worth keeping in your CD library to listen to over and over again. -Deborah Toby
Deborah Toby - Jam Magazine - Deborah Toby - Jam Magazine


"Dean Madonia "Deep Sky""

There are always going to be people who find themselves at odds with thier times. Dean Madonia is a singer/songwriter who may have prospered alongside James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell and pre-Glam Elton John. Madonia's songs are personal, heartfelt confessions wrapped in lush melodies and understated arrangements. Don't let me give you the impression that Deep Sky is a retro 70's disc. The production and arrangements show the influence of contemporary singers like Tori Amow, who work in similar emotional territory. I can safely say that Dean Madonia is following his own muse rather than chasing trends. I hope he finds his audience - Bob Pomeroy FOCUS 17
Bob Pomeroy - FOCUS 17 - Bob Pomeroy FOCUS 17


"Dean madonia "deep Sky" Soft Monkey Music"

Dean Madonia, Deep Sky - Soft Monkey Music

The post-it on this says "Toad the Wet Sprocket meets Elton John meets Tonic meets Sting," and I've had to say it's pretty accurate, in a happy way. Those whose hides were riled by those references should steer WAY CLEAR of this, but it's otherwise an excellent collection of lyrics and music that will certainly appeal to fans of... you know. Madonia has a powerful voice that seems somewhat out of place with the thoughtful and well-orchestrated backgrounds (has he tried his hand at metal?), but his creative ideas seem stifled by those traditional arrangements. Something to watch... Soft Monkey Music, 1007 SW 18th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315

--Kurt Channing - INK 19 - INK 19


"WYSCAN Third Wish"

WYSCAN
Third Wish
9 song CD
Recorded at Heavy Air Studio (Miami)
**** (out of four)


One of the attributes of a real musician is the ability to know when to hold back on an obvious musical set-up--knowing when to apply the subtle, quick riff or laidback, textured background fill while other inexperienced musicians pummel their listeners with lunkheaded solos or freeze-dried melodies. Formerly called "Third Wish," the band was forced to change their name for legal reasons to Wyscan. This quintet is an accomplished progressive metal act that ascends a few steps beyond the heavy posturing ofbetter-known groups like "Dream Theatre" by witholding their technical virtuosity until the right moment. While guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and keyboardist John Roggie both have plentiful chops, "Third Wish" is filled with little bursts of energetic playing and exciting accents rather than the bombastic overload favored by most groups in the genre.


As a by-product, "Third Wish" should appeal to hard rock listeners searching for new directions - those curious folks initially put off by all of the complex chord changes and quick change-up rhythyms that only music students seem to fathom. Even though Wyscan can conjure some mellow moments (especially on the ballad "The Wanting," with vocalist Dean Madonia sounding like a ringer for Billy Ocean), the emphasis here is on inventive construction (the songs often sound like a cross between Be Bop Deluxe and King Crimson) with some underlying fusion moves. While there are a lot of thoughtful passages, it never sounds too brainy, nor does it sound stuffed with a lot of arty pretense.

Contact: Batboy music, 3150 jackson Aveenue, Miami FL 33133 (305) 441-7020

Richard Pomplesch - Jam Magazine May 10, 1996 (May 10, 1997) - Jam Magazine May 10, 1996 (May 10, 1997)


"Will They Get Their Third Wish?"

Will They Get Their Third Wish?

