CD RELEASE:

The small girl quartet featuring Aliza Amihude - vocals, Jeff Presslaff - piano, Gilles Fournier - bass, and Scott Senior - percussion and drums internationally released their new CD, BIG BANANA, at Burning Man in August/September 2008 with performances everyday in different villages.

The Winnipeg CD release party will be held on Friday, October 17, 2008 at Liquid Lounge, 774 Corydon Avenue in Winnipeg at 9pm.

$10 Tickets are available at Into the Music, Shop Girl, and Liquid Lounge.

small girl BIG BANANA is sold in Winnipeg at Into the Music, Music Trader, and McNally Robinson stores.

Available to purchase on line at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/smallgirl

small girl halts traffic at the intersection of jazz, blues, burlesque, and performance art.  More specifically, small girl is an original, brilliant, and progressive jazz quartet whose vivacious singer channels the spirit of Jacques Brel, the intensity of Edith Piaf, and the gall of Lenny Bruce.

 

 

BIG BANANA Song List:

1. I Love Me (2:40)
2. small girl (4:10)
3. The Perspring Song (5:21)
4. 2 Pods in a Pea (2:54)
5. Cinnamon (4:56)
6. Mr. Mystery (5:02)
7. Cheri (3:50)
8. The Tides (3:07)
9. Home Alone (3:49)
10. Rock Me (2:05)
11. Babelicious (5:09)
12. Vegetarian Cannibal Love (2:35)
13. Find Me an Angel (4:23)
14. Ode to Gord (5:40)

 

Instrumentation

  • Aliza Amihude – vocals
  • Jeff Presslaff – piano
  • Gilles Fournier – bass
  • Daniel Roy – drums and percussion (tracks 2 & 4)
  • Kelly Marques – drums and percussion (all other tracks)

With this new recording, Aliza embarks upon a career of making life more challenging for critics and writers of liner notes.  Poised somewhere on the edge of complete musical naiveté and enormous sophistication, of sincerity and irony, and at the intersection of jazz, blues, burlesque, and performance art, she opens doors to the unexpected. 

This small girl’s humour, sassiness, range of inflection, and quirkiness of melody make listening to her and her progressive jazz back-up a delightful and sometimes breathtaking experience.  small girl is an ensemble that turns on the harmonic and rhythmic dime, not unlike the late Betty Carter’s groups, but with Aliza’s own forthright take on life, love, the universe, and everything. 

The songs tell stories whose performance can go an which way on a given night.  Aliza and Jeff’ rely on their highly developed musical rapport to allow things to swing freely from whichever tree they find themselves up in, and the resulting emotional terrain is a wonder to behold.

The 14 songs on BIG BANANA

  • came through Aliza Amihude between 1996-2001 in Montreal, Quebec; Jakarta, Java; Lorette and Matlock in rural Manitoba; and on Maui, Hawaii.
  • were co-composed with Jeff Presslaff between 1999-2001 in Winnipeg, Manitoba

where, in Winnipeg, they were

  • recorded between 1999-2005 at Unity Gain, Private Ear, and Mid-Ocean recording studios
  • mixed by Jeff Presslaff, Don Benedictson, and Rodrigo Muñoz
  • mastered by Allen Hunnie in 2007

The artwork for BIG BANANA was all done in 2008

  • cover photo was taken in Maui by Daniella Dreher (Aliza’s step-daughter)
  • graphic design done by David at lab4design.com
  • final product done by Polar Bear

More facts

  • The digipak is made with recycled cardboard
  • The song Cheri is completely en français (in French) and Mr. Mystery is bilingual
  • Cinnamon is in the film “Blow Me” by Jaimz Asmundson
  • The stage show can be performed in English, French, or both

 

CONTACT:

Aliza Amihude
90 Grove Street
Winnipeg, MB  R2W 3K7
204-589-3440
info@smallgirl.ca

 
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