San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog http://clarabellino.com/blog.html Clara Bellino: Blog Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:33:42 -0800 Bobby Sharp, author of "Unchain My Heart", lays down the first piano track for my new CD http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/bobby_sharp_author_of_unchain_my_heart_lays_down_the_first_piano_track_for_my_new_cd I met Bobby Sharp in 2003 when we had the same landlord, who hired me to paint Bobby's apartment. We became friends and he gave me a song to record that he wrote in 1947 and never released: Nat King Cole was interested in it, but fell ill, and Perry Como showed interest , but lost the deal with his label. Here we are on the first day of recording. Fantasy Studios' Director Jeffrey Wood, Engineer / Mixer extraordinaire Adam Muñoz, and Bobby Sharp and I:


Jeffrey Wood, Adam Muñosz, CB and Bobby Sharp


Bobby played the piano track. The beautiful song, "Hand In Hand", appears on my soon to be released CD. I sing it solo, and as a duet with Bobby.


Here are a few measures of what Bobby played that day:


 http://bit.ly/vZb6HX

]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/bobby_sharp_author_of_unchain_my_heart_lays_down_the_first_piano_track_for_my_new_cd Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:33:41 -0800 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog Diary of my upcoming release "This Is Happiness", the first step http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/diary_of_my_upcoming_release_this_is_happiness_the_first_step In 2007 I met poster artist Wendy Wright at a poster show held by The Rock Poster Society in San Francisco. She won that year's young artist contest. I love her work, which is both modern and with a 60's style. And decided I'd like to hire her to design the artwork for my new CD.


 


 We met again in 2008. My single is called "This Is Happiness". I decided lying in a hammock was a good image for that. And remembered my dad took a picture of me in a hammock when I was 3. Amazingly Wendy owned a similar hammock. First we recreated my dad's pic and Wendy's husband Dan Doerner took pictures of me in the hammock on the roof of their Haight Ashbury apartment.


Then I gave Wendy pictures of the French village in "La Creuse" where "This Is Happiness" was born and the lyrics to my song.


And asked her, for the cover of the CD, to mix the picture with illustrations of the village and the themes in the song. Off to the races we were! Wendy had no idea how much work she was signing up for. We worked on the artwork for the whole CD for over 2 years!


 


Here is the initial sketch by Wendy Wright:


First sketch by Wendy Wright for TIH


To see more of Wendy's beautiful work visit:                    


http:///www.wendy-wright.com

]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/diary_of_my_upcoming_release_this_is_happiness_the_first_step Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:26:09 -0800 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog CONTAGION: I almost played a scene with Laurence Fishburne http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/contagion_i_almost_played_a_scene_with_laurence_fishburne Last year I had an audition for a feature film named "Contagion", with a huge cast: Kate Winslett, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Elliott Gould, Laurence Fisburne. Directed by Steve Soderbergh.


I booked the job. For months I looked forward to February 11th! Two days before the shoot my scene was cut. I had speaking lines! The next day I worked on a t.v. series called "Alcatraz" and had lunch with a cameraman from "Contagion". He confirmed "my" scene was with Laurence Fishburne.


Recently I watched French actress Marion Cotillard on Jimmy Fallon's Late Night show saying SHE had not met any of the stars on Contagion! It put things in perspective. Obviously I would've loved to play a scene with Mr Fishburne. My agent said this means something better is on the way, I told him it's going to be reeaally good! Cause this was pretty great :)


http://www.eurweb.com/2011/09/the-film-strip-laurence-fishburne-and-matt-damon-are-on-point-in-contagion/

]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/contagion_i_almost_played_a_scene_with_laurence_fishburne Sat, 10 Sep 2011 23:21:26 -0700 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog Featured on Recharged Radio http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/featured_on_recharged_radio Tonight at 10 p.m. GMT I Land Music is featuring Clara Bellino as part of the best songs played trough 2011. Tune Recharged Radio and get in the chatroom, or comeback on Friday for the podcast at www.rechargedradio.com





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Presented by Jordan Thomas and the crew, Recharged Radio is an underground radio station promoting unsigned and independent music. Based in London but broadcasting across the globe.



]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/featured_on_recharged_radio Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:44:42 -0700 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog Featured in Fantasy Studios Newsletter http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/featured_in_fantasy_studios_newsletter
































We had another fun and exciting month here at Fantasy!




Clara Bellino was in recording for her latest album which is being produced by Lincoln Adler and Greg Sankovich. Her style is inspired by her French upbringing and a life saturated in Jazz. The Dave Miller Trio finished their final mix on the album that has been made here from start to finish.



Featured again in July:


 Congratulations are also in order for Clara Bellino, who finished mixing her forthcoming album with producers Greg Sankovich and Lincoln Adler!  Greg and Lincoln are in multiple groups together in the bay area, including Times 4 and the Kurt Ribak Quartet.





