Rachel Mazer Ann Arbor Summer Festival
11 videos • 68 views • by Dave’s TV Zone When R&B and soul singer Rachel Mazer shares her songs exploring love, loss, and grief, her rich alto beautifully reaches for the low notes, drawing up a sweet sentimentality. A San Franciscan, she moved to Michigan to study saxophone, bass, and voice at U-M, and stayed to tour with local groups in the Midwest. A recent move to L.A. coincided with the release of her first solo album, How Do We Get By, which she wrote while mourning her family member, and recorded at Barber Shop Studios. Soulful, funky, confident, here similarities to contemporaries Lake Street Dive and Moonchild, as well as legends Norah Jones and Carole King. Come find out why Paste called hers a “fresh take on studio jazz and soul music.” ‘A2SF’ Performing with Rachel Mazer is Keaton Royer on keys, Ian Gold on drums and Joe Fee on bass, with Jessica Delle and Chris Dupont on black ground vocals. Special guest include Brennan Andes/bass, Erin Zindle/vocalist and Katie Van Dusen/violin. Though Mazer is only now breaking out as a solo artist, she’s been on the performing circuit for years. The San Francisco native has collaborated and/or recorded with artists like May Erlewine, The Suffers (whom she opened for), Amber Navran and jam-band favorites Vulfpeck, as well as Vulf members Theo Katzman and Joey Dosik, whose new record Inside Voice features Mazer on backing vocals. Another Vulfpeck adjacent, Tyler Duncan, produced and co-wrote “Open Heart” with Mazer. Duncan and Vulfpeck bassist Joe Dart, plus other Vulfpeck collaborators, contributed to the record, which Mazer is dedicating to her late brother, and its cathartic grooves. source ‘PASTE MAG' Previously known as a freelance vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, How Do We Get By marks Mazer's first time basking in the spotlight full-on, and deservedly so. Fully funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign with a $20,000 goal, the album features a variety of brilliant musicians from the Michigan scene that Mazer had previously met during freelance performances and opening gigs. Although its jazz and soul undertones are most prevalent, they don't shackle the singer-songwriter into going any singular direction, either. Miraculously layered, each track presents another side to Mazer's artistic character. While "Is It So Wrong" wouldn't sound like a stranger on a Lake Street Dive album, "Jupiters Moon" would feel at home on a Beyonce one. Skirting metropolitan influences ranging from urban to blue-eyed soul to pop, Mazer establishes herself as someone who emanates a multi-sided, full-bodied artistry. Out now, How Do We Get By marks the start of what should be an impressive, long-standing solo career. source 'POP-MATTERS'