Elana James
Elana James (* 21st October 1970 in Kansas City , Missouri as Elana Jaime Fremerman) is an American jazz - and western swing - violinist and singer .
Life
Elana James grew up in Prairie Village, Kansas and began playing the violin at the age of four. Her mother was a professional musician: she played the violin in the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra. Elena James studied comparative religion at Barnard College and Columbia University in New York, as well as violin and viola with Lucie Robert and Karen Ritscher at the Manhattan School of Music . Afterwards she studied improvisation and swing fiddle with Marty Laster in New York City, in India she learned the traditional singing dhrupad from a classical Indian musician . In the early 1990s she worked as an editor for the Buddhist Review and as a horse carer in Clark, Colorado . The extremely versatile musician is also a graduate or member of the Meadowmount School of Music , the New York Youth Symphony , the Columbia University Chamber Music Program , the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France .
Despite this versatility, Elana James followed her enthusiasm for western swing, mainly triggered by the legendary violinist Johnny Gimble . In 1994 she and other musicians founded The Hot Club of Cowtown , a band that is one of the leading formations of modern western swing. In 1998 the band moved to Austin , Texas , where the first CD was recorded - and where the band is still at home today. In the summer of 2004 Elana James played with her band in the opening act for Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan , which made her extraordinary art known to a larger audience for the first time. So she received an inquiry from Dylan, who booked her for a tour. Elana James became the first woman in a Dylan touring band since Scarlet Rivera in 2005 - more than thirty years later. In the same year she recorded her debut CD "Elana James", which was released in 2007. In 2006 she supported Dylan with the trio Elena James and the Continental Two . The band name was a reference to Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two and the Continental Club in Austin, where the band performs regularly.
Elana James played, primarily with the Hot Club of Cowtown , at numerous festivals, at jazz and swing events, at the Grand Ole Opry , at the Glastonbury Festival in England, at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan - and in many other countries in Australia to Azerbaijan . In 2004 the band was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame .
Elana James also occasionally works as a studio musician for Merle Haggard , Ray Price , Willie Nelson , Amos Lee and many others.
Discography
solo
- Elana James (2007)
- Black Beauty (2015)
With The Hot Club of Cowtown
- Swingin 'Stampede (1998) Hightone
- Tall Tales (1999) Hightone
- Dev'lish Mary (2000) Hightone
- Hot Jazz (Japan, 2002) Buffalo
- Hot Western (Japan, 2002) Buffalo
- Ghost Train (2003) Hightone
- Continental Stomp (live) (2003) Hightone
- Four Dead Batteries Soundtrack (2005) Hightone
- Best of the Hot Club of Cowtown (2008) Shout! Factory
- Wishful Thinking (2009) Gold Strike
- What Makes Bob Holler (2010) Proper American
Further investments
- Dave Stuckey : Get a Load of This! (2000)
- Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2004)
- Bob Dylan: Tell Ol 'Bill (from North Country Soundtrack ) (2005)
- Willie Nelson / Ray Price / Merle Haggard : Last of The Breed (2007)
Web links
- Elana James at Discogs (English)
- Official homepage of the Hot Club of Cowtown
- Official homepage of the artist
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Elana James in the Audio Archive
- ^ The Buddhist Review
- ↑ Interview report in the Strings magazine ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Press comments on the tour on Elana James' homepage
- ↑ Interview by Patrick Grosgrove
- ↑ Information on Elana James and band - u. a. noting induction into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame
- ↑ Information on working with Willie Nelson, Ray Price and Merle Haggard
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | James, Elana |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fremerman, Elana Jaime (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz and western swing violinist and singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1970 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kansas City , Missouri |