Rondi Charleston's Signs of Life (Motema) NY Daily News #5 in Top Ten Pick -- Week of March 17TH; Also Wins Critical Praise on Radio in First Week of Release; #6 Most Added at Nat'l Jazz Radio

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Mar 26, 2013) -

Charleston has a thick and tawny voice that has caused many to compare her to Abbey Lincoln. Her flair for lazy Sunday ballads deepens the connection. But the huskiness of her timbre has its own DNA...
 - Jim Farber, NY Daily News

With Signs of Life singer Rondi Charleston breathes new life into jazz classics and shares highly personal yet universal reflections on life...one of the most powerful and personal discs to be premiered this March...
 - Linda Yohn, WEMU

Rondi Charleston brings art to life. Her songwriting and interpretations illuminate the power of music and story...
 - Vivian Nesbitt, Producer, Art of the Song Creativity Radio 

Best Jazz Vocal so far in 2013... Rondi Charleston's Signs of Life on Motéma wows me on these tracks, one after the other -- five stars! 
- Mike Matheny, Radio IO

Slow, dignified, unforgettable... a blending of word and sound you rarely get to hear... I call it beautiful and that applies to the whole disc 
- John R. Barrett, Jr., JazzInside

SIGNS OF LIFE, the highly anticipated collection of songs from the jazz vocalist-songwriter and lyrical innovator Rondi Charleston, has garnered unanimous critical praise in its first week of release.  It is also #6 Most Added at National Jazz Radio.

Further signaling the strong initial reception for SIGNS OF LIFE, Rondi returns as the featured guest on nationally syndicated Public radio's Art of the Song Creativity Radio, (April 1^st - 7^th) hosted by producers Vivian Nesbitt and John Dillon. The well-known and respected duo taped an interview with the singer/songwriter in New York City just prior to the cd's release. Also upcoming is an April 10^th, home-town Chicago performance on the top-rated ABC-TV affiliate morning show, 'Windy City Live,' where she will showcase the cd's centerpiece track and stand-out single, "DNA." On this original tune, she explores not only a deep connection to her Scandinavian roots, but the commonalities that unite us all as human beings, through our shared DNA. Says Rondi, "understanding my DNA allowed me to fully access my creative process and that thirst we all have to understand who we are and why."

Also on April 10^th in Chicago, Rondi will perform at The Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, at a special screening of the Magnolia Feature Film Documentary, NO PLACE ON EARTH, followed by an April 24^th concert performance at Chicago's Mayne Stage Theater, with her All-Star Band.  

No Place On Earth includes "The Cave Knows," her cd's bonus track, crafted by Rondi with Fred Hersch, whom Vanity Fair dubbed "the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade." The recording was created for and inspired by the remarkable story of hope, determination and survival told in this new, award-winning documentary film, which tells the riveting true story of 38 Ukrainian Jews who survived World War II by living in underground caves for 18 months. The film premiered at and won the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival Award on September 10^th. "The Cave Knows" is a haunting song reflecting the determination, struggle, and triumph of these heroic survivors -- taking the listener through the experience -- from tears of sorrow to cheers of joy. The song can be heard under the film's final credit roll. 

This and other personal events planted the seeds for the theme of Rondi's new album. "In the dirt floor cellar of our 1800's home I found 'signs of life' from another time; old horse-shoes, a rusty baby spoon, and tattered pages from the 1920's New York Times, each with a story to tell, which led me on a search for the house's original owner," Rondi explains. It also serendipitously dovetailed with the story of the film, which emerged later in Rondi's writing process, and is her first original on which she is both composer and lyricist. Revealed in the film is the genesis of the search for the cave's inhabitants after an American 'caver' happened on relics found on its dirt floor; a baby's cup, a rusty house key, a woman's shoe... Signs of Life.

"In this world full of difficult situations and constant challenges to our very existence, I've been actively looking for uplifting 'signs of life' that we can all relate to -- things that give us inspiration and insight," Rondi says.

Rondi's pre-release launch at Joe's Pub featured her All-Star Band including Brandon McCune -- piano (Betty Carter, Nnenna Freelon), Ed Howard -- bass (Shirley Horne, Pat Metheny), Tim Horner -- drums (Maria Schneider, Rufus Reid), Mayra Casales -- percussion (Celia Cruz, Machito) and guitarist/Musical Director, Dave Stryker (Stanley Turrentine, Jack McDuff), and also featured harmonica sensation, Gregoire Maret, and brought the house down with riveting original stories ripped from the headlines of her own life. Equally compelling was her duo performance with piano and voice following the film trailer of NO PLACE ON EARTH.

A native of Chicago's Hyde Park, Charleston grew up in a home filled with music -- her father was an English professor and jazz enthusiast, while her mother sang and taught voice. At age six, she met legendary composer and bandleader Duke Ellington and knew then, instinctively, that music would be a major part of her life. After graduating Juilliard with a BM and MM in music, she studied journalism at NYU, going on to work as a producer with Diane Sawyer at ABC's PrimeTime Live, contributing to stories that won her Emmy and Peabody Awards.

Rondi's training as a journalist strengthened her storytelling skills, something with which her audiences and critics continue to connect enthusiastically. Praised by Hot House Magazine for "the most memorable new songs to come from a jazz singer since Abbey Lincoln," she has integrated her journalistic and musical skills and emerged as a gifted storyteller of indelibly poignant and authentic themes drawn from her own real life experiences, which reverberate with wide and diverse audiences. Downbeat Magazine raves, "Rondi Charleston is one of those rare artists for whom a song's meaning is as important as its melody. Her personal, thought-provoking, original songs slow the heartbeat and raise the mental senses with a documentarian's acuity."

Visit RondiCharleston.com