THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 7, 1996 TAG: 9609060082
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE VANHECKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 42 lines
WITH FEW exceptions, it's not easy to find an eminently listenable female voice - versatile and stylish, yet not overdone - in contemporary pop and jazz. Harder still when you're talking local artists.
Until now.
Tonight at the Dumbwaiter restaurant in Norfolk, vocalist Laura Martier and guitarist Woody Beckner celebrate the release of their excellent self-named and co-produced CD.
The musicianship is top-notch. Martier's voice is a jaded music-lover's dream, its refreshing clarity and cool sexiness reminiscent of such lounge-era songbirds as June Christy and Julie London.
Beckner, a 20-year veteran of the local jazz community, offers rivers of elegant guitar work. He's joined by other fine area jazzbos Eddie Williams on sax, bassist Jimmy Masters and drummer Howard Curtis.
Recorded live last March in a single afternoon at Chesapeake's Techsonics, ``Laura Martier and Woody Beckner'' features a fistful of old favorites given a good dusting off - a bluesy ``Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying,'' a breezy read of the Rodgers and Hart chestnut ``My Romance'' and a melancholy ``Daydream,'' the Ellington/Strayhorn classic.
``Laura and I have been working together for about three years, so we just picked some songs that we liked doing and thought would work well,'' Beckner said. ``We tried to get some different types of arrangements so that people could hear some new sounds.
``And Jimmy, Howard and Eddie I've worked with for years, so they were the logical choice to play with us.''
Beckner and Martier have been performing together since she moved to the area three years ago.
``The club scene is not very happening right now,'' Beckner said. ``I'm lucky enough to teach (at the Governor's Magnet School, the College of William and Mary, Boykin's Music). It would be very tough to survive just playing music.''
``Laura Martier and Woody Beckner,'' which has been receiving airplay locally on WHRV-FM (89.5), is available at Birdland and Planet Music in Virginia Beach and at their performances. by CNB