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Shepley Metcalf Celebrates the Songs of Fran Landesman

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SINGER SHEPLEY METCALF PRODUCES TRIBUTE TO JAZZ LYRICIST FRAN LANDESMAN WITH NEW CD

Something Irresistible: Songs of Fran Landesman + Simon Wallace

AND SCULLERS JAZZ CLUB SHOW

TUESDAY, MARCH 23 AT 8:00 PM



Boston, MA--If you are impressed by the haunting lyrics of the well-known tunes “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" or “Ballad of The Sad Young Men," then you should seek out this unique Scullers show celebrating the hippest of the hippest of all jazz lyricists, Fran Landesman. Singer Shepley Metcalf discovered Fran's latest songs, traveled to London to meet Fran, and now has a show and a CD filled with fantastic and new Landesman tunes to share with you. In fact, this is the first U.S. show and CD devoted to ONLY NEW Fran Landesman songs. No U.S. singer has recorded this new songbook previously. Expect to hear intelligent, edgy, and witty lyrics, set to marvelous melodies by British jazz pianist and composer Simon Wallace.



Metcalf will come out with the fascinating new CD titled Something Irresistible: Songs of Fran Landesman + Simon Wallace alongside the celebratory and insightful show at Scullers Jazz Club in the DoubleTree Guest Suites-Boston, Tuesday, March 23 at 8:00 pm. Tickets at $20.00 are available now at www.scullersjazz.com, www.ticketweb.com or by calling 617-562-4131. Scullers is wheelchair accessible.



Accompanied by pianist and Musical Director Ron Roy, bassist Chris Rathbun and drummer Gene Roma, Metcalf will present an entire show featuring only the music of Landesman. “I'm so excited about the quality of these songs . . . it's amazing to have come upon this treasure trove," says Shepley.



Shepley and pianist/arranger Ron Roy have performed locally at the Acton Jazz Caf, Upstairs on the Square, The Fireplace, The Lily Pad, the Daily Catch, and at Two Boots in Brooklyn, New York.



From 1990 to 1995, Shepley was lead singer in Cabaret Enchant (with Catherine Coleman). The duo performed at local venues, Danny's Sky Bar (New York City), and live on Ron Della Chiesa's WGBH radio show, “Music America." Shepley put her vocal career on the back burner while she was director of communications at Pine Street Inn from 1998 to 2007, but she's come back to it with passion and verve.



A full-time faculty member at the Boston Conservatory of Music, Ron Roy also teaches at The Tuscany Project, a voice workshop held in Italy each summer. Ron's extensive credits in theater, cabaret, and opera have brought him around the U.S. and abroad. Chris Rathbun (acoustic bass) and Gene Roma (drums), two accomplished and in-demand Boston area musicians, join Shepley and Ron at Scullers, and also appear on the CD.



Shepley Metcalf is a lyric searcher. Part of her mission as a singer is finding great but less familiar songs, whether by the famous or the forgotten. Lyrics that move her, lyrics that speak to her, lyrics that have something to say to all of us, these are the gold she pans for as she listens to old LPs and leafs through songbooks.



A year ago, Shepley, impressed by the smart and poignant 1955 standard, “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," went on the hunt. Who was this lyricist, Fran Landesman? Online searching revealed that Fran was living in London, and still writing!



Fran's web site offered many lyrics, but few charts. No published songbooks could be found. Further sleuthing led to contact with the British composer and pianist Simon Wallace,Fran's collaborator since 1994. Lo and behold, Simon was just finishing up the first Landesman/Wallace songbook, and he would bring it with him to New York, where he was heading to an engagement at the Caf Carlyle. So down to New York went Shepley, returning to Cambridge with a spiral-bound treasure trove of Fran's words set to Simon's music.



Shepley and her musical partner and pianist, Ron Roy, crazy about the material, began adding more and more of these brilliant and unforgettable tunes to their repertoire and are now almost finished with an entire recording of Landesman's unique music.

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