“Who Knows Where The Time Goes”

 

Rondi Charleston is an outstanding contemporary jazz singer and an even better songwriter.  In Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Rondi has combined traditional standards, originals, and thoughtful treatments of a wide range of material, and created one of the better vocal albums you're likely to hear right now.  - Will Friedwald, Jazz Journalist

 

 

Time, in music and in life, is everything.  Knowing how to savor each moment, make it rich, satisfying and memorable, is Rondi Charleston's special gift.  In her life, as in her music, she intently culls every nuance, savors its opportunities and makes the most of it. She scans her landscapes, drinks it all in and magically, a story in song is born.

 

Rondi consciously embraces the passage of time along with the challenges, joys and unexpected adventures it brings.  On her Motéma Music debut, Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Rondi invites listeners to join in this celebration through her exquisite vocals and thoughtful, eclectic selection of originals, jazz standards and pop classics.

 

No stranger to hard work and with an eye for a great story, Rondi paid her dues in broadcast journalism and was rewarded with Emmy and Peabody Awards in 1995 for her contributions as a producer on Primetime Live with Diane Sawyer.  What makes this story all the more remarkable is that she did so as her “second act.”  

 

Growing up in Hyde Park, Chicago, with her mother, (a professional singer and voice teacher), and her father, (an English professor and now classical radio announcer), she loved seeing Carmen McRae live and singing with guitar in tow at the city’s famed folk clubs.  Entering Juilliard at age 16, Rondi excelled in drama and voice; graduated with a BM and MM in classical music; and found work immediately on opera stages (“Act 1”).  But, she longed for a larger life experience.  How better to expand her world view than as a journalist, filling in the blanks with more diverse, real slices of life than she ever imagined?  She entered the Master’s program at NYU’s School of Journalism, broke a major cover story just prior to graduation, and landed a job as an investigative reporter for ABC News.  Her appreciation for the synergy of art, music, and detail of delivery served her once again, on the job and as she “moonlighted” in jazz clubs (“Act 2”).

 

But it was “Act 3,” marriage and motherhood, that taught her it's not how much time you have -- it's how you use it!  Her many journeys and reinventions of life shine through her music with impeccable style.  The stories she chooses to tell resonate universally.  Says Rondi, “I find myself mentally cataloging snapshots of moments that deeply affect me and chronicle these vignettes with the feelings that complete my visual picture.  These form the nuggets of stories that later become the lyrics of new songs.”

 

Such is the case with Land of Galillee.  While Rondi was traveling in Jerusalem with her family, a deep, heavy snow fell for the first time in decades, beckoning children and parents, Arabs and Jews, outside to revel in the “silvery playground” created by this miraculous moment of “beauty and harmony,” a hopeful metaphor for “imagining the possibilities” for this troubled region of the world.  

 

Dance of Time was inspired by the golden anniversary of dear friends, whose love has grown even stronger through the years, “stretching the dance of time” as they “breathe together with souls intertwined.”  Notes Rondi, “I love the idea of painting beautiful word pictures that transport us in time, and hope people live the movie of my songs through the lyrics.”  Nowhere is this more evident and compelling than on Your Spirit Lingers, an ode to her paternal great-grandmother, Indiana, who wrote of her journey from Norway and across the American plains to California in her handwritten, leatherbound memoir, Erindringer, passed on to Rondi by her father.  Its vivid depictions of hardship, loss, adventure and triumph found their way into this song through Rondi’s stirring lyrics, “Memories of the caravans and wagon wheels / memories of the little children heaven steals / wondering how you found the strength and what your soul reveals / your spirit lingers, it lives inside of me / this hunger, this yearning, sails on….”

 

Featured on Entertainment Tonight, Charleston’s Song For the Ages was initially released as a single and received airplay and media attention nationally. “I was moved by the challenges we face as a country to write an anthem of hope to lift our spirits and help us move forward through these difficult times,” says Rondi.  Not surprisingly, the song got the attention of Obama’s Inaugural Committee.

 

These memorable originals are peppered among an array of handpicked, pop classics, including the magnificently re-imagined Who Knows Where the Time Goes, originally brought to light by Judy Collins; Stevie Wonder’s infectious Overjoyed; and Percy Mayfield’s bluesy plea, Please Send Me Someone to Love.  And then the unexpected, powerful Bobby McFerrin jazz/gospel/blues anthem, Freedom Is A Voice.  Rondi made this her own by asking a professor of Zulu at Columbia University to translate the lyrics to be sung by her own back-up choir, consisting of her daughter, Emma, and friends Bailey and Sage, later joined by the entire band at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.  The full house rose and cheered.  Add to this remarkable mix a courageously vulnerable read of the usually full out male, baritone highlight of South Pacific, This Nearly Was Mine; Frank Loesser’s I Hear Music, brought to a new, syncopated jazz high by Rondi’s arrangement concept with dear friend and bass master, Rufus Reid; and two gorgeous Brazilian jewels, the familiar but more modern, percussive take on Wave and the less familiar Nacscimento original, Tudo Que Você Podia Ser, which Rondi translated into English and passionately sang as Everything That You Were Meant To Be, her hope for everyone who loves life as much as she does.

