LOST IN TRANSLATION
Tracey Yarad knows the life of the expatriate, the hotel lobby singer, circling for seven years between Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya on a turntable of 1990's power ballads. Sofia Coppola's film of 2003 only scratches the surface. Playing six nights a week to the stereotypical Japanese businessman out for the night to impress his courtesans by intricately folding "ichi man yen" notes into flying paper cranes, soaring overhead to the stage with the request enclosed inside. Pandering to an autocratic, Swiss-German general manager whose musical taste halted at the slightest mention of augmentation away from a I–V–vi–IV progression. No original music allowed, no variations on a theme, and no jazz. After a long hiatus from the Hotel Lobby material, Tracey teams up with New York pianist Jim Ridl to take some of the most requested tunes out for a Sunday drive. The kind of drive that doesn't matter if you get lost. You get there in the end.
TRACEY YARAD BIO
A singer, songwriter, pianist, educator, interior designer, photographer and unique artist in her own right.
She studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and quickly began teaching which culminated a dream of opening the Blue Mountains Music Academy running it from her idyllic location for 18 years.
Tracey clocked up miles of experience touring with her original bands and playing side-woman to many well-known Aussie and International performers such as Tommy Emmanuel, Danielle D'Andrea, Sharon O'Neill, Gloria Loring, and, 'America.' She paid her dues performing the American Songbook and 1000's of popular songs in a seven-year intensive residency with Hilton Hotels in Japan. Her songs have won awards, are recorded by signed artists, and serve as her sacred place of solace.
In recent times relocating to New York City along with her handy camera she flexed her snapping skills shooting musicians at small jazz clubs with her images making it into publications:@downbeatmagazine , @guitarplayer and @drum_magazine .
She has just finished recording her latest music project “All These Pretty Things’ an album and audio book to be released later this year. Playing with her on the forthcoming album are, Tony Scherr, Luca Benedetti, Jon Cowherd, Zach Brock, and Josh Dion.
JIM RIDL BIO
Jim Ridl is in high demand as a New York City jazz pianist, composer, teacher and band leader. His ongoing residency at the internationally known jazz club The 55 Bar is in its fifth year, where he and his quartet perform his original compositions monthly. Jim performs worldwide with a variety of jazz artists, including The Joe Locke Quartet, The Dave Liebman Big Band, The Paul Jost Quartet and the Mingus Big Band. He has toured with the US State Department American Music Abroad program (’12 and ’15), performing in Russia, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Slovenia and Malta. As a composer and leader, Jim has released 7 recordings, the latest titled Door in a Field,Volume 2. Jim was a Princeton University Visiting Artist for three separate semesters (’12, ’14, ’16), coaching jazz ensembles in repertoire and performance. Jim continues as adjunct educator in Jazz Piano Studies at The City College of New York and the New York Jazz Workshop in Manhattan. From 1994 – 2004, Jim performed with jazz guitar legend Pat Martino, receiving critically acclaimed reviews of performances around the world, and producing four outstanding recordings: Interchange, Night Wings, The Maker and Nexus. Jim was raised on a farm and ranch in North Dakota, and discovered his love for piano and jazz at an early age. He attended the University of Colorado at Denver, where he earned his Bachelor Degree in Scoring and Arranging, and was awarded its Student Achievement Award for composing “Ocean Sojourn,” an orchestral tone poem, performed with the Denver Symphony Orchestra, James Setapen conducting.