Julia Olivarez is one of Houston, Texas's best-kept secrets -- a PSAW
(pianist/singer/accordionist/whatever) whose musical disciplines range from classical to cool jazz
to New Orleans-style stride and ragtime to blues to gospel to traditional ethnic/folk. Moving easily
from a solo jazz/cabaret act to leading her own jazz quintet to working in duo or trio settings to
playing wild Russian, Slavic and Eastern European swing with The Gypsies, Julia is a musician's
musician whose ongoing interpretations of beloved songwriters Tom Waits, Antonio Carlos Jobim
and Randy Newman have won her a lively, diverse and deeply devoted following.
An accomplished composer and lyricist herself, Julia is writing new material for her inaugural CD
(working hand-in-glove with art-rocker/composer/multi-instrumentalist Andy McWilliams), and is
currently teaching piano, music theory and songwriting and performance technique as a
Performing Artist in Residence at Linda Lowe's Writers In the Round studio (other Houston artists
in residence include bassist Erin Wright, jazz vocal duo Mood Indigo, guitarists Bill Royall and
Michael Viteri, pianists Henry Darragh, Basirah Dean and Gary Gillispie, drummer Clyde Adams,
violinist Mary Ann Willis of Moodafaruka and The Gypsies, and Houston Symphony violinist Ruth
Zeger. Go to the WITR website for more information and to sign up -- all ages!)
Sultry. Swinging. Sexy. Stylish. Singular. Shhhhhh.
"It doesn’t matter what Olivarez sings, whether it's Tom Waits or Antonio Carlos Jobim, you can
relax because she knows what it takes to convey every nuance of that song. And, blissfully if she
does Jobim, she is going to do it in both English and Portuguese. She accompanies herself on keys
effortlessly, which is no small feat for a vocalist. When you think of how television has made a
travesty out of the art of singing, it’s nice to be reminded exactly what it’s all about." - Michele
Brangwen, ArtsHouston Magazine, July '07
"Julia Olivarez's powerful barrelhouse piano style is a treat in and of itself, but when combined with
her vocal charms it's a double treat." - JazzHouston
"(Tom Waits's) voice, so rough and weatherbeaten, becomes softer and sexier in Olivarez's throat,
with her own lilting inflection that ends each growly phrase . . . the combination of that weird
January night where all of Houston was holding its breath and Julia Olivarez's preaching turned me
into a believer." - Sara Cress, The Houston Chronicle/Handstamp
(pianist/singer/accordionist/whatever) whose musical disciplines range from classical to cool jazz
to New Orleans-style stride and ragtime to blues to gospel to traditional ethnic/folk. Moving easily
from a solo jazz/cabaret act to leading her own jazz quintet to working in duo or trio settings to
playing wild Russian, Slavic and Eastern European swing with The Gypsies, Julia is a musician's
musician whose ongoing interpretations of beloved songwriters Tom Waits, Antonio Carlos Jobim
and Randy Newman have won her a lively, diverse and deeply devoted following.
An accomplished composer and lyricist herself, Julia is writing new material for her inaugural CD
(working hand-in-glove with art-rocker/composer/multi-instrumentalist Andy McWilliams), and is
currently teaching piano, music theory and songwriting and performance technique as a
Performing Artist in Residence at Linda Lowe's Writers In the Round studio (other Houston artists
in residence include bassist Erin Wright, jazz vocal duo Mood Indigo, guitarists Bill Royall and
Michael Viteri, pianists Henry Darragh, Basirah Dean and Gary Gillispie, drummer Clyde Adams,
violinist Mary Ann Willis of Moodafaruka and The Gypsies, and Houston Symphony violinist Ruth
Zeger. Go to the WITR website for more information and to sign up -- all ages!)
Sultry. Swinging. Sexy. Stylish. Singular. Shhhhhh.
"It doesn’t matter what Olivarez sings, whether it's Tom Waits or Antonio Carlos Jobim, you can
relax because she knows what it takes to convey every nuance of that song. And, blissfully if she
does Jobim, she is going to do it in both English and Portuguese. She accompanies herself on keys
effortlessly, which is no small feat for a vocalist. When you think of how television has made a
travesty out of the art of singing, it’s nice to be reminded exactly what it’s all about." - Michele
Brangwen, ArtsHouston Magazine, July '07
"Julia Olivarez's powerful barrelhouse piano style is a treat in and of itself, but when combined with
her vocal charms it's a double treat." - JazzHouston
"(Tom Waits's) voice, so rough and weatherbeaten, becomes softer and sexier in Olivarez's throat,
with her own lilting inflection that ends each growly phrase . . . the combination of that weird
January night where all of Houston was holding its breath and Julia Olivarez's preaching turned me
into a believer." - Sara Cress, The Houston Chronicle/Handstamp
| NEUROMANTIC: noun - one in whose psychological makeup the distinguishing characteristics of neurosis and romantic intemperance fuse in what might best be described as "a train wreck waiting to happen, or that happened some time ago and left no survivors that were not crazed and embittered." Oddly enough, most neuromantics enter upon careers in live entertainment (stand-up comedy, acting, musical performance, street pantomimery, panhandling, conducting lively Socratic dialogues with their alternate personalities outside of convenience stores), demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no life experience, no matter how absurd, that cannot be transformed into a fairly decent living - and no depth which the owner of a thriving bundle of neuroses will not mine for applause. Or a good laugh. (See also: palooka, sap, virago, she-devil, singer-songwriter.) - from "When Jazz Happens to Innocent People - A Compendium of Case Studies From A to Zed," an oral defense by Dr. Ursula Krank (unpublished) |
| julia@cantydame.com 2008 All rights reserved. |
| "my mother lived 'til eighty, a canty dame to the last." - emily bronte, "wuthering heights" |