 

Timeless, musically diverse, sophisticated yet completely accessible, intoxicating, smart and irresistible all describe this extraordinary collection of material, but even better describe Rondi Charleston, an extraordinary artist who brings it all to life on her own terms, in her own time.  “Act 4” -- time is everything….

 

The world of jazz has embraced her with open arms.  JazzInside

 

A magnificent album.  She’s dynamite! - NPR

“Who Knows Where The Time Goes”

 

Rondi Charleston is an outstanding contemporary jazz singer and an even better songwriter.  In Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Rondi has combined traditional standards, originals, and thoughtful treatments of a wide range of material, and created one of the better vocal albums you're likely to hear right now.  - Will Friedwald, Jazz Journalist

 

 

Time, in music and in life, is everything.  Knowing how to savor each moment, make it rich, satisfying and memorable, is Rondi Charleston's special gift.  In her life, as in her music, she intently culls every nuance, savors its opportunities and makes the most of it. She scans her landscapes, drinks it all in and magically, a story in song is born.

 

Rondi consciously embraces the passage of time along with the challenges, joys and unexpected adventures it brings.  On her Motéma Music debut, Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Rondi invites listeners to join in this celebration through her exquisite vocals and thoughtful, eclectic selection of originals, jazz standards and pop classics.

 

No stranger to hard work and with an eye for a great story, Rondi paid her dues in broadcast journalism and was rewarded with Emmy and Peabody Awards in 1995 for her contributions as a producer on Primetime Live with Diane Sawyer.  What makes this story all the more remarkable is that she did so as her “second act.”  

 

Growing up in Hyde Park, Chicago, with her mother, (a professional singer and voice teacher), and her father, (an English professor and now classical radio announcer), she loved seeing Carmen McRae live and singing with guitar in tow at the city’s famed folk clubs.  Entering Juilliard at age 16, Rondi excelled in drama and voice; graduated with a BM and MM in classical music; and found work immediately on opera stages (“Act 1”).  But, she longed for a larger life experience.  How better to expand her world view than as a journalist, filling in the blanks with more diverse, real slices of life than she ever imagined?  She entered the Master’s program at NYU’s School of Journalism, broke a major cover story just prior to graduation, and landed a job as an investigative reporter for ABC News.  Her appreciation for the synergy of art, music, and detail of delivery served her once again, on the job and as she “moonlighted” in jazz clubs (“Act 2”).

 

But it was “Act 3,” marriage and motherhood, that taught her it's not how much time you have -- it's how you use it!  Her many journeys and reinventions of life shine through her music with impeccable style.  The stories she chooses to tell resonate universally.  Says Rondi, “I find myself mentally cataloging snapshots of moments that deeply affect me and chronicle these vignettes with the feelings that complete my visual picture.  These form the nuggets of stories that later become the lyrics of new songs.”

 

Such is the case with Land of Galillee.  While Rondi was traveling in Jerusalem with her family, a deep, heavy snow fell for the first time in decades, beckoning children and parents, Arabs and Jews, outside to revel in the “silvery playground” created by this miraculous moment of “beauty and harmony,” a hopeful metaphor for “imagining the possibilities” for this troubled region of the world.  

 

Dance of Time was inspired by the golden anniversary of dear friends, whose love has grown even stronger through the years, “stretching the dance of time” as they “breathe together with souls intertwined.”  Notes Rondi, “I love the idea of painting beautiful word pictures that transport us in time, and hope people live the movie of my songs through the lyrics.”  Nowhere is this more evident and compelling than on Your Spirit Lingers, an ode to her paternal great-grandmother, Indiana, who wrote of her journey from Norway and across the American plains to California in her handwritten, leatherbound memoir, Erindringer, passed on to Rondi by her father.  Its vivid depictions of hardship, loss, adventure and triumph found their way into this song through Rondi’s stirring lyrics, “Memories of the caravans and wagon wheels / memories of the little children heaven steals / wondering how you found the strength and what your soul reveals / your spirit lingers, it lives inside of me / this hunger, this yearning, sails on….”

 

Featured on Entertainment Tonight, Charleston’s Song For the Ages was initially released as a single and received airplay and media attention nationally. “I was moved by the challenges we face as a country to write an anthem of hope to lift our spirits and help us move forward through these difficult times,” says Rondi.  Not surprisingly, the song got the attention of Obama’s Inaugural Committee.

 

These memorable originals are peppered among an array of handpicked, pop classics, including the magnificently re-imagined Who Knows Where the Time Goes, originally brought to light by Judy Collins; Stevie Wonder’s infectious Overjoyed; and Percy Mayfield’s bluesy plea, Please Send Me Someone to Love.  And then the unexpected, powerful Bobby McFerrin jazz/gospel/blues anthem, Freedom Is A Voice.  Rondi made this her own by asking a professor of Zulu at Columbia University to translate the lyrics to be sung by her own back-up choir, consisting of her daughter, Emma, and friends Bailey and Sage, later joined by the entire band at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.  The full house rose and cheered.  Add to this remarkable mix a courageously vulnerable read of the usually full out male, baritone highlight of South Pacific, This Nearly Was Mine; Frank Loesser’s I Hear Music, brought to a new, syncopated jazz high by Rondi’s arrangement concept with dear friend and bass master, Rufus Reid; and two gorgeous Brazilian jewels, the familiar but more modern, percussive take on Wave and the less familiar Nacscimento original, Tudo Que Você Podia Ser, which Rondi translated into English and passionately sang as Everything That You Were Meant To Be, her hope for everyone who loves life as much as she does.

 

Timeless, musically diverse, sophisticated yet completely accessible, intoxicating, smart and irresistible all describe this extraordinary collection of material, but even better describe Rondi Charleston, an extraordinary artist who brings it all to life on her own terms, in her own time.  “Act 4” -- time is everything….

 

The world of jazz has embraced her with open arms.  JazzInside

 

A magnificent album.  She’s dynamite! - NPR

 

Rondi Charleston is an outstanding contemporary jazz singer and an even better songwriter.  In Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Rondi has combined traditional standards, originals, and thoughtful treatments of a wide range of material, and created one of the better vocal albums you're likely to hear right now.  - Will Friedwald, Jazz Journalist

 

 

Time, in music and in life, is everything.  Knowing how to savor each moment, make it rich, satisfying and memorable, is Rondi Charleston's special gift.  In her life, as in her music, she intently culls every nuance, savors its opportunities and makes the most of it. She scans her landscapes, drinks it all in and magically, a story in song is born.

 

Rondi consciously embraces the passage of time along with the challenges, joys and unexpected adventures it brings.  On her Motéma Music debut, Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Rondi invites listeners to join in this celebration through her exquisite vocals and thoughtful, eclectic selection of originals, jazz standards and pop classics.

 

No stranger to hard work and with an eye for a great story, Rondi paid her dues in broadcast journalism and was rewarded with Emmy and Peabody Awards in 1995 for her contributions as a producer on Primetime Live with Diane Sawyer.  What makes this story all the more remarkable is that she did so as her “second act.”  

 

Growing up in Hyde Park, Chicago, with her mother, (a professional singer and voice teacher), and her father, (an English professor and now classical radio announcer), she loved seeing Carmen McRae live and singing with guitar in tow at the city’s famed folk clubs.  Entering Juilliard at age 16, Rondi excelled in drama and voice; graduated with a BM and MM in classical music; and found work immediately on opera stages (“Act 1”).  But, she longed for a larger life experience.  How better to expand her world view than as a journalist, filling in the blanks with more diverse, real slices of life than she ever imagined?  She entered the Master’s program at NYU’s School of Journalism, broke a major cover story just prior to graduation, and landed a job as an investigative reporter for ABC News.  Her appreciation for the synergy of art, music, and detail of delivery served her once again, on the job and as she “moonlighted” in jazz clubs (“Act 2”).

 

But it was “Act 3,” marriage and motherhood, that taught her it's not how much time you have -- it's how you use it!  Her many journeys and reinventions of life shine through her music with impeccable style.  The stories she chooses to tell resonate universally.  Says Rondi, “I find myself mentally cataloging snapshots of moments that deeply affect me and chronicle these vignettes with the feelings that complete my visual picture.  These form the nuggets of stories that later become the lyrics of new songs.”

 

Such is the case with Land of Galillee.  While Rondi was traveling in Jerusalem with her family, a deep, heavy snow fell for the first time in decades, beckoning children and parents, Arabs and Jews, outside to revel in the “silvery playground” created by this miraculous moment of “beauty and harmony,” a hopeful metaphor for “imagining the possibilities” for this troubled region of the world.  

 

Dance of Time was inspired by the golden anniversary of dear friends, whose love has grown even stronger through the years, “stretching the dance of time” as they “breathe together with souls intertwined.”  Notes Rondi, “I love the idea of painting beautiful word pictures that transport us in time, and hope people live the movie of my songs through the lyrics.”  Nowhere is this more evident and compelling than on Your Spirit Lingers, an ode to her paternal great-grandmother, Indiana, who wrote of her journey from Norway and across the American plains to California in her handwritten, leatherbound memoir, Erindringer, passed on to Rondi by her father.  Its vivid depictions of hardship, loss, adventure and triumph found their way into this song through Rondi’s stirring lyrics, “Memories of the caravans and wagon wheels / memories of the little children heaven steals / wondering how you found the strength and what your soul reveals / your spirit lingers, it lives inside of me / this hunger, this yearning, sails on….”

 

Featured on Entertainment Tonight, Charleston’s Song For the Ages was initially released as a single and received airplay and media attention nationally. “I was moved by the challenges we face as a country to write an anthem of hope to lift our spirits and help us move forward through these difficult times,” says Rondi.  Not surprisingly, the song got the attention of Obama’s Inaugural Committee.

 

These memorable originals are peppered among an array of handpicked, pop classics, including the magnificently re-imagined Who Knows Where the Time Goes, originally brought to light by Judy Collins; Stevie Wonder’s infectious Overjoyed; and Percy Mayfield’s bluesy plea, Please Send Me Someone to Love.  And then the unexpected, powerful Bobby McFerrin jazz/gospel/