SOUTH
SIDE
STORIES

Reviews for- SOUTH SIDE STORIES

From Bloomberg News' Jeremy Gerard, Nov.1, 2006: "Jenkins will knock you flat….I've never been so seduced by music completely new to me yet as embraceable as any from the classic American songbook. She is the muse to composer-lyricist Louis Rosen. The two have already collaborated on a dozen poems by Maya Angelou set to Rosen's music. Now they have recorded his ``South Side Stories,'' a song cycle that betrays influences as diverse as Harold Arlen and Rickie Lee Jones. Yet what is so memorable about this pairing is how unselfconscious and confident both are, Rosen as composer and songsmith, Jenkins his joyous, hand-in- glove interpreter. Don't miss this show."

From Cabaret Scenes' Tesse Fox, October 29, 2006: "Capathia Jenkins is gifted with one of those rare voices that makes pouring out one’s soul into music seem effortless. And when she is singing the music of Louis Rosen, she makes that soul into a thing of rare beauty and power. Whether the lyrics are based on poems by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou or are penned by Rosen himself, the songs and their singer are perfectly married, expressing every imaginable emotion with a simple, beautiful clarity.

"In their concert at Joe's Pub, promoting their new album South Side Stories, Jenkins and Rosen create musical images of life on Chicago's famed South Side. Whether celebrating youthful abandon or mourning heartbreak, the songs are as intelligent as they are soulful, appealing to the brain as much as the heart. Rosen sings several songs himself, allowing for some nice variation in style and tone. The evening, ultimately, is a wonderfully emotional celebration of life that can appeal to every musical palate."

From Sound Advice, CD Reviews by Rob Lester (Talkin'Broadway.com) Friday, November 10, 2006: "Early relationships and experiences that leave their long-lasting marks on one's heart and mind are the focus of the songs that make up South Side Stories by composer/lyricist Louis Rosen….In his original songs, the experiences are specific in their storytelling detail, but the tugging bittersweet emotions attached are universal. And they sure come through, whether told in first person or third…. There's a sadder-but-wiser wisdom in the writing and interpretations that steers clear of gazing through rose-colored glasses. Serious reflection - make that analysis - about the past, making sense and understanding pervade the proceedings…. Capathia Jenkins brings an enormous amount of warmth and humanity to the project. (Jenkins and Rosen) make a noble and noteworthy team.

From the Chicago Tribune, Kerry Reid, December 21, 2005:
"Jenkins…has an uncanny ear for the droll irony and naked emotion of Rosen's work, and a vocal range that brings out every shift in tone without bombast or pathos…

The appreciative crowd…received an early holiday present, thanks to Rosen's moving music and Jenkins' astonishing vocal gifts."

From the Chicago Sun-Times, Hedy Weiss, December 20, 2005: "Something quite magical can happen when a composer has a specific voice to serve as his muse. Consider the case of Louis Rosen…and his songbird of choice, Capathia Jenkins…performing Rosen's nostalgic, romantic, emotionally charged song cycle, South Side Stories."

Reviews for- ANGELOU SONGS

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE by Louise G. Crawford

OnlyTheBlogKnowsBrooklyn, March 29, 2005: "He's a prodigiously talented composer and songwriter. His work will make you swoon, laugh, even cry. Just like I did. His name is Louis Rosen. And Sunday night at Joe's Pub, Capathia Jenkins sang, among other things, a song-cycle he created based on the sassy eloquence of Maya Angelou's poetry. Rosen uses a variety of song styles to bring the poet's words to life - blues, jazz, musical theater, classical - with surprising leaps of melody and harmony. His music brings out the poet's voice in a way that enhances and enthralls.

"Vocalist Capathia Jenkins is a discovery. Like Rosen, she deserves to be a star. The songs, which were created expressly for her multi-timbered voice, give life to Angelou's women. And Capathia becomes these characters in an instant - her stance, the way she holds her microphone or moves her hand. In tiny theatrical ways, she embodies these phenomenal women and stirs the room with virtuosic blues in a deep alto-to-high soprano range. Her earthy emotionality belies a sophisticated vocal control.

"What a pair. Louis and Capathia: a handsome, skinny guy from Chicago's Southside and a ravishing, voluptuous black woman with a voice that makes you laugh and cry.

"The audience at Joe's Pub was in their thrall Sunday night…the audience was rapt and they applauded ferociously after every song, honored to be among the few to see what was probably the best show in town."

From Next Magazine, David Hurst, November 10, 2006: "Down at Joe’s Pub, the divine Miss Capathia Jenkins joins forces with Louis Rosen on South Side Stories, a follow-up to their first acclaimed collaboration Twelve Songs on Poems by Maya Angelou. With her beautiful face and expressive figure, Jenkins makes Rosen’s story-songs soar with impressive elegance and conviction."

From the Chicago Sun-Times, Hedy Weiss, December 20, 2005: "Something quite magical can happen when a composer has a specific voice to serve as his muse. Consider the case of Louis Rosen…and his songbird of choice, Capathia Jenkins… Rosen's settings (of Angelou's poems) make you think about them anew. And Jenkins' interpretations -- lustrous, worldly wise, yet always with a hint of vulnerability -- were uniformly winning, whether she was speaking in the voice of a married man's mistress or a woman being two-timed, recalling a blues-ridden summer, or best of all, warning her rival in the sensational "I Hate to Lose Something." She has a voice of tremendous expressive range and a face of such sweetness and joy that it comes as a surprise when she soars in edgier songs of pain and experience."

 The Jenkins/Rosen collaboration:
From The Jewish Exponent, Michael Elkin, October 26, 2006: "In a way, Rosen's collaboration with singer Capathia Jenkins, his musical muse, gives voice to two peoples, blacks and Jews, in a harmony rarely heard offstage.

"Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen: South Side Stories," their first CD together, joins them at the hip…Black and Jewish pub soul food? It eats away at differences as each song on the CD seizes opportunities to reflect and replenish. "

POSTCARD FROM THE SLOPE
by Louise G. Crawford

     "ONE PLUS ONE MAKES THREE"
             LOUIS AND CAPATHIA

OnlyTheBlogKnowsBrooklyn, November 6, 2006: Here's what I was thinking after Capathia Jenkins' and Louis Rosen's tight, moving, musically glorious show at Joe's Pub last night: How lucky they are to be working together.  And how lucky we are to witness the on-going story of their unbelievably fruitful collaboration.

For Capathia: Louis has created a personal repertoire for her that fits her vocal instrument and emotional range like a glove. How lucky she is. It's like she has her own private George Gershwin, Steven Sondheim, Burt Bacharach, Antonio Jobim, and Randy Newman rolled into one. She's a lucky, lucky girl. One plus one make three.

For Louis: Capathia is a perfect muse for his continuing evolution as an artist. Her voice challenges him to create incredible songs that express many sides of them both.

As a duo: They compliment one another. Louis with his edgy, intimate, low-tech voice is great alongside Capathia's virtuosic intensity. Each enhances the other.

First he created songs on Maya Angelou's poetry. Then a song cycle about various characters growing up in a neighborhood in transition on the South Side of Chicago (based on Louis' non-fiction book).

Now, he's working on a song cycle based on the poetry of Nikki Giovanni. They did one of the Giovanni songs as an encore and it was a standout.

Great, great show. I for one am going back again next week with some friends.