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Rebecca Martin

A Conversation with Rebecca Martin (continued)

PM: I think the lyrics in this record are just out of this world.

RM: Thank you.

PM: They're just fantastic. And there's a very interesting absence of rhyme. What's that about?

RM: Well, when I go back and read the lyrics for any of these tunes, there is more rhyme in some parts than others, but there are incidental rhymes.

PM: Right.

RM: And there's a feeling of rightness in the phrase, I think.

PM: Yeah, I don't miss any rhyme, not at all.

RM: Right, I don't mean that in any defensive way. I mean that when there's an absent rhyme or only an incidental rhyme, for me there's something in the phrase that balances that out somehow. That has come about because when I write my songs, I start with a guitar part, some harmony that inspires melody. And the melody, then, begins to dictate words that help support the melody in the song. So I don't sit down and write a story. I think I'm just playing with the music and letting words come from the melody.

And then the words tend to lead to an emotion that I'm either having at that time or I've had, or not, or whatever it might be--I get little clues to something that I'm needing or wanting to write about, and those words lead the way to whatever the song is going to be lyrically. I think that the lyrics are written or sound that way because the importance for me, always, is the melody, and making the melody as pronounced as it can be. Using words helps that--I mean, it blows my mind when I hear a jazz singer doing an old scat solo, because I can't--my phrasing--I don't have that experience. I didn't come up in that scene, and I'm not around that to be able to just use sound to create incredible phrasing. But the beauty of words that are built around the melody is that there's so much freedom then, as far as where you put things.

In that respect, there's a certain structure that people are identifying as jazz--which is unfortunate, because I don't consider myself a jazz singer. I don't even consider myself a pop singer. I'm just making some music and doing it in the way that I can, piecing things together. And I wish it could be more contemporary, as do all my friends who are writing great music that doesn't quite fit into what "contemporary" is just now. But it's a hard business. It's a very narrow road everybody is traveling down at this moment.

Wouldn't it be great if there were thousands of radio stations across the country that just programmed what was happening in each community, whatever music really was happening, and allowing that music to be heard. It would be so exciting.

PM: And I think there is a possibility that something along those lines will come to be. When the internet and the TV, and the telephone, and all that stuff smack together in a minute, I think you will be able to go into the house and type in an internet address and it will come on your TV and your speakers, and it can be something of incredible range and specificity. "Let's see, I want something like Ella Fitzgerald, but cross it with Jethro Burns, and then what do you get?"

[laughter]

RM: Yeah. I think that would be great. I also think it would be great to say, "What's happening in New York City? Let's eliminate the categories for a second, and let's just take a chance and see what's happening at the Living Room?"

PM: Yeah, "Who's playing Joe's Pub tonight? Let me hear their music now."

RM: Actually, The Living Room has a radio station now.

PM: They do?

RM: Yeah, they do. They stream all the artists that play there, their records, though a lot of it's Norah's stuff now, but you can understand why that is.

PM: Sure.

RM: But they stream the artists. And I think that's the great way for people to get a sense of that club, because they do a lot of really great stuff there.

PM: I've seen my friend Jennifer down there a couple of times recently.

PM/RM: Jackson.

PM: Are you a friend of hers as well?

RM: Yes.

PM: We both said her name at the same time. [laughs]

RM: I haven't had a chance to spend a lot of time with Jennifer. Two of my very closest singer/songwriter friends are Amy Correia and Richard Julian, because we were kind of all in the same place at the same time. My path and Jennifer's didn't really cross until much later. Of course I knew who she was. And lately, again, sort of like Jill--although I know Jennifer better than I know Jill--her name is entering into my life a lot, even more than Jill's. Yeah, and I'm a big, big fan of her record. I think So High is a wonderful record. [see our review]

PM: In your songs, you strike me as an extremely deep and open-hearted person.

RM: Oh, thank you.

PM: And would you say that that describes your personality in the world at large? It seems to in this conversation.

RM: Well, I don't know. I am trying all of the time to balance out a whole lot of things. I'm upstate, I have six animals. I'd have thirty if I could. I have great friends. I am married to the most amazing guy.

PM: And that is the bassist Larry Grenadier.

RM: Yes. And I guess I'm trying all of the time to figure out what I--I don't know how to express this so well--I'm trying really to strip away a lot of the things that I think are--I think we all have that work to do, but--I'm always trying to be more authentic and honest. And I think that that process is a very humbling kind of work. It's simple, it's small, it's quiet, and it's really, really hard. So that's just a very nice thing for you to say. Thank you. And I'm glad that you see that, because that's what it's all about.

PM: That is what it's all about.

RM: [laughs] continue

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