A Miami Band that's an alternative to alternative by Bill Meredith

Contrary to what MTV would have you believe, to see a band is not necessarily to hear a band. Look at Miami band Third Wish and you'd be tempted to think hard rock: Vocalist Dean Madonia looks like a heavy-metal screamer; guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg has the devilish grin of guitar hero Steve Vai. But while their long-haired appearance might invite catagorization, their sound defies it.
Third Wish harkensback to the lesser-publicized "progressive" movement that took place throughout the '70's - artists like Yes, Santanna and Jeff beck, whose complexities took them out of the standard rock mold. Third Wish blends these ideals, with a dash of fusion and some more modern elements, to create a '90's alternative to todays already oversaturated alternative scene.
Their sound contains a healthy dose of British fusion-guitar luminary Allan Holdsworth, traces of classical composer Claude Debussy, world and latin music, and elements of UK, the rock/fusion band that included Holdsworth and members of such hard-to-catagorize acts as Yes, King Crimson and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. The Third Wish bio sheet likens their sound to rock, art rock, jazz, classical and alternative music.
"We're trying to capture that feeling of spontinaeity, with a psycadelic influence," says Kreisberg, echoing the jazz/fusion-meets-art rock side of the band. "We want to reach an artistically inclined audience."
When you look at the band's othe rmembers' resumes, it becomes obvious why Third Wish is hard to peg. Previous experience includes jazz (Kreisberg toured with the University of Miami Concert Jazz Band), fusion (Kreisberg and keyboardist John Roggie played with violist Debbie Spring; bassist Javier Carrion with Sha-Shaty) blues (drummer Vincent Verderame worked with Roach Thompson) and funk (Conehead Bop, Madonia's
Parliment/Funkidelic-style original act).
Third Wish, intact since late '92, has a self-titles 3 song debut cassette available at Y&T music in Miami, and
Peaches and Uncle Sam's in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The band is currently completing a full-length CD, which will be available in early '95, at Carrion's home studio.
Their material, particularly in live performances, offers a barrage of shifting time signatures (including 3/4, 5/4, 7/4, and 9/8), Verderame's Terry Bozzio-ish drumming, Yes-like harmonies and an uncommon wall-of-sound
fullness.
This is due largely to the work of Roggie, whose textural keyboard playing lays the foundation for the band's
sound, and Kreisberg, whose tone so often resembles violin or keyboards that you wouldn't belive that he uses no guitar synthesizer equipment (he doesn't).
While the material on the Third Wish cassette is a good introduction to the band, a live show truly presents them
in their element, with newer material that hints at an even more diverse array of directions. The instrumental, "Song For Tracy" is a waltz-time number featuring a blazing solo by Kreisberg; "Trance" ("the one corporate America would like to keep you in," said Madonia in the song's introduction) is a Dixie Dregs-like funk groove which offers a high-octane bass solo by Carrion.
Modonia's vocals help keep Third Wish from being lumped into the pure-fusion category. Most high-energy
bands are fronted by upper-register shreikers, but Madonia's influences are more akin to Elton John and Billy Joel. His range is considerable, his delivery relaxed, and his love of fusion solidified him with the already-intact instrumental unit. "I've been trying all of my life to find players who even knew who UK was," he say.
With a cassette under their belt, a CD on the way, and some excellent previous experience, Third Wish realizes the next step is to create some publicity and move northward through Florida and beyond. While their superb musicianship could be a double-edged sword (Kreisberg say radio formats have turned the public away from musicallity and bred "lazy listeners"). they do have one major point in their favor; Despite the band's talent, the members' average age hovers around a lofty 25.
"I' like to do a southern tour and start moving up the coast," says Kreisberg, who adds, "I'd like to someday do
a live disc with this band"
"Even if we don't ever make it, if we just complete the CD..." says Madonia, his voice trailing off. Clearly this is a band that wants to accomplish more, but is happy with what they've alreadt created. Conquering the fickle public would be gravy.
And what deep dark secrets lie within the band's name? "It's about the99th one we came accoss," says
Kreisberg, laughing, But the third wish is the one you really think about."
Bill Meredith - XS Magazine Sept 21 - 27 1994 - XS Magazine Sept 21 - 27 1994


"Third of Paradise - This rock and roll Wish Rings True"

Music
Third of Paradise
This rock and roll Wish Rings True
By Greg Baker

Published: Tuesday, August 16, 1994

Third Wish consists of serious musicians, veterans of the University of Miami's music school, true virtuosos capable of technical precision in a variety of genres. Even so, they're a damn good rock band.

If that seems unlikely -- that players who can run through a perfect Beethoven sonata are also able to rock da house -- the actual coalescence of Third Wish was an even longer shot, for no other reason than simple geography. Singer Dean Madonia lives in Fort Lauderdale. Guitarist and songwriter Jonathan Kreisberg calls South Miami home. Keyboardist John Roggie gets his mail on South Beach. Bass player Javier Carrion resides in West Kendall. And drummer Vince Verderame is a Coconut Grovite. "It does make it easy for us to flyer," quips Kreisberg.

Kreisberg and Roggie were working with cellist-violist Debbie Spring about two years ago when, Kreisberg says, they decided they wanted to try something "with more of an edge." Roggie, trained as a classical pianist, and Kreisberg, who toured Brazil as a member of the UM Concert Jazz Band, hooked up a few months later with Verderame, who was studying classical percussion at UM. Carrion, who's still completing the jazz program, came onboard next, and Third Wish was officially a band. All they needed was a vocalist.

