“In Their Own Voice” Series
In Their Own Voice is a series of digital-only tracks with lyrics and performances by female artists and original compositions by composer/pianist Eugene Marlow. The first three tracks in this series—with vocalist/lyricist Ameilé Churbin—were released July 14, 2014.
Each song in the series expresses a strong and powerful message for women from their peers. The intention is for women to feel understood, empowered, and validated in their own relationships and feelings, and to come away from the music with a sense of belonging in a shared sisterhood.
Themes include: inner strength, self-worth, self-reflection, romance, break-ups, motherhood and maternal affection.
Throughout his musical career Marlow has written and collaborated with many musicians to create melodic instrumental music. The In Their Own Voice series represents the first time he is collaborating with lyrists and vocalists.
The challenge for both composer Marlow and each lyrist/vocalist is to bring their unique musical perspectives to the table and to work out how the words and the notes will come together, so that the theme of each track is an expression of feelings about relationships of various kinds from the women’s perspective, hence the title, In Their Own Voice.
The tracks in this Series represent an array of perspectives with songs in English, French and Spanish. The lyricists and vocalists who have collaborated with Eugene Marlow in this series are profiled below.
Amelié Chérubin, lyricist/vocalist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 1
Amélie Chérubin is a warm, inviting French singer who charms audiences with her sweet, velvety voice. Classically trained in her native city of Paris, France, Amélie continues to expand her repertoire by working and performing with musicians in pop, electro, experimental, chanson, jazz, and contemporary music.
She is a member of the jazz scene, performing in jazz clubs in Paris after three great years in Manhattan. She performed with her friends, Cyrille Aimee, and David Reinhart, who introduced her to the authentic gipsy jazz spirit. Marie Busato and her beautiful song writing led Amélie to the heart of French chanson. Encouraged by Michelle Hendricks as well as Claudia Solal, she devotes her heart and soul to the art of singing and its various aspects”
Anne Mironchik, lyricist/vocalist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 2 - A Perfect Storm
Anne Mironchik’s smooth voice is rooted in blues, swing and jazz. Over the course of 20 years she taught, performed and recorded in New York City.
Anne's lifelong journey in music reflects her passion and experience performing a wide range of song styles from jazz to rock. She received her degree in jazz voice from Manhattan School of Music where she studied with acclaimed vocal coach and educator Norma Garbo (Taylor Swift) and she continued training privately with jazz piano great, Mike Longo (Dizzy Gillespe).
In the 1990s, she was a member of the renowned New York Songwriter’s Circle (NYSC) where she honed her songwriting and arranging chops. While she has the leadership skills to front a band, she easily switches roles to an ensemble player for a variety of live performance and recording projects.
More about Anne Mironchik
Ellen Woloshin, lyricist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 3 - Go Like the Wind
Ellen’s connection with music goes back to childhood. She grew up studying classical piano and started singing at the age of 16. When deciding to forego a classical career, she then fell into the “family business.” The daughter of celebrated jingle writer Sid Woloshin, she made her own way early spinning jingles for some known brands creating a strong professional foundation. Then, taking a leap of faith, she embarked on a performing/songwriter path. As one half of the duo Woloshin & Griffin, Ellen honed her performing and songwriting skills before striking out on her own to record her first album.
As demonstrated in that first album and the two that followed, Ellen’s strength lies in her ability to seamlessly combine well-known songs from various decades with her original compositions which is, once again, the blueprint for her latest release, “Pop Torch.”
In addition to penning her own songs, Ellen has written for artists like Dionne Warwick, LaToya Jackson, and Ben Vereen. Her music has been heard on BBC radio throughout the UK.
Though she started her career in jingles, it is as a singer-songwriter that Woloshin has truly distinguished herself. Her personal appearances have reached from the college circuit to gigs in her hometown of NYC as well as LA and Nashville, opening for artists like Laura Nyro, Bill Stains and Jim Dawson.
Several years back Ellen was invited to be a contributor to Music Connection Magazine, one of the premier music publications, where she has been reviewing live shows, CD’s, writing articles and interviewing other artists which dovetails nicely with her musical background and experience.
