Now appearingÉ
(Naama Kates)
When I say that Naama Kates is the name of
a very ÒtalentedÓ singer-songwriter-pianist based in Los Angeles, I
risk that description coming off generically complimentary and maybe even
back-handed. But IÕm simply taking back the word talented and saying that Naama Kates can boast
several gifts and skills, and really the only reason I mention it is that
her particular ones happen to be of superior, high grade. She is at least
a triple-threat, maybe quintuple, and itÕs all thrillerÉno
filler.
Originally
from some tiny town somewhere in the Middle West, Kates did what a
lot of young, beautiful and talented people from tiny towns in the
Midwest do at a certain destined point in their lives: Why, of course
they go hustling a semi-living in NYC, tending bar, acting in indie
films, making synth-dance demo tapes for anyone whoÕll listen,
etc., etc. etc. Well, in KatesÕ case the rest is not history, not yet
anyway, so letÕs just say that the Big Apple wasnÕt rotten at core,
exactly, but her natural-born claustrophobia and innate ambition, ability
to see the Big Picture and most likely extreme poverty gave her the
gumption to pack her bags and trek herway out West, to
try her luck inÉHollywood!
Now, Kates
found out that she could earn a little dough here and there with her
varied acting chops, so she pursued that and continues to do that; with
several indie films and TV appearances notched on her belt, she acts
not with a vengeance, more a hunger for the experience and a way to
know herself better and all that, and just possibly to make enough
scratch to allow her to do whatÕs she really wants to do: compose
and perform music.
I was made aware of KatesÕ
unusual charisma and chutzpah when she contacted me via email late
one night and pitched her wares. She was a musician/actress, she
said, and frankly, she said, she liked being a musician a whole lot
more. Why? Because she can go deep: Kates' songs are
inside/outside things, often ruminative tunes when played solo on
piano and delivered in a soulful and artful yet refreshingly unmannered
vocal style. With her small ensemble she lays into complexly
structured pieces whose violin, cello and trombone ornaments bring a
cabaretlike charm and mystique to the proceedings. The songs stop
and start again, thoughts and impressions intrude; they accelerate and
explode and collapse and fall to the floor to catch their breath and
reassess. What sheÕs doing, you could say, is viewing scenarios from
multiple angles ÐÐ the moods ebb and flow like a tempest in her
mind, in her heart, in her soul.
Naama
Kates makes a pleasingly accessible music that tries to mask yet
invariably spills over with raging passion and quirky intelligence
and sheer spunky, idiosyncratic imagination. Her songs are like
mini-films, never merely personal sentiments sung aloud but experiences
in sound and word and energy that can take you to faraway placesÉand right
back home again. 
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