Stephanie Martin

This is one of the up and coming artists that I'm sure we will see on the Summerfolk stages in the near future. From the first blare of the horn section this album takes off on a magical flight, soaring through the airwaves like a Stealth fighter pilot. Stephanie Martins voice is captivating from the very first note of One Good Thing and continues to enthrall from track to track.

Stephanie is very versatile in her singing and performing, capable of moving from one genre to the next. Come to Love Again is a beautiful ballad. Vocals drift endlessly over the keys of the piano and the echoes of background vocals are haunting. Box Canyon is an Acoustic gem with country flavor and I Paint My Sorrow features the horns with Steve McDade, Mike Murley, Vern Dodge and Russ Little and is captivating. In the styling of Steely Dan this ensemble creates an air of jazz as Martin wraps her sultry vocals around the musicians. This could easily have been the missing track on Steely Dan's Aja.
There is a strong California sound in the production of this disc. Martin sites Steely Dan, James Taylor, Carole King and the Eagles as her musical influences and the similarities are ever present. Once again I have found a great disc, worthy of play 'down by the shores' of your cottage or the deck at your home on an early Sunday morn. Flying with Delos, aptly illustrates Martin's ability to effortlessly switch genres as she moves from Jazz to Blues. Her rich voice takes us back to the early recorded days of the California sound as she performs songs of Love, Sorrow and Heartache.

Georgia is a rich guitar based offering showcasing the talents of Michael Francis on Acoustic & Electric Guitars and Steve O'Connor on piano. This is a tight band which certainly makes this a great listening experience. Where Are You Now? is a beautiful illustration of her vocal range and I was quickly reminded of Lisa Minelli.
How Do You Measure Love? is a jazzy effort and Meet You is another Steely Dan influenced ditty.
Once again the horn section is outstanding blending the stylings of Earth, Wind & Fire and the Tower of Power horn section that accompanied Phil Collins on many a tour. By the time the listener reaches Track 10- Looking For Love where all the musicians shine, they should be thinking of hitting replay, and probably will!

Mary is in the styling of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, where the saxophone churns along nicely wrapped note upon note over Martin's captivating Carole King vocals.. a true magical journey worth embarking on.

- Guelph Mercury

STEPHANIE MARTIN has performed the lead in Les Miserables in Paris, London and her hometown of
Montreal. Martin has teamed up with Toronto producer Chad Irschick to record 13 original jazzy pop
songs for her new CD Shape, Line and Harmony. Strong melodies, well-crafted arrangements and
soaring vocals. See her Saturday, 8 p.m. at the Staircase Theatre, 29 Dundurn N. $15
- Hamilton Spectator

SHAPE, LINE & HARMONY
Stephanie Martin
Independent
9.5-out-of-10
This must be the week for ladies of jazz, as we take a trip down east to check out Toronto pop/jazz vocalist Stephanie Martin.
Martin starts this CD offering up a nice upbeat version of One Good Thing. Like all the material on this CD, Martin wrote the lead long, and it has that wonderful familiar quality of song that will stick with the listener.
Ditto on the second song Come Too Love Again.
That is what amazes me here. Martin has written a selection of songs that have the feel of long-loved standards, something which is not easily accomplished. There is a maturity to her work.
The third song, Box Canyon continues that trend. This one has a country feel, although Martin keeps it in the jazz vein just enough to fit this album.
What surprised me here was that in spite of the first three cuts being so strong, the rest of the CD manges to keep up. There is no let down here. Martin cuts a winner from start to finish. You could pick just about any song you want on this one as a favourite. Songs such as I Paint My Sorrow, Flying Into Delos, Georgia and Hollow Reed all have their strengths that the listen will enjoy.
Martin has a smooth, well-seasoned voice, that is completely at home in the jazz element. If you like jazz, then this one truly is a must. Just plain excellent. An incredible debut. Among the top two, or three jazz albums I've reviewed in the last half decade.
Check her out at www.stephaniemartin.ca
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Review first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Feb. 6, 2008 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

- Yorton This Week

Jazzy junk-drawer pop
That's the musical style Toronto's Stephanie Martin
embraces on her new CD

Toronto singer Stephanie Martin doesn't like having her sound fall into the classic
trap of being labeled adult contemporary or jazz pop.
Instead she's happy with calling her style "jazzy junk-drawer pop," something you
don't hear very often.
"Everybody has a junk drawer, or one that's really close by," Martin says with a
laugh from the CBC Building in downtown Toronto.
"I wanted to come up with something that was interesting. I asked my mother-in-law
and my sister and a couple of friends to take pictures of their junk drawer. And it's
amazing because they correspond with their personalities."
Martin, who performed a special showcase Wednesday evening at The Cameron
House, released her debut album Shape, Line & Harmony last year, a record that
took years in the making. The album garnered praise by CBC Radio One's Fresh Air
Program, ending up on its 2007 year-end "best of" list alongside Feist and Bruce
Springsteen.
"You make the music and
that's fun and it's hard
work but when you're done
you think, 'Okay, that was
the hard part. Now this will
be the easy part -- playing
and bringing it into the
world,' " she says.
'HARD REALITY'
"But I think the hard reality
is the hard part begins
when you finish the music,
and that's what I've come
up against in this market
of fantastic artists -- it's
been a big challenge in
getting heard."
Those hearing the album
will be pleased with a mix
of adult-contemporary pop
mixed with some smooth
but smart jazz-pop styles.
Highlights include the
opener One Good Thing,
Come To Love Again as
well as Flying Into Delos,
the latter inspired by
Martin's Greek maternal
grandfather.
"My grandfather was from the island of Ikaria," she says.
"He left Greece during the First World War, he was a pacifist and deserted the Greek
navy. He did not agree with war and came to Canada and started a Greek restaurant
in Montreal and then Ottawa, married a French-Canadian lady and had a family.
"He never went back to Greece. So on his deathbed, he wanted to have his
ashes scattered in Greece. So we went on this pilgrimage back to Greece. I
replaced Ikaria with Delos because it fit the song better and it's a Greek island as
well. I think it's a great Canadian story."
The record also took its shape thanks to Martin working with Juno winner and
producer Chad Irschick, someone she been writing with since moving to Toronto a
few years ago.
"I started writing with him and I really felt that I found my right match as far as
making music," she says.
"We cocooned for a very long time, we spent a few years just writing stuff and
working on the songwriting. So having about 30, 40, 50 tunes in the can, we decided
that we should try to produce this."
Martin, who got her start in the theatrical world by performing in Les Misérables in
Montreal, London and Paris, also says Irschick helped her find her own voice.
"I had been an interpreter before and giving my voice to other people's ideas, visions
or emotions," she says. "Writing your own stuff is a whole other ball of wax. In
working with him it helped me in expressing things that really came from my own
heart."
Although an independent artist, Martin says she wouldn't change a thing.
"I'm working on my own and I could not be happier," she says. "It's been a fantastic
journey. I have a loyal fan base and it's growing all the time, and so it's going good
little by little."



- Toronto SUN