"Javier was playing in Sha-Shaty," Dean Madonia recalls, "and we met at a session. He told me he was in another band that was looking for a singer. I'm thinking, Yeah, you've got this band! There's no way I'm driving to Miami for this." Then Carrion played some four-track demos for Madonia. "They sounded great," the singer says. "I played keyboards in Conehead Bop, and I play some guitar, but I wouldn't play with these guys. They're just too good."

Instead, Madonia lends his expansive vocals to the sometimes intricate, sometimes ballsy configurations of the other four to fashion a sound that reflects elements of the kind of Seventies "progressive art rock" purveyed by Yes, early Rush, and early Genesis. But the Wish pulls this off without ever falling into the cheese barrel.

Even at their most languorous, as in "The Game," Third Wish slip in enough worthwhile lyrics and solo excursions to keep things interesting. None of their songs is riot-inducing, and the members of the band don't expect audiences to jump up and form a conga line. "This isn't supposed to be light-hearted party music," Kreisberg notes. Madonia adds, "Plus we don't put on this big attitude. We're not preaching."

The approach presents an obvious problem for the quintet. There are fans for this out there," Kreisberg says. "But they aren't the types who hang out in the clubs. They're more the closet music-heads." Tweeded pipe-suckers might give Third Wish straight A's, but the band wants to reach the rockers, and the music itself should be able to.

Except, of course, for the fact that most rock fans are not generally known as deep musical thinkers. There's the marvel factor -- watching Kreisberg whip out six-string runs as if he had 40 fingers, seeing exactly how Roggie fills all voids with multiple keyboards, and so on -- but to crawl deep into the Third Wish groove you have to have an interest in true and real musical ability of the recital kind.

Mostly. In "Back in the Womb," one of three songs on the group's debut cassette, ethereal keys mix with Madonia's semivocals ("push") to create something resembling human birth (a popular topic among good rock bands, including One and Nil Lara). And that's just the intro. After the little whorl, Carrion slams home some heavy, thumbed-bass detonations, and the band snaps their attention to some tough, old-style-rock progressions. "We take the edge of rock and roll and the complex harmonies of jazz," Verderame said on a recent television interview. "Unlike the fusion you hear on the radio, which takes the edge out of rock, takes the simpler harmonies of rock, and puts it in a jazz context."

Though theirs certainly is a fusion -- of jazz, rock, even classical -- Third Wish does not play fusion, as in the pap you hear on Love-94. Which is not to say their jazz-oriented tunes, such as "Paths," don't do justice to improv: Kreisberg plays this one extremely subtly, lightly stroking the strings, barely touching one to produce a "ding" hook, as Verderame gently taps a cymbal and Madonia's sprawling voice floats above it all like a kite on a lilting breeze.

"Paths," which isn't on the cassette but will appear on Third Wish's debut CD, due this fall, is one of several songs that allows Kreisberg to get off a guitar solo. During one live performance, you see drummer Verderame reach up and adjust a cymbal clamp in the middle of the song. He knows he has time, he knows what's coming: Kreisberg twisting out impossible stings from his strings, cross-handed fingering way up on the frets, for sonic effect not flash, squeezing sparks that are more tasteful, clean, and controlled than, say, those of Steve Vai or Yngwie Malmsteen (both for whom Third Wish has opened).

All the Wishers take solos, and each is a blessed event for the musically inclined (emphasis on music), but the fireworks are equally bright in collaboration. "Stars" lights up with Roggie's keys, then Kreisberg's guitar, then Carrion's bass A all of it building to a splashing drum burst by Verderame that signals Madonia's vocal insert, with Carrion both strumming and finger-plucking oversize bass lines. Then those vocals hush and rush right up to the bridge, at which point Madonia's voice flies out the window as another dazzling guitar break smashes in the front door. The song has arrived.

And rockers say, "Huh?" Band members explain they try to shape a setlist from their tons of originals that caters to rockers when they play for such audiences. But they don't argue that it wouldn't hurt headbangers to open their minds to something a little more complicated and intricate than "we will we will rock you." Not that "Trance," for example, doesn't rock you, with its massive drum patterns and roiling energy.

