Tish Oney's Music Blog

I was duly surprised earlier this month to discover that the 59th Grammy Awards has decided to honor my 2015 Songs From the Heart EP with consideration in three categories! The first track, " Follow Me ," was co-written by my husband, George Gábor, and has been listed for Grammy consideration in "Song of the Year" and "Best Pop Solo Performance" categories. Track two, " Be Still and Know ," is being considered in the Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song" category. I am super-excited about this attention my original songs have received--and fully realize that I am so blessed to be able to do what I absolutely love as my profession. Both songs come from an EP of guitar/vocal duets and were recorded with my favorite collaborative artist, the amazing guitar master John Chiodini , who performs with incredible emotion, originality, style and artistry in everything he does. Our 2016 recording, a jazz album yet to be released or tit...

This week I was pleased to share on local television ( Studio 62 TV , Spartanburg) news that my most recent recording, Songs From The Heart , has been submitted for Grammy consideration in five categories: Tracks 1 and 5 (different versions of "Follow Me,") were submitted for Song of the Year, Best Solo Country Performance, Best Duo Country Performance and Best Country Song. Track 2 ("Be Still and Know") was submitted for Best Contemporary Christian Performance/Song. I am so excited that the Grammy selection committee will be listening to these original songs ("Follow Me" was co-written by my husband, George Gábor) and possibly including them on the first-round Grammy ballot later this year. All three of my previous albums were on the first-round ballot in jazz categories, but it honestly feels gratifying to have my compositions outside of jazz also be given serious consideration. John Chiodini's consistently outstanding performances on the acoustic g...

What an exciting time! The flurry of things to do when an album or recording is about to be released is formidable... and sometimes it's difficult to guess when it will all get done. When I recorded Songs From The Heart with John Chiodini (our third recording project together), it further proved that when you've got a good thing going, it's just silly to change it. The rhythmic interplay, melodic dances and pure improvisational bliss that we experience in the studio or on the stage together drive the point home that I have found my ideal collaborative artist. The title of the collection comes from a press kit testimonial John wrote for me several years ago in which he declared "Tish sings from the heart." The first track, "Follow Me," came out as a country love song. Songs are like children--they are who they are and you cannot make them into something they are not! Since I do not consider myself a country singer (although I do teach country singers),...

... and looking so forward to it! In June I return to Big City Recording Studios in L.A. to record once again with the greatest guitarist on the planet, John Chiodini. We (and our stellar band) are slated to record several original songs, and are considering extending the session to include some originals by friends of mine who are also composers. I have been wanting for several years to put an album (or EP) together featuring beautiful songs my highly talented friends in the business have composed, and my chance has finally arrived! If you are a songwriter and would like me to consider recording your songs, by all means, feel free to send me one or two of your best and I'll consider them for this session... Next month I will have an update about the progress of the recording... In the meantime, we will be accepting album/EP orders in advance to help offset the cost of recording great original jazz works by contemporary composers! If you would like to reserve your copy, please...

Jazz concerts, new ventures, recordings, music articles, collaborations... January and February always seem to be the time to plan the "next phase" of projects. I am excited about a concert coming up March first--I will be the first vocalist to ever perform with the Greenville Jazz Collective! This wonderful instrumental ensemble is dedicated to writing and performing new jazz music. As a departure from their norm, we are engaging in a celebration of classic songs from the Great American Songbook programming works by Gershwin, Arlen, Porter, Duke, and Berlin. Our first and only rehearsal hit today--and I already know this performance is going to be a trip! Greenville/Spartanburg folks won't want to wait to get tickets--this ensemble usually sells out this tiny venue fast (The Coffee Underground), so see www.greenvillejazzcollective.com and order your tickets today! I have been meaning to release a pop single for several months now... it is fully mastered and ready ...

In my experience, songs are born, not made. I once wrote a song whose identity I did not discover until after I found myself in the recording studio making the music with my collaborative partner. We learned together that the song had a natural "country" feel, style, groove and affect. Being an experienced jazz singer (with a good deal of both classical and pop singing experience) I was a bit concerned about how my recording of this country song would sound! With a little help from my friends (my guitarist, John Chiodini, and recording engineer, Paul Tavenner) I found the right "voice" to pull it off, and my country single was born. This song has not yet been released, but I expect that it will be commercially available within a few months. As I teach my songwriting class at USC Upstate, I encourage the students to understand that they cannot always superimpose a style upon a set of lyrics with the intention of forcing a song to become something it is not. ...

Hello readers! This week I open a new doubleheader show in two cities--the show is called "Tish Oney--The Peggy Lee Project/Tish Oney's Swingin' Christmas." This pairing came about because a couple of venues could not decide between the two shows and were looking for something for the Christmas season... so we opted to combine them with a short intermission in between. The doubleheader will be presented Friday, December 2 at Fryeburg Academy (Fryeburg, ME) and Saturday, December 3 at Mt. Lebanon High School (Pittsburgh, PA). Guitarist John Chiodini will join me for both shows. Bassist Nick Walker and drummer Greg Evans will meet John and myself in Pittsburgh to play as a quartet for the second show. When undertaking the writing of a new show I am attentive to two sets of criteria: my interests in performing certain repertoire as well as the audience's interests in hearing something familiar balanced with something new. The manner of arranging varies from s...

