Sunday – August 22, 2010
Songbird Festival Presents | Early Show
Amnesia
853 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
6-9 Early Show $8-10 Cover
Sunday – August 22, 2010
Amnesia
853 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
9:30 -Close – $8-10 Cover
9-Close – $8-10 Cover
Hanna Rifkin began her singing career fronting the rock band “Roxy.†While belting out guttural tones in the fashion of Janis Joplin and Debbie Harry was fun, she fell in love with the playful trumpeting of Louis Armstrong that underscored the horn like purity of Ella’s Fitzgerald’s voice on their recording of “They Can’t Take That Away from meâ€. Hanna immediately recognized in Jazz a greater opportunity to grow as an artist. “When I sang rock I felt like I was trying to replicate, but with jazz I got to give it my own spin.â€
She later spent a year in Italy where through a strange turn of event, met and formed a strong musical bond with renowned guitarist Francesco Lesi. After earning her degree in Italian, she sang her way across Europe crooning old standbys like “Lover Man†and “la Vie en Rose†from the street corners and cafes of Paris, Budapest, Rome and Barcelona. She also speaks Spanish and a bit of French. Back in the states, Hanna moved to Santa Cruz where she studied jazz improvisation, theory, and piano under the direction of trumpeter Ray Brown.
In San Francisco, she’s played with Chris Siebert, Allen Smith, Sameer Gupta, Mitch Marcus, Howard Wiley, BJ Papa, Michael Coleman and many other cats in the San Francisco scene. “I truly adore picking up a song that I’ve done so many times, and loved singing, then the player I’m with wants to do it in a different way, and it completely changes my perspective on the song. This often happen spontaneously during a performance, and it’s so satisfying. I feel as if I’m giving the song respect and that is part of the beauty of jazz.†She also has a debut CD titled “Apples and Oranges†available through this website.
Hanna Rifkin serves up a jazz cocktail that mixes the wit of Bette Midler, the confidence of Anita O’Day, and the melancholy of Billie Holiday with the smooth as butter tones of Chet Baker. My own personal testament is that I met my husband at one of Hanna’s shows. Coincidentally, neither one of us would have gone out that fateful night except to see Hanna sing. We met, we danced and before I knew it, Hanna was singing “Nature Boy†at my wedding. I really think you could attribute my current happiness to Hanna’s voice or you could argue that may be going a little too far, but whoever says music can’t change a person’s life just never heard Hanna sing.