More about Ellen Woloshin
Shira Lissek, vocalist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 3 - Go Like the Wind
In Their Own Voice Vol. 4 - For the Children
Known for her “warm, engaging personality” on stage persona, Shira Lissek is a gifted operatic soprano and cantor.
As a solo concert artist, Ms. Lissek draws from her eclectic musical influences to create concerts that span various genres. To that end, Ms. Lissek pours her classically trained voice into opera, classical art song, Broadway, jazz, Jewish music, Israeli songs, world music, and pop.
In the world of opera, she has portrayed many Mozart and Puccini Heroines, including Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Seattle Opera), Mimi in La Boheme (Philadelphia Kimmel Center) “with a lovely, creamy legato.” She has performed in recital with Ravel Scholar Dr. Arbie Orenstein at the Queens College LeFrak music hall.
Lissek has also premiered new works by opera and Broadway composers. She originated the role of R in Center City Opera Theater’s production of The Always Present Present, and sang the New York Premier of Carlisle Floyd’s Opera, Markheim, with The Center for Contemporary Opera. Ms. Lissek was regularly featured by the composer-lyricist team of Craig Baldwin and Kathy Lombardi (BMI).
A regular with the Gulf Coast Symphony, she was featured in their Pops concerts: A Barbara Streisand Tribute, An Evening of Irving Berlin, Broadway Blockbusters and Andrew Lloyd Webber Unmasked.
With The Klezmer Company Orchestra, fusing Latin and Klezmer music, she was featured in Salsa Strings and Swing and Beyond the Tribe, the Funky Monkeys (children’s pop and Jewish music) at the Jewish Museum in New York.
Shira Lissek holds a bachelor of music from Indiana University and a masters of music from Manhattan School of Music. Trained by Cantors Leon Lissek, David Barash, and Paul Zim, she currently serves as the Cantor for Temple Israel, Charlotte, NC.
More about Shira Lissek
Janet Lawson, lyricist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 4 - For the Children
In Their Own Voice Vol. 7 - Reflections at Christmas
In Their Own Voice Vol. 9 - Whispers in the Air
In Their Own Voice Vol. 10 - In the Here & Now
The late Janet Lawson was very talented vocalist and lyricist and educator.
A GRAMMY® nominee for her first album, The Janet Lawson Quintet, with Bill O’Connell, Ratzo Harris, Jimmy Madison and Roger Rosenberg, she also performed with Duke Ellington, Tommy Flanagan, Clark Terry, Billy Hart, Cedar Walton, Billy Higgins, Bob Dorough, and numerous others. Performances include jazz festivals and clubs throughout Europe.
Lawson was a co-founder of The New School Vocal Jazz Program and created Vocal Jazz Programs in schools and music camps throughout Latvia, and conducted Vocal Jazz Workshops in London, Paris, Canada, other European countries and throughout the U.S.
Lawson was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for composing and co-writing with lyricist Diane Snow Austin, “JASS IS A LADY”, supported by ASCAP and produced by Playwrights Horizons in New York; the Rockefeller Foundation; and the New York and Pennsylvania Councils on the Arts and ArtsLink.
She is listed in the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz and the All Music Guide to Jazz, included in Leslie Gourse’s Louis’ Children, and Scott Yanow’s The Jazz Singers. The Japanese Record Label, CELESTE, released a double CD of her previous recordings.
Lawson’s books include The Integrated Artist: Improvisation as a Way of Life and a children’s book and accompanying CD about the history of jazz, Grandma Sage and her Magic Music Room, co-written with renowned composer and author, Carman Moore.
Lawson was nominated for the 2007 IAJE Jazz Education Hall of Fame Award. She received a Collaborative Project Award from The New School with Adjunct Professor of Visual Arts, Craig Houser. Presenter at 2011 JEN Conference in New Orleans with bassist, Ratzo B. Harris. Private Studies included Hall Overton, Warne March, Hal Galper and John McNeil.
