Support Lisa Marie Simmons!
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Support Lisa Marie Simmons!
American artist in Italy, Lisa Marie Simmons, is a BRILLIANT artist and voice with a time-sensitive deadline for a travel grant opportunity.
Dear Readers and Supporters,
Lisa Marie Simmons is a BRILLIANT artist and voice of pure authenticity, honesty, kindness, brilliance, and grounding, as well as a dear friend and respected activist. She has a time-sensitive deadline for a travel grant opportunity coming up and needs support. I have copied and pasted her message here:
The deadline is June 20, so we are under the gun. Below is an email inquiry I've been sending; please feel free to modify and pass it on.
Thanks for any advice! Wouldn't it be fabulous if we made this happen and we could hang out?!
Hello,
My name is Lisa Marie Simmons; I'm an American artist based in Italy.
Please consider us for your venue in 2023 with our new album NoteSpeak 12.
I am currently applying for a travel grant to get us to the States, and I need an invitation letter by June 20 at the latest. Ideally, in the first week of November, we have been booked at The Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia for Saturday, November 3. However, anytime in the first two weeks of November would work. I would like to know if you have any suggestions for me on venues or festivals in NYC. You can hear the project wherever you listen online, but below is a link to our EPK.
LISTEN HERE:
Private EPK: https://s.disco.ac/ahacollsqetv
Password is LMS2023
We are so proud of our new project; it's a poetic/musical offering like our previous album and, we are convinced, the best work we've ever done.
We received a rare 5-star review from Downbeat magazine, the jazz bible, the German Jazzthetik magazine, and a 4-star review from All About Jazz, where we were also Album of the Day. We've received national airplay here in Italy from the program Battiti on Rai Radio 3 on March 22 (Playlist - "There is A Danger" and Playlist "Travel" on March 24. We've also been lucky enough to have consistent airplay on Ruth Fisher's "Full Circle" show on London's JazzFM, with more spins coming. We also performed a preview for Simone Leigh's Loophole of Retreat at the Biennale in Venice, a transformative experience.
After such great reviews of the first album (see below), we are going all out with this one. We've hired PR in Europe (Matt Fripp) and the States (Scott Thompson), so we are well-positioned to organize a 2023 tour.
For more on the project, my bio, and links to live videos of us, please see below.
We hope you will have us!
I appreciate your consideration,
Lisa
Lisa Marie Simmons
(39) 335 5217350
Skype lisa.simmons86
https://linktr.ee/LisaMarieSimmons
NoteSpeak in India sulla music stage del Jaipur Literature Festival
Lineup
(Touring Band)
Lisa Marie Simmons Lead Vocal, Lyrics, Composer;
Marco Cremaschini Piano, Keyboards, Arrangements, Composer;
Laura Masotto - Violin;
Federico Negri - Drums
Marco Cocconi - Electric Bass; Acoustic Bass
Manuel Caliumi - Alto Saxophone, Soprano Sax
(On the album - available on request)
Denise Dimè - Vocals
Dionne Draper - Vocals
Ernest Ikwanga - Guitars
Mauro Negri - Tenor Saxophone
Federico Pierantoni - Trombone
Fulvio Sigurtà - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Donata Greco - Flute
Weedie Braimah - Percussion
Maurizio Giannone - Percussion
NoteSpeak 12 is a multi-leveled musical jazz hybrid. Building upon an underlying concept of unity and connection, music for 12 explores the considerable distance between two disparate musical outposts – dodecaphonic (12-note scale) iconoclasts Schoenberg and Stockhausen to represent Western culture and AfroBeat to represent African culture – but also allows the musicians to play with freedom within these two pillars, and breathe their creativity into the groove. Its lyrics, in substance and form (sonnets, free verse, rondeau prime, and others), meditate upon the ubiquitous presence of the number 12 and its various worldly incarnations: In Islam, in Judeo-Christianity, in astrology, in physics, and its metaphysical representation of harmony, empathy, and unity.
BIO
Lisa is a multi-disciplinary storyteller: She is a singer/songwriter (Ropeadope Records), essayist (Huffington Post, The Boston Globe, Kweli Journal, Family Stories Project, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jazzfuel), and published poet currently based in Italy. She fronts the poetic/musical ensemble NoteSpeak, which debuted in America at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival in Boulder (CO) in September 2017. She was invited to be a speaker and performer at the 70th Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado in April 2018. In November 2019, she presented NoteSpeak (Amore e Tragedie in Musica) in Italy, Austria, and Prague. In January 2020, Lisa presented NoteSpeak in India on the Jaipur Music Stage. Ropeadope Records released her poetic/musical album NoteSpeak (Amori e Tragedie in Musica) in March 2020, which received a four-star review from Downbeat magazine. In October 2021, she flew to Florida to search for her birth father; Angela Tucker and her Emmy Award-winning husband Bryan Tucker filmed a documentary about the search: Lisa & Isell: A Story about Adoption and the Ghost Kingdom, which premiered in June 2022. Angela and Lisa co-wrote an essay advocating for the rights of Black fathers for the Harvard Law Bill of Health digital symposium in May 2022. Her jazz standards album Lisa Meets Gianni featuring legendary Italian drummer Gianni Cazzola was released in June 2022 on Ropeadope Records. Lisa was invited to perform at the Biennale in Venice in October 2022 for artist Simone Leigh's Loophole of Retreat. Her poem "Last Supper" was shortlisted for a Creators of Justice Literary Award in November 2022. Her new album NoteSpeak 12, was released in February 2023 by Ropeadope, garnering a 5-star review from Downbeat magazine.
NoteSpeak (Amori e Tragedie in Musica) Live performances
Cozmic Confusion Live in Jaipur, India
Reviews
"Beautiful and Powerful" - Giuseppe Saulo Rai Radio 3 "Battiti"
"Lisa Marie Simmons has a powerful magnetizing voice for our time- for all time. Authentic and deeply committed."- Anne Waldman, author of Trickster Feminism (Penguin Poets).
"Note Speak stretches all boundaries with intriguing spoken word backed by an ambitious jazz ensemble, all with original compositions of poetry, prose, and musical wonder. Note Speak literally had the sold-out audience leaning into every word and every note during the entire show. The audience was wild for both the concept and the execution, craving more that is sure to come from this creative act." - Denis Budankov, Artistic Director International Jazz Festival hosted at Reduta Jazz Club Prague.
"Across NoteSpeak, the band's playing remains understated, granting Simmons' poetry the spotlight. Her words are full of internal rhymes, verbal inflections that move the rhythm in unexpected directions and juxtapositions of imagery that veer from predictable to wildly creative." Four Stars J.Poet Downbeat Magazine
"Musically and vocally, NoteSpeak consistently changes, shifting from style to style – acoustic jazz solos into hip-hop beats into harmonized gospel vocals into electronic jazz and fusion into free verse rhyming – and yet seems to constantly groove. Simmons' delivery swims in the deep waters connecting Nina Simone to Jill Scott, completely obliterating the line between vocalist and poetess: Warning like a mother lioness, whippersnapping through urban haunts, and curiously wondering about it all." - Chris M. Slawecki "All About Jazz."
"NoteSpeak performed at the closing of the literary festival JLF@Boulder and blew the lid off the house. They had the audience on their feet throughout the incredible 90-minute set! A pure treat!" - Sanjoy K. Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts. Co-founder and producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival
Lisa Marie Simmons
(39) 335 5217350