Shayna Zaid - Rockwood Music Hall, 11/22/08




Listen to "Closer", Live at Rockwood, 11/22/08.

I think I've figured out why there is so much love in the room whenever Shayna Zaid plays the Rockwood Music Hall. Rockwood regulars have enjoyed seeing her and her band play many times this year as they write and record the new album that is currently nearing completion. The reason for the Rockwood love fests is that Shayna has a magical way of writing and singing a love song; when you hear her sing songs like "Closer" and "It's You", all of her songs really, it seems like she is singing them directly to you. Combine that with superb arrangements given these songs by her band, especially the highly melodic playing of Yan Izquierdo on violin, producer Joel Dean on guitar, Brendan O'Grady on bass, and drummer Chris Heinz who always has just the right touch at the right time, and well it all adds up to a really special live music experience.





The show opened with a debut of a new song called "Morning Sun" featuring Yan on mandolin and a nice upbeat slice of morning optimism. "I Need an Answer" will be happily familiar to anyone who's seen Shayna more than once. "Just Because", one of the newer songs in the set, is a bouncy little tune embellished with some great facial expressions by Shayna, it also leads off her new EP, Au Fait.


Listen to "Take Your Time".


Listen to "Stay".

"Closer" knocked me out the first time I heard it last summer, and over the past few months, they've enhanced the slow and beautiful arrangement with some gorgeous violin from Yan and some nice acoustic guitar work by Shayna and Joel. "I Remember" came next with the band continuing the highly melodic vibe. "Take Your Time" sounded all the more powerful by virtue of it's simplicity, now featuring just Joel's guitar and Shayna's voice. "Stay" had some more great violin by Yan. Next up was "Love" with the audience now totally in Shayna's capable hands. The show ended on a high note with "It's You", a song that I think I've heard her sing every single time out, and I've got to say that with the current arrangement by Joel and the band, Shayna's ultimate love song has never sounded better.


Listen to "It's You".



Shayna and her band, now named "The Catch" have worked hard all year writing, arranging and recording, and it shows whenever they play live. They're now putting the finishing touches on an album's worth of great songs, maybe more; they recently released a five song preview EP, Au Fait,currently available at Amazon, iTunes, and other download retailers.



Come and check out the new bass player Michael Pearce on January 23rd when Shayna makes her Living Room debut, and she'll be back at Rockwood on February 7th. See her now in the intimate confines of these great Lower East Side venues while you still can; based on the level of her singing, songwriting, and live performances, her days of playing such rooms may be numbered.


Shayna Zaid - Au Fait EP

Shayna Zaid's myspace.


Comments

Anonymous said…
shayna is truly a star yet to be discover!

luv her voice n style!
2/03/2009
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering the Main Point, 1964 - 1981

Image
WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #5 Begining in 1964, The Main Point in Bryn Mawr provided the Philadelphia area with one of its most enjoyable venues for live music. Although it started as a folk based coffeehouse, all styles of music were presented over the years. Financial problems continually plagued the Main Point, and in spite of frequent benefit shows by artists who loved the place as much as the audience, the club finally closed in 1981. The following brief history is contained in an obituary of Jeanette O. Campbell, one of the founders and owners of the Main Point who died on October 22, 2006, written by Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer Sally A. Downey as reprinted on the Save Ardmore Coalition website. Jeanette Orndoff Campbell, 89, former owner of the Main Point, a music hall in Bryn Mawr where young talents including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor were introduced to local audiences, died of complications from hip surgery Oct. 22 at Stap
Read more

Cream and Blind Faith at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, 1968 & 1969

Image
WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #3 (L-R) Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, & Eric Clapton I could not have foreseen it at the time, but looking back on a concert going history now entering it's fifth decade, my first three concerts were absolutely formative in the development of the music obsession that has driven life as we know it from that point forward. Attending a rock concert pre drivers license was no small feat, that I even got to these shows is the first indication that I knew I was onto something even if I couldn't quite explain it. I've already detailed my first concert (The Beatles at JFK Stadium) in my MMMM#1 . My second and third concerts took place at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, they were less than a year apart, and due to the fact that concerts never end at the time predicted, these concert experiences both ended with a very angry driver stuck waiting in the car outside the venue until the last encore had finished. I shot both concerts with the same starter
Read more

And We Danced - Filming the Hooters Video, 7/27/85

Image
WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #4 "And We Danced" (picture sleeve above) was released in 1985 as the second single from the album, Nervous Night , the Hooters' major label debut for Columbia Records. Here's the video. The call went out to the Hooters' mailing list the last week of July 1985 that an audience with cars would be needed on the coming Saturday for a video shoot. Participants would report to the Exton Drive-In by late morning and be prepared to stay all day until after dark. This stage set, early in the day, was a warm-up for the crowd and probably a dry run for the production team for the night-time performance to be filmed later. The banner backdrop does not appear in the video. Some of the antique and custom cars that were on hand for the shoot. The production crew prepares the ticket booth for its shot. This is the film crew shooting the acoustic intro part of the song. The acoustic intro was shot twice, first with t
Read more