Welcome to another installment of my blog! It seems the months fly by... This past month has been busy--I started it with a wonderful and fun recording session at Red Rock Recording Studios near Stroudsburg, PA with Alfred Music Publishing. I am honored to sing with some of the finest session singers in the country a couple of times a year to update the Alfred choral music catalog offerings. I plan to return for more recording at the end of October. It's a nice diversion from touring and teaching and gives me a chance to periodically refine my sight-singing skills! Session singing moves very quickly--for this session we rehearsed each song once through (if that) and then recorded it, and I (along with a few other singers) performed all the women's parts on separate tracks (first and second soprano and alto). Having several excellent singers with well-developed ranges and sight-singing skills is crucial to make the session run efficiently. Each "take" must be ...

Blujazz, my new record label, has announced that my new CD, "Sweet Youth," recorded with the incomparable guitarist John Chiodini, will be available for sale worldwide on August 16 with a jazz radio release date of August 29! We are very excited about this coming month's events and look forward to sharing our new music with all of you. To order the new CD, you can find it in the coming weeks at www.blujazz.com ... In conjunction with the new album release, my concert schedule will begin to get busy throughout the fall...I'll be performing August 20 at First Baptist Church of Honolulu (7 pm), September 9 at The Master's College in Santa Clarita, CA (7:30 pm) and September 29 (The Peggy Lee Project) and 30 (Tish Oney's Big Band Excursion) at Ithaca College School of Music (Ithaca, NY) at 8:15 pm in Ford Hall Auditorium. For information about these and more concerts, please see my website, www.tishoney.com .

I recorded my new album in November with the amazing John Chiodini on guitar and with help from a phenomenal recording engineer from Los Angeles named Paul Tavenner. The three of us had loads of fun making great music over a couple of weeks in the studio and now are continuing to listen to the tracks, editing and mixing them from afar. I made a point not to rush the production of this album--planning CD release events too far in advance can tend to bring unwanted stress, and so I decided not to add more pressure to my life than necessary! I am still enjoying the benefits of our second CD, "Dear Peg," which thankfully continues to receive international airplay and brings a continuous stream of concert performances into my calendar. This forthcoming project, "Sweet Youth," is coming together beautifully. Some of the highlights include several new arrangements of favorite standards of mine including a very tricky-to-sing piece called "Autumn Nocturne." T...

It's a new year and time to look forward to new shows, new music and new opportunities! I am excited about a few nascent projects coming around the bend...in particular, my next album, "Sweet Youth," will be released this spring. The project features the one and only John Chiodini playing several types of guitars, reflecting the varied nature of repertoire I selected to record. The project includes thirteen songs (eight originals) and a few different genres... John and I incorporated Latin, jazz, folk, blues and a bit of pop nuance throughout the course of this album. Jazz lovers will be right at home, as improvisation weaves itself throughout the project while the five non-original songs display my persuasion to arrange challenging, less well-known "standards" to suit my preferences, abilities and ensemble. John and I will enjoy performing material from "Sweet Youth" as a vocal/guitar duo on tour throughout the coming year. I am particularly im...

This past month I spent several exciting and rewarding days in a recording studio in L.A. working on my next album. This is a project I decided to pursue with only John Chiodini on guitar to complement my singing--a duo project all the way through. Lest anyone think the result could be monotonous or predictable, John used several different guitars (electric, acoustic, nylon string and steel string) to create different colors for each song and the songs themselves are extremely diverse in style, mood, theme, tempo and genre. We assembled nine of my original songs (which have never been recorded) and five jazz standards that I had arranged to complete this compendium. The project is still very much in production, but I must say it is highly original...I have not heard anything else quite like it. In the words of my trusted musical partner, John: "The world will be a better place with this album than it would be without it!" Words to cherish, those. I expect to call the ...

It was a wonderful whirlwind of singing and traveling...exhausting perhaps, but very worthwhile. I began on July 25 at Feinstein's in New York--superstar Michael Feinstein's elite Park Avenue nightclub where every singer in the world (it seems) dreams of performing. This experience was all it was cracked up to be! I was there in an absolutely gorgeous Kay Unger gown performing with Grammy-winning jazz pianist, Bill Cunliffe . We were premiering "The Peggy Lee Songbook," a celebration of the songwriting talents of iconic singer Peggy Lee . The audience was very receptive and appreciative and I will treasure the memory always... The best part? Getting asked back by the club's manager before the gig, after only hearing our sound check! Here is what fellow cabaret singer and writer Jenna Esposito had to say about the show on BroadwayWorld.com ... Far too early the next morning I boarded a plane for Los Angeles where I spent two sunny days in Redondo Beach. I...