ETTORE SALATI

This month's Artist in Spotlight is Ettore Salati from Italy. Ettore is a sought after session guitarist by many prog musicians not just in Italy but all around the world. He started playing piano at a very young age (mostly classical music) but when he became a teenager and discovered the world of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and 70's rock in general, he was immediately fascinated by guitar... more

KAT EPPLE (Emerald Web)

KAT EPPLE, flautist and composer, is our interview guest this month. She has won 8 Emmy awards, was nominated for a Grammy and she has released 18 albums internationally. Most of you know her as the other half of the legendary ambient/new age duo EMERALD WEB. She has a very large collection (over 200) of flutes that she gathered from all around the world during her travels. Kat composes original New Age/Jazz/World/orchestral music and has produced film scores and television soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagan, Another World, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, History Channel, HGN, The Guiding Light, PBS, and NASA among others, and was Music Director for the feature-length film, Captiva Island. She also owns a record company and works on both sides of the music industry as a musician and as a business woman... more

New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard

New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more

ELLA BLAME

Ella Blame (Milwaukee, WI) was born into a family of musicians and was already singing when she was just 3 years old! Before she decided to become a singer, her biggest passion was painting (and it still is a big passion for her). At the age of 6 she started playing violin. She has an incredible vocal range: her voice covers the entire baritone, tenor and contralto ranges and exceeds the upper limit of the soprano range. She can produce sounds that are very similar to synthesizers, with no effects. Sometimes angelic, sometimes satanic, the many colors of her voice can be described as Billie Holiday meets Bjork and Loreena McKennit… yes these three names together sound very absurd, you just have to hear it for yourself.

Ella has two solo albums to date. The first one “Ineffable Desire” came out a few years back. She recently released her second album called ”Bitter Tears”. Her music is described by many as ethereal/ambient and free form for some parts. A lot of the lyrics are pretty dark but yet very straight forward and brave. On both of her albums Ella had the opportunity to work with noted talented musicians from all over the world including Canada, Japan, India and Germany. For the most part, Ella works with Michael D. Temple also from Milwaukee, WI. When Michael found out about Ella he contacted her via e-mail and their collaboration began. Michael plays keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, but he says his primary instruments are bass and keyboards. Being a computer programmer and electronics engineer gave ways for Michael to better exercise analog and digital audio engineering.

Shinji Imai, from Tokyo Japan, contacted Ella the same way Michael did. Ella wrote vocals and lyrics on his songs and the result was stunning. Shinji is a very talented musician who studied jazz guitar, contemporary music and music theory in Tokyo. Ella and Shinji co-wrote most of the songs on her second CD.

Ella was awarded in 2007 by the Toronto Exclusive Magazine, with “Best Album Cover” for the cover of her first CD “Ineffable Desire” But this is not all, in 2005, she had 9 songs featured from her first album, in an independent movie by Jenkev Productions. The film is titled “Discover Me”. It examines an internet community’s impact on the formation of modern relationships.

Right from the first song “Cyberlover” you will feel like you entered a hidden territory where there is a lot to discover. As if you are listening to a modern day Billie Holiday, you’ll find that it is not just the well written lyrics and her voice that create this feeling but it is also her phrasing and intonations. The song “If I Could” is a very good example of that.

You will hear a fusion of many different genres in her music. It is sometimes psychedelic, sometimes trip-hop, sometimes pop and sometimes jazz. Ella proclaims that since when she was a little kid she was exposed to a lot of different styles including jazz and classical. Her parents had a wide range of taste of music and for the most part she enjoyed listening to the music that they were listening to. She remembers not liking jazz and classical too much at that time, but today she thinks both of those genres helped her develop a stronger musical background. When you are listening to her sing, you will often feel like you are listening to a choir with sopranos, mezzo-sopranos and contraltos. It is Ella all by herself producing those vocals, especially on “Incurable”.

Her new CD “Bitter Tears” has 11 songs and each and everyone of them can easily be your most favorite one. Listening to Ella is like being in a big mansion, each song opens up the door to a different room… with different colors, different decorations, different time frames. By the time the CD is over you ask yourself “Where was I just now?” … that is if you think you are back…

You can purchase both of the CD's on CD Baby.

To know more about Ella Blame visit her official website at: www.ella-blame.com

You can also find her on myspace: www.myspace.com/ellablame