Rachel Kara Perez, lyricist*, vocalist**
In Their Own Voice Vol. 5 - Sin Mi (Without Me)*
In Their Own Voice Vol. 6 - Inside Blues*
In Their Own Voice Vol. 8 - Lullaby**
In Their Own Voice Vol. 9 - Whispers in the Air**
Rachel Kara Perez (she/they/Rae) is an award-winning Queer, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx multidisciplinary artist, educator, and adoptee advocate who views the arts as an invaluable vehicle for healing and building community. A theatre artist, vocalist, mover, writer, and poet, her work spans multiple genres, contexts, and locales.
Rae is a classically trained vocalist who has a depth of range singing Musical Theatre, Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz, and Opera.
Her appearances/performances include: The Kennedy Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Celebrates The Bronx, Symphony Space, The Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway, The Apollo Theatre, Nuyorican Poets Café, BAM Café, St. John The Divine, Verdi Square Festival of the Arts in New York, NBC's Today Show, NY1, and an Actors' Equity National Tour.
She performed Me Acuerdo de Ti, a Tito Puente composition originally recorded by Celia Cruz, on the Latin-Grammy nominated CD Tito Puente Live! (2011) with the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Bobby Sanabria.
She studied with Maitland Peters, Department Chair of Voice Studies at the Manhattan School of Music, and coach Shane Schag. She studied privately with Tony award-winner Victoria Clark, and Claudia Cummings of the New York City Opera. She is a member of Actors' Equity.
Jenn Jade Ledesna, vocalist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 5 - Sin Mi (Without Me)
Stage mage Jennifer Jade Ledesna, Bronxite polyglot, is an alumna of the New School Jazz Conservatory and LaGuardia Arts.
A Montreux Jazz Voice Competition Finalist, Equity actress, and "Betty Carter Jazz Ahead" composer, Ms. Jade often performs at "Aux Trois Mailletz" in Paris, “Jazz Na Avenida” in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil and at the legendary “Minton’s Playhouse” in Harlem, New York City.
She's sung at Carnegie Hall in Bobby McFerrin’s “Instant Opera!”, in the World Premiere Tour of “Chapel/Chapter” with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
Jennifer Jade has also graced the international stages of Switzerland’s Chorus Jazz Club, Norway's “Silda Jazz Fest” with her group "RAJAFRO", Jazz @ Lincoln Center with Bobby Sanabria’s “Multiverse Orchestra!”, Saint Croix's “Take Five Fest”, Santiago de Chile's "Teatro Municipal de Las Condes", and Austria's Porgy & Bess, to name a few.
Grammy board member, Ms. Ledesna has performed with David Amram, Elew, Dave Valentin, Roy Hargrove, Wycliffe Gordon, Joatan Nascimento, Junior Mance, James Carter, Benny Powell, Candido Camero, Janis Siegel, and Wynton Marsalis, among others.
She starred as Tempest in the feature film Since I Left You, “Tinima” in the opera-musical Hatuey: Memory Of Fire!, and has toured in Brazil and Argentina!
More about Jennifer Jade Ladesna
Carla Cook, vocalist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 6 - Inside Blues
Everything Carla Cook sings swings.
There’s a reason for that: Cook has been influenced by the jazz vocal masters, but equally influenced by phenomenal instrumentalists, like Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery and The Crusaders. The Detroit native also finds inspiration in R&B, Motown, pop, gospel and country. In fact, she has put her unique phrasing on everything from Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues to Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie Joe to Neil Young’s Heart of Gold.
As a result, Cook has an improvisational style that’s steeped in the swing tradition yet eclectic, and brimming with fresh interpretations. “Although I’ve been influenced by all the masters, I’ve been maturing into my own sound, “says Cook. “Today, I sound exactly like me.”
That sound is a warm contralto with a remarkably wide range of colors; known for her interpretive gifts, Cook can sing in a hefty, bluesy timbre, reach crystal clear high notes, then scat with sure-footed richness; and she does it all with an acute sense of rhythm and timing. As a result, says jazz critic John Murph of The Washington Post. “She has sass that enlivens her impeccable diction, and tremendous soul that lets her swagger with gutbucket finesse, but it’s all buttressed with sparkling optimism and innocence.”
