Little Three

Submitted by nonesuch on
Release Date
Description

Robin Holcomb, the Seattle-based singer/songwriter whose music has been described by the Washington Post as “sensitive, descriptive, adventuresome and full of soul,” released Little Three in March 1996. The album—primarily instrumental and, unlike her two previous efforts with a full band—features Holcomb’s solo piano work, with her delicate vocals on two songs.

Emphasizing Holcomb’s ability to blend musical genres, Little Three fluidly incorporates both classical and jazz styles, as well as touches of folk. The changing rhythms and evocative melodies that permeate the entire body of work give it an ethereal quality that one critic called “as haunting as a nighttime drive in the country.” This tranquil theme is perhaps most powerful on the vocal selection “The Graveyard Song.”

Accurately describing Holcomb’s work is always a difficult task due to its multiple influences. The New York Times has said that Holcomb "has created a new American regionalism, spun from many threads—country, rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker quilt, and no less beautiful.” The Oakland Tribune says her music “recalls at times early Kate Bush, Patti Smith, and what painter Georgia O’Keefe might have sounded like if she were a singer.”

Holcomb has collaborated on previous albums with a variety of musicians, from guitarists Peter Holsapple (dBs, REM) and Bill Frisell to Gospel vocalist Jevetta Steele and saxman Doug Wieselman. Her perspective on her art has been forged by rich and varied musical experiences, from her development of an individual solo piano style to her work with chamber ensembles, Indonesian gamelans, improvising orchestras and musical theater. Having lived in the deep South, on the West Coast, and in New York City—three very distinct regions of the country—her surroundings have also played a key role in her musical development. While her influences range from Randy Newman to The Band to Cecil Taylor to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Appalachian flavor of some of her work no doubt comes from her stint as a sharecropper in rural North Carolina.

With interests in folk music that emerged during her childhood in Georgia and the mountains of California, she expanded her musical vocabulary studying ethnomusicology and composition at UC Santa Cruz. In the 1980s, Holcomb was deeply involved as a writer and pianist in New York City’s experimental music scene. During that period she co-founded Studio Henry—a performance outlet where she gave poetry readings and concerts—and the New York Composers Orchestra.

Little Three offers yet another generous collection of songs from an artist the Philadelphia Inquirer dubbed “an essential respite from the raft of female singers currently clogging record stores.”

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Judith Sherman
Recorded April 7-9, 1995, at the Recital Hall, Music Division, SUNY, Purchase, New York
Engineered by Paul Zinman, SoundByte Productions, Inc., New York, New York
Assistant Editor: Jeanne Velonis
Mastered by Robert and Brian Lee at Gateway Mastering Studios, Inc., Portland, Maine

All songs by Robin Holcomb

Art direction and design by John William Costa
Cover photograph by William Clift

Nonesuch Selection Number

79366

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
58
ns_album_id
174
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
Robin Holcomb
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Robin Holcomb, vocals (3, 7), piano

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597936629BUN
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
603497132065
  • 79366

Track Listing

News & Reviews

  • The 2024 Big Ears Festival is next week, taking place in venues throughout downtown Knoxville, TN, March 21–24, with more than a dozen Nonesuch artists past, present, and future performing as part of the label's 60th anniversary celebrations. In addition to all of the music and film offerings, Big Ears also hosts a number of artist conversations with music journalists Ann Powers and Nate Chinen, including talks with Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Darcy James Argue, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Halvorson, Robin Holcomb, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Brad Mehldau, Davóne Tines, and Yasmin Williams.

  • As part of Nonesuch Records's 60th anniversary celebrations, the 2024 Big Ears Festival lineup includes fifteen Nonesuch artists past, present, and future. Ahead of the festival, taking place in Knoxville, TN, March 21–24, we've got a playlist of music from all of those artists: Sam Amidon, Laurie Anderson, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Tyondai Braxton, Rhiannon Giddens, Mary Halvorson, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Kronos Quartet, Brad Mehldau, Ringdown (Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee), Davóne Tines, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, and Yasmin Williams. You can hear it here via Spotify and Apple Music.

Buy Now

  • About This Album

    Robin Holcomb, the Seattle-based singer/songwriter whose music has been described by the Washington Post as “sensitive, descriptive, adventuresome and full of soul,” released Little Three in March 1996. The album—primarily instrumental and, unlike her two previous efforts with a full band—features Holcomb’s solo piano work, with her delicate vocals on two songs.

    Emphasizing Holcomb’s ability to blend musical genres, Little Three fluidly incorporates both classical and jazz styles, as well as touches of folk. The changing rhythms and evocative melodies that permeate the entire body of work give it an ethereal quality that one critic called “as haunting as a nighttime drive in the country.” This tranquil theme is perhaps most powerful on the vocal selection “The Graveyard Song.”

    Accurately describing Holcomb’s work is always a difficult task due to its multiple influences. The New York Times has said that Holcomb "has created a new American regionalism, spun from many threads—country, rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker quilt, and no less beautiful.” The Oakland Tribune says her music “recalls at times early Kate Bush, Patti Smith, and what painter Georgia O’Keefe might have sounded like if she were a singer.”

    Holcomb has collaborated on previous albums with a variety of musicians, from guitarists Peter Holsapple (dBs, REM) and Bill Frisell to Gospel vocalist Jevetta Steele and saxman Doug Wieselman. Her perspective on her art has been forged by rich and varied musical experiences, from her development of an individual solo piano style to her work with chamber ensembles, Indonesian gamelans, improvising orchestras and musical theater. Having lived in the deep South, on the West Coast, and in New York City—three very distinct regions of the country—her surroundings have also played a key role in her musical development. While her influences range from Randy Newman to The Band to Cecil Taylor to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Appalachian flavor of some of her work no doubt comes from her stint as a sharecropper in rural North Carolina.

    With interests in folk music that emerged during her childhood in Georgia and the mountains of California, she expanded her musical vocabulary studying ethnomusicology and composition at UC Santa Cruz. In the 1980s, Holcomb was deeply involved as a writer and pianist in New York City’s experimental music scene. During that period she co-founded Studio Henry—a performance outlet where she gave poetry readings and concerts—and the New York Composers Orchestra.

    Little Three offers yet another generous collection of songs from an artist the Philadelphia Inquirer dubbed “an essential respite from the raft of female singers currently clogging record stores.”

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Robin Holcomb, vocals (3, 7), piano

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Judith Sherman
    Recorded April 7-9, 1995, at the Recital Hall, Music Division, SUNY, Purchase, New York
    Engineered by Paul Zinman, SoundByte Productions, Inc., New York, New York
    Assistant Editor: Jeanne Velonis
    Mastered by Robert and Brian Lee at Gateway Mastering Studios, Inc., Portland, Maine

    All songs by Robin Holcomb

    Art direction and design by John William Costa
    Cover photograph by William Clift