Even so, and perhaps because of those blistering guitar solos, Third Wish is more welcome at metal venues than jazz clubs or straightup rock joints. "We're trying to break out of the heavy-metal places," Kreisberg says. "We want to play more places that support funk, world-music type stuff. We improvise a lot, but it's more to let it blow. Cut loose. But it's still expressing a feeling."

That's really it: This is music you can feel, even if you don't know an F-sharp from an open-tuning. For all its intricacy and virtuosity, Third Wish's sound is atmospheric, absorbing. And, yes, it still rocks.

Third Wish performs tonight (Thursday) at Nocturnal Cafe (525-9656), tomorrow (Friday) at Rosebuds in Ft Lauderdale (566-6331), and Sunday at the Plus Two in West Palm Beach (407-965-4072). Call for times and prices.
Greg Baker - New Times - Greg Baker - New Times


"Review of Deep Sky - DEAN MADONIA"

Midwestern Skies (Swedish e-zine at melodic.net), Review of Deep Sky DEAN MADONIA - "Deep Sky" (Soft Monkey Music, 1998) Well guys it's time to listen up again. Dean Madonia have done this years so far best indiependent release. This little pearl of plastic is filled with great modern singer songwriter material all produced in a great way! First out for example is the bloody great "The War Came Home To Me" and the piano and viola - based "Without A Net" contains some great lyrics and gets me to think of guys like Kevin Gilbert, david Sylvian and Bryan Ferry. Bloody good album and I just can recommend you all to take a closer look at this hidden treasure at http://gate.net/~madonia/deep.htm Do yourself a favor and surf to his place and buy a CD. Par Winberg
Par Winberg - Midwestern Skies (Swedish e-zine at melodic.net) - Par Winberg - Midwestern Skies


Discography

Third Wish - "Third Wish - 1993
Mad Glass "Breakable" 1994
Wyscan "Third Wish" - 1995
Dean Madonia "Deep Sky" 1998
Dean Madonia "The Light Of Reason" 2006
Dean Madonia "Madness and Desire, One Night In America" 2006

Photos

Bio

Here Is the "Official" Dean Madonia Bio

Born and raised Kalamazoo Michigan, Dean is both a musician, and a visual artist. He has been playing piano professionally since age 8 when he began performing during his musician father's breaks at the local Ramada Inn piano bar. Picking up the guitar at age 13, Dean performed his originals in various coffeehouses throughout high-school and while attending Central Michigan University. At Central, he starred for two seasons in a local PBS children's television show Acorns and Oak-trees, where he was required to write and perform a song live each week for an audience of faculty children. Moving to South Florida in the eighties, Dean performed and recorded with over 40 original and cover bands and opened for such diverse acts as: New Grass Revival, Steve Vai, Dee Dee Ramone, Company B, Dottie West, and Ygnwie Malmsteen .

In the 90's, Dean's original band Third Wish/Wyscan, (featuring Mel Bay Records jazz guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg) released a three song self- titled EP as Third Wish and a full length CD also titled Third Wish when they changed their name to Wyscan. Third Wish was distributed world-wide through jazz/fusion guitarist Bon Lozago's label, Lo Lo Records . On completion of that CD, Dean left Wyscan to start his own label, Soft Monkey Music and to record and release his first solo CD, Deep Sky which was released to rave reviews in 1998.

Dean began to concentrate more on writing while working in Jon Secada's production studio Heaven Studios with producer/engineer Charles Dye and has four songs under single song contract with Emilio Estefan's company, Foreign Imported Publishing . Dean has been making trips to Nashville to write and perform since 1999, and finally settled here in 2002 where he has made a living playing music, performing as a solo act, with his band, and with many Nashville stars including Julie Roberts, Gary Allan and Billy Currington. Dean's two newest solo CDs, The Light Of Reason and Madness And Desire: One Night In America (Dean Madonia sings Scott Avery) are now available.

Also, Keep an ear out for Dean's song "Honor Is Ours" in the Upcoming Lion's Gate film "Foodfight!" the song was co-written with friends Scott Avery and Keith Ridenour, and will be releasd in April 2008.

Dean is currently working on a CD of solo-written country music featuring Val evans on guitar, Brian Eckert on bass and Randy "red" ridenour on drums. This Cd is mostly for promotional purposes but may be available at CD Baby and iTunes in 2008.