Her remarkable voice has earned Cook a Grammy nomination for her debut album, It’s All About Love, and widespread critical acclaim for her two subsequent recordings, Dem Bones, and Simply Natural, which solidified her reputation as a songwriter as well as a singer.
And in an extraordinary career, Cook has performed or recorded as a guest artist with such luminaries as the Count Basie Orchestra and Lionel Hampton’s Big Band. She originated the lead vocal role for Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s The Cotton Club Parade at City Center. And in 2011, she was the featured vocalist with the world–renowned Jazz Sinfonica, an 82-piece orchestra performing in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The list of great artists Cook has worked with includes among others Jimmy Heath, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Steve Wilson, Regina Carter, Eric Reed, Don Byron, Craig Harris, Sekou Sundiata, Patrice Rushen, Savion Glover, Ben Vereen, Cyrus Chestnut, Carl Allen, Rodney Jones, Igor Butman, Wycliff Gordon, Bruce Barth and Terell Stafford.
Her band The Carla Cook Quintet, has opened for Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter and B.B. King; her band has also performed at the invitation of Aretha Franklin for her annual Christmas Party.
In addition to her performing career, Cook is proud of her work as an educator. She has taught master classes at numerous universities and jazz camps in Australia and the U.S. for teens and adults. And since 2007, she has taught jazz voice and ensemble at Temple University in Philadelphia.
For several years, The Carla Cook Quintet has offered master classes through The Rhythm Exchange, an interactive Jazz Education Program she created for secondary students in schools throughout the U.S. In the Fall of 2019, Cook joined the faculty of the Juilliard School. She is teaching the vocal jazz seminar/studio for the inaugural Vocal Jazz Masters program- a new addition to Juilliard Jazz.
“I’ve been able to strike a balance between performance and education and a variety of different collaborations,” says Cook. “I think it’s really important that we pass this on. It’s American classical music, and so it excites me when I see young people interested and excited about it, and wanting to pursue it as I did when I was young.”
Always open to new experiences, Cooks looks forward to the next big thing – from solo recording to collaboration to performing to more teaching opportunities. For her, it’s all about telling stories, and that’s what she loves about a life in jazz.
“I love that it allows me to improvise,” says Cook. “I love the freedom of the music. I love that it’s so broad, with all its different influences by some amazing people that started off creating and defining this music. I feel honored to be part of the story.”
More about Carla Cook
Mila Milosevic, vocalist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 7 - Reflections at Christmas
Mila Milosevic is an award-winning actress and singer in New York City. She has appeared in numerous indie films, TV shows and national and international commercial campaigns.
Mila is a classically trained singer having performed at Carnegie Hall, Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex, The Metropolitan Room and more.
More about Mila Milosevic
Amy Cervini, Lyricist
In Their Own Voice Vo. 8 - Lullaby
Singer Amy Cervini has the big ears and free spirit to reach far and wide for great material, whether it's Rodgers & Hammerstein or Lyle Lovett, Blossom Dearie or Willie Nelson.
The Toronto-bred, New York-based vocalist has released five solo albums and is currently recording for NYC-based Anzic Records. These albums have established Cervini as one of the more individual talents on the North American scene for her intrepid sense of song and pure-toned, ever-swinging vocalism.
Cervini was included in the Rising Star Downbeat Critics poll for multiple years. The New York Times has enthused over her as "a thoughtful and broad-minded jazz singer," while All Music Guide recommends her recordings for the "honest, self-assured and honey-dripping presence clearly heard.”
Cervini is also 1/3 of the award-winning vocal group, Duchess.
More about Amy Cervini
Lauren Kinhan, Vocalist
In Their Own Voice Vol. 10 - In the Here & Now
Veteran singer, composer, arranger and educator Lauren Kinhan has been creating genre smearing music for decades. The first thing you notice is her voice, and then her savvy choices. Lauren Kinhan possesses a rare and beautiful instrument, tough and tender, clear and fine-grained in every register, she dips down into husky chest notes and ascends into silvery head tones. Whether writing and producing her own records, touring as a member of the internationally renowned New York Voices or passing her knowledge on to the next generation, Lauren's fearless spirit shows no signs of slowing down.
More about Laruen Kinhan
Photo: Credit John Abbott
