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Danielle Freeman's "Una" Is Honest As One

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Emotive and dynamic vocalist, Danielle Freeman, is characterized as being a “forward thinking vocalist with jazz influence" by New York artist Jake Cartwright. Una, a vocal solo EP written and performed by Freeman, seeks to honor sounds and words revealed to her regardless of genre classification. Versed engineer, John Paterno (Mark Guiliana, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill) mixed and mastered the album. Paterno compliments her overall intention to create a full sound recording utilizing ostinato bass lines, counter melodies, layered harmonies and vocal percussion. The result is an embodiment of classical forms with freedom to experiment with modern harmony and improvisation. An arch of self-discovery, spiritual growth and self-love gained, Una is a portal into Freeman’s imaginative soul.

The EP opens with the album’s title track, “Una.” The track is based on three notes: C, F, and B flat, with shifting tones that create dissonance, release and harmonic movement. With the opening lines, “Denied before me, no words can imagine,” Freeman expresses a universal unrequitedness. “Rocket Sapphire” begins with a haunting melody accompanied by stirring vocal percussion resembling a running pant or a hopeful sigh. She begins to sing her bass line which leads into her lyrical poem, “How can a mind conquer the loud blues, mostly read, red as fire?” The following track, “Fall to the Clock,” creates an image of time turning through vocal percussion and the ticking interjection of the upper voice parts. She states, “I wanted to write a song about self- love; being in harmony with nature, people and the vibe of our universe.” This track was also inspired by a famous Toni Morrison quote: ‘If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it.’”

Acknowledging, she sings, “I’ll surrender to light.” Her chorus repeatedly echoes a theme of self-love, “Don’t lose who you are, even lose your love.” “Unperishable Star” also utilizes an ostinato bass line in an intimate expression of love lost. Initially, this track is a duet between the melody and the bass until we are greeted with a transition into a denouement of counter melody and expressive interjections. In “What Lies is Perception,” a bass groove is united with classical forms as Freeman expresses her desire to find truth and the freedom it brings. “I wanted to create a section with a descant melody with open space to improvise. It has always been a dream of mine to freely improvise with a soaring melodic line above. This piece was a great experience to perform with myself although it was originally written for a quintet.” “Begin Again” closes the album, which is a reflection or answer to the EP’s opening track. Most songs were conceived and performed prior to developing a concept to do a solo work. Freeman states, “It is strange. I have written and performed some of these songs for bass and voice duo and quintet. After recording and arranging them for voice, they are to me complete and full as vocal pieces. It is like they were destined to be recorded this way. John Paterno was also an intricate player to this recording as he engineered it with full understanding of my vision to complete this solo album.”

About Danielle Freeman

A “...scintillating showcase of voice and instrument, crossing the borders of classic music, jazz improvisation and modern composition,” All About Jazz stated about Freeman’s debut album Dorian, released in 2010. While residing in New York for thirteen years, she performed her music with her quintet, Ladies and Gentlemen, and composed music for her bass and voice duo, Toss the Microphones. She has performed for Matthew Garrison’s ShapeShifter Lab, The Drom, Carnegie Hall, and Katerina’s of Chicago. A trained opera singer, Freeman has sung for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Beth Morrison Projects and New York regional theater and opera companies. She currently resides and performs in Los Angeles, California.

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