Rachelle Garniez, singer / songwriter / accordionist / performer was born into a musical family in New York City and has been devoted to music ever since. She began playing the accordion in 1986, and her explorations have taken her from...
[more]Rachelle Garniez, singer / songwriter / accordionist / performer was born into a musical family in New York City and has been devoted to music ever since. She began playing the accordion in 1986, and her explorations have taken her from playing on the subway platforms and in the clubs of New York to jamming with gypsies in Spain and performing at Carnival in Venice. Her compositions reflect influences ranging from the Blues, Continental and Klezmer to Latin Jazz and Country/Western. Billboard Magazine called her a "diva with a difference", and San Francisco's Bay Area Reporter described her as "wistful, sardonic, sentimental and wry."
She formed her own band, The Fortunate Few, in 1996 and they released their first CD, Serenade City in 1998. recorded on Rachelle's own Real Cool Records label, Serenade City received critical praise in Billboard Magazine and other publications. Rachelle Garniez & The Fortunate Few released Crazy Blood (Real Cool), their follow-up CD in March 2001. Both CDs are available online at CD Baby. The Fortunate Few includes Joe Ruddick (piano and saxophones), Matthew Munisteri (guitar and banjo), Dave Hofstra (bass), Barbara Merjan (drums ), and Pamela Fleming (trumpet & flugelhorn). The group had their European debut at the 3rd Annual Vienna International Accordion Festival in March 2002.
Rachelle's compositions can be heard on several film soundtracks: The Opportunists, starring Christopher Walken and Cyndi Lauper, Chain of Desire, starring Malcolm McDowell, Betty Anderson, directed by Mako Kamitsuna, Rave, starring Nicole Thom, and Busker, Rafi Ameer's PBS documentary about street musicians in new York City. Rachelle's song "Shadowland" can be heard on The Chris Isaak Show on Showtime. "Ingrid Lucia and the Flying Neutrinos" recorded two of RachelleÃs songs on their debut album "I'd rather be in New Orleans" (BMG).
Rachelle has also worked in theater, composing and performing original music for productions of Chelsea Bacon's Breaker: An Aerial Faerie tale at Dixon Place Theatre in New York and Merchant of Venice for New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, as well as performing with and writing music and songs for the award-winning Grumbling Gryphons Travelling Children's Theater. When in NYC, keep an eye out for "Pink 88" - a mobile spontaneous street theatre performance piece, originated by Laraine Goodman - featuring live music by Rachelle in pink! She performed in choreographer Keely Garfield's Free Drinks for Ladies with Nuts at the Duke Theatre on 42nd Street in March 2002, to be performed at the Joyce Theatre in January 2003. Her first original musical / theatrical production, The Little Frog Catcher was commissioned and premiered by Dixon Place in June 2002.
www.rachellegarniez.com/
[show less]