Clara Bellino


 

]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/featured_in_fantasy_studios_newsletter Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:57:18 -0700 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog Working on a feature film with an 86 year old lady http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/working_on_a_feature_film_with_an_86_year_old_lady Last week I had the good fortune to work on "Five Year Engagement", a feature film written by, and starring, Jason Segal, and Emily Blunt. I worked as a precision driver, and with the splinter, a.k.a. second, unit. On my last day, we shot a night scene as New Year's eve party revelers on a cable car. It drove us up and down steep San Francisco hills. Every time we came to the corner with cameras, we were to holler, blow our party horns and look like we were having a good time. At one point we were parked uphill and a few more actors climbed on board. One of them was an 86 year old cheerful woman named Beverley, who told us laughingly: "No, we didn't have dinner, just this chewing gum!".  She hung on with the rest of us as the cable car laboriously climbed the street.


The next scene we shot we were patrons at the terrace of a North Beach restaurant, and I got really lucky: the Assistant Director partnered me with Beverley. We were mother and daughter. We were served Tiramisu and Crème Brulée and told "Mangia!". I had a great time that week: I got to work, with friends, some I hadn't seen in a while. It always feels like a privilege to me to work on any film; we're busy creating a parallel reality, each film is different, and happens only once. But of that whole week, the best time I had was when I shared dessert with Beverley. I knew the cameras were on us but I forgot about them. I could've sat there and enjoyed asking her questions all night. She told me about enjoying her life, the vegetable garden she was about to plant...she made that whole week with early call times and little sleep completely worth it. I had a great time working on "Five Year Engagement". The best part was meeting and talking with 86 year old Beverley. What a sweet beautiful inspiring lady!

]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/working_on_a_feature_film_with_an_86_year_old_lady Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:08:32 -0700 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog What to blog about when I feel lucky? http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/what_to_blog_about_when_i_feel_lucky We had a session at Fantasy Studios last week with my producers: they played on it, tenor and soprano sax and Hammond B3. But they also led the session fearlessly as the awesome positive good to be around talented conscious humans and producers they are. And when I walked in the strings were playing. I don't believe in a religious God, but at that moment I was thanking God, whoever he or she or they are. There are lucky moments like that in life, well they're not just lucky, I believe you have to participate in making them happen, but still they're lucky and special. Moments and times I won't forget. Thank you everyone involved: Greg Sankovich, Lincoln Adler, Mike Rinta, Darcy Rindt, Beth Vandervennet. and let's not forget Adam Munoz at the boards. Love them all.

]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/what_to_blog_about_when_i_feel_lucky Fri, 27 May 2011 21:30:55 -0700 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog "Booty" my pet squirrel http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/booty_my_pet_squirrel P1020897_resized.jpg


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Last November a very fat squirrel walked right up to me at my front door, absolutely intent and unafraid. I started feeding him regularly, he was the fattest squirrel I'd ever seen. We named him Buddy. I didn't like leaving him over the Holidays. But when we returned there he was, daily, usually around 11 am, on his fence, and daily we fed him walnuts, raisins, stale peanuts.., almonds, organic Turkish apricots! By now he had his own jar on the kitchen shelf. Then he disappeared for a couple weeks. And when he showed up again he was much skinnier. It took seeing another squirrel next to Buddy for us to realize that Buddy was not a boy! So we renamed her "Booty". And then it took our smart neighbor to suggest she probably had babies, for us to put it together; that's why Booty who used to be Buddy used to be so fat! In these pictures, I spent the morning working on a chart, and Booty spent it on the fence, eating or patiently waiting for more food. There's a special noise I make to call her and she runs over the roof to her fence. We feed her there or she climbs down her post and stands under our window. Sometimes if we've left the front door open and we forget she's there, she comes to find us in the house. Knowing she has babies out there I feed her as long as she sticks around.


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]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/booty_my_pet_squirrel Thu, 05 May 2011 08:42:11 -0700 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog With Ira Marlowe at Berkeley Arthouse and Gallery 4.16.2011 http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/with_ira_marlowe_at_berkeley_arthouse_and_gallery_4162011 All photos by Victor Owens, Eye Art 2011


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You should've been there! Ira writes wonderful songs and is at once a great performer, charming, entertaining, funny and has a unique way with words and storytelling, all delivered with a warm make you weak in the knees husky voice . Do I sound biased? I am! Ira took a break during the show and asked that we stay, I wasn't going anywhere! He started the show with Roger Linn on guitar and then invited band mates Michael Olaf and Adam Lowdermilk on bass, drums and vocal harmonies. The turnout was good for a Saturday night with many choices. Ira has and will play to bigger audiences, it has to be! He is playing again Saturday April 23 at Bistro Angelica, 6 to 8 pm, as well as The Union Room in SF April April 21, 24, 28 and 29. http://www.theunionroom.com/                  If you can, GO!
Listen to him here:
http://www.iramarlowe.com/MUSIC.html


 


Berkeley Arthouse and Gallery owner Harold Adler & his "Adlerettes" @ the end of Ira Marlowe's show:


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]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/with_ira_marlowe_at_berkeley_arthouse_and_gallery_4162011 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:10:09 -0700 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog My ongoing experience with singing classes - A Series - Part 1: studying with the late and legendary Judy Davis http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/my_ongoing_experience_with_singing_classes__a_series__part_1_studying_with_the_late_and_legendary_judy_davis When I first moved to the United States and started performing live, it was clear to me I could benefit from vocal instruction. After sampling a couple not so great teachers - one had me lying on the floor pushing a 10lb bag of rice with my belly, not sure what that was supposed to accomplish - I followed a friends' advice who kept telling me to take classes from Judy Davis cause she was the best vocal coach in the world. There was a 3 year 550 applicant deep waiting list to get into the Judy Davis studio that year, 35 of us got in. I later found out that Judy said I got in because "anyone who speaks 4 languages can sing". I know I didn't get in because of how I was singing then; I was shy, mousy, very confused by the difference between English and French sounds, though I spoke both languages. I took singing classes from Judy Davis for 10 years. And if she were still alive she would be calling me an idiot right now, or something to that effect; Judy told it like it is, and one thing she always told us not to do is to tell anyone we took singing classes. She said when the praises came in just to act like we were born that way. Judy also called herself a vocal plumber, that's what she humbly said she did. But she did a lot more than that; she not only took my vocal range in my real voice from around 5 notes to around two octaves, she taught me about entertainment. She taught me about subplots. She taught me to think about what I wanted to say, how I wanted to say it. And about how I wanted to treat my audience. Judy always said: if you lose them it's your fault! She said people came willingly to your show, they paid, and if they left it's cause you didn't entertain them. She wasn't big either on performers who sing with their eyes closed all the time, or who act like they're doing their audience a favor. I like to think I would've come up with all these notions had Judy not been a huge part of my growing up as an entertainer, cause I so agree with her. As an entertainer you have to give to your audience to connect with them. The fact that they give back is gravy. So I studied religiously with Judy for 10 years. You weren't allowed to miss one class, because as you learned the "vocal eases" that Judy had developed, indispensable information was given in each class. So whenever I traveled, and in 10 years I did quite a bit of traveling, I would join the class that was at the level where I'd left off.  I got to study with a lot of different singers and just like Judy said, I learned a lot from watching them too.  Judy taught me more than I can ever list. She was a bit like my shrink; when I got admitted to her class, my first band, that I naively thought I would be with til we made it huge, had just broken up. And week after week Judy was merciless, didn't spare my feelings, but made sure I left the class feeling on top of the world, having learned something, full of hope and inspired. And she was funny too. If you bored her when you got up to sing for your peers, an exercise I found terrifying, she would pretend to pick her nose. I spent years thinking everyone else knew what they were doing and I didn't. Then I found out other people felt that way too! I'll never forget when Judy met my family, she told the class that usually in a family there's at least one person who doesn't look so hot, but she sweetly said "not in the Bellino family. You think Clara looks good, you should see the rest of the family! Not a single bad apple!" She made me laugh. By the time I graduated she called me the mouse that roared. When I went up to the piano to do my exercises some students would leave the room; we practiced very focused sound and though her exercises are called vocal eases, they were NOT easy on the ear. I remember once, while on a summer tour,  I was doing my "vocal eases" in our apartment in Paris on the 6th floor and had the windows open. My band mates came home laughing; they said out on the street two elderly men sitting on a bench were trying to figure out where that sound was coming from. ..Judy even taught me to tap dance; in our classes singers auditioned for Beach Blanket Babylon and other plays so Judy figured she would make sure we were prepared. At 80, wearing stilettos, she danced better than most of us ever could. Judy was one of the first choreographers for MGM. And she told us that that's where she found a need to develop a singing method; a lot of the dancing chorus girls and actresses also had to sing. Judy taught the Judy Davis method and never retired. And then she had the nerve to pass away:


(01-31) 04:00 PST Oakland — 2001-01-31 04:00:00 PST Oakland -- Judy Davis, a legendary vocal coach whose students included Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Mary Martin, Grace Slick, Eddie Money and many other noted and lesser-known singers, died of heart failure Friday at her Oakland home. She was 81.


An expert in the physiology of vocal sound projection, Ms. Davis was famous for teaching singers how to breathe properly, enunciate and strengthen their vocal cords in order to project freely and control the sound. She devised a series of vocal exercises that are used by singers around the world.


 


RIP Judy, you certainly earned your rest.

]]> http://clarabellino.com/blog.html/my_ongoing_experience_with_singing_classes__a_series__part_1_studying_with_the_late_and_legendary_judy_davis Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:39:50 -0800 San Francisco Pop Jazz Artist - Clara Bellino - Blog