Laurie Antonioli
BIOGRAPHY
Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, Laurie Antonioli began her musical life playing guitar and performing the music of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and James Taylor. By the age of 15 she was a prolific songwriter and began working in solo gigs at little restaurants around her home area.
At the age of 16 Laurie’s maternal grandmother (an original member of the Louis Armstrong fan club) gave her a stack of '78 records of pianist and singer Nellie Lutcher. Nellie sang in a swinging style that drove Laurie to learn these songs by ear on her guitar. She began staying up late listening to Jazz radio; found recordings by Billie Holiday and started improvising and imitating the music. Jazz inspired her. She found her way to Mt. Hood Community College in Portland, Oregon to learn more. While at school she discovered Bird, Trane, Miles, Lee Morgan, Eric Dolphy and a group that excited her immensely: the Charlie Ventura Band with Jackie and Roy. The voices sang the lines with the horns and this is what she wanted to do.
When Laurie turned 21 she left college and moved back to San Francisco. Jazz vocalist Mark Murphy heard her and she became a regular guest sitting in on his gig at The Dock in Tiburon, California. Shortly after that, bebop saxophonist and singer Pony Poindexter heard her and was similarly excited by her vocalizing. He took her on an extended tour of Europe where they sang from Berlin to Berne, Brussels to Munich. Pony and Laurie did the music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie as a bebop-singing duo. This marked a major turning point in her musical development and by the time she returned to the States she had matured into a proficient jazz musician. At the age of 27 she was signed to a label, Catero Records, and did a live to 2-track duo LP with pianist George Cables entitled "Soul Eyes" - with lyrics to the title song given to her by the composer, Mal Waldron, after he met and heard her in Munich.
The 1980's were a good time for jazz in San Francisco. Laurie often appeared with Bobby McFerrin and led her own bands. She appeared regularly at Yoshi's and Bajones. She performed at the Great American Music Hall, the San Francisco Jazz Festival and many other venues. She benefited from being around during the last couple of years that the Keystone Korner was open and sat in with greats like Tete Montoliu, Jon Hendricks and Cedar Walton. Her friendship with jazz master and fellow San Franciscan, Joe Henderson, lasted well over 20 years and she wrote lyrics to his music with his suggestions – her recently released cd “Foreign Affair” has Joe’s song “Black Narcissus” with Laurie’s text, under the new title “Crni Narcis” – a Serbo-Croatian title to honor her roots and bring to light the racism that exists in the Balkan region. The text was written originally to address racism in American culture, but, this is a universal theme and transcends borders.
Though she never stopped singing, Laurie appeared to be "off the scene" from the late 80's through the late-90's. She supported herself and her daughter with a full time job working in the advertising industry as well as teaching jazz singing privately from her home. She continued her creative projects and during this period performed and recorded with pianist, Richie Beirach. That recording was finally released in 2005 on Nabel Records entitled “The Duo Session”. "When one brings music from the past into the present, it should be done only when it's at this level. The quality of this record is almost unrivaled, and if we were to hear something better we’d have heard the new Ella." - Concerto Magazine
Beirach and Antonioli just completed a new recording (of mostly Beirach originals with text from Laurie, as well as some free improvisation and a couple of other surprises!) and this will be released in 2008.
In 2002, Ms. Antonioli moved to Europe and served for 4 years as the Professor of the Vocal Jazz Department at KUG University in Graz, Austria. She is following in the footsteps of Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Andy Bey and Jay Clayton who taught on and off at this Jazz Institute since the late-80's. “The truth is…” says Laurie, “…my dedication to teaching equals my involvement with my personal music career. I find it inspiring and am devoted to the process of passing on what I know to my students. When they “get it” there is nothing sweeter. It is important to keep the music alive and it only happens when we share our knowledge and experience. You can not learn this art form out of books.”
Today, Laurie's singing, though rooted in bebop, is multi-faceted. "It's in the ballads," says Laurie, "that I find so much beauty…” Her lyric writing covers the music of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Monk, Trane, Joe Henderson, Coltrane, Lee Morgan and most recently, the music of her colleagues and contemporary artists like Richie Beirach, Nenad Vasilic, Charlie Haden, John Pattitucci, Fritz Pauer and the original music her band creates. Pianist Richie Beirach says of Laurie’s lyric writing: “Laurie has the ability to go directly to the heart of the substance and meaning of the music she’s writing to. She does this with a very quiet, but extremely intense imagination and verbal dexterity which never fails to illuminate both the true and the hidden meanings of my compositions.”
Living in Vienna, Austria and teaching in Graz allowed for a whole new musical life. Laurie put together a group inspired by the music of the Balkan region. Her Yugoslav heritage mixed with her American roots gave birth to "Foreign Affair" a band comprised of musicians from Serbia, Albania, Germany and the US. Bassist and composer Nenad Vasilic worked closely with Laurie on the concept, and co-produced and also contributed music and arrangements for the cd.“Our music is fluid and rhythmical. The relationship between the bass and the voice is at the heart of the band and we create a sound that's very provocative. We’ve found a common space at this crossroad between countries and cultures.” Nabel Records in Germany released „Foreign Affair“ in October 2004 and was immediately selected as „CD of the Month“ by two German Magazines: Stereo and Fono Forum.
While working in Graz, Laurie wrote the text to a new repertoire of music by Austrian Pianist (and colleague at KUG University) Fritz Pauer. They performed in concerts and compiled the "Pauer-Antonioli Songbook" - This collection of "new standards" will be released in a book with accompanying cd in 2007. In November 2004 two songs from the Pauer-Antonioli Songbook „Soulmates“ and „Vienna Blues“ won first prize in the Jazz Category at the Benelux International Song and Culture Festival in The Netherlands.
In the summer of 2006 Laurie left Europe and returned to her home in the Bay Area to take a position as the Chair of the Vocal Jazz Studies program at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, California. Several new projects are on the horizon, and, her lifelong devotion to creative music continues. “Musically, the singer crosses the boundaries between styles and cultures, folk and jazz, east and west. Such an organic and original combination of all these elements is seldom achieved.” Stereo Magazine – Germany, review of “Foreign Affair”…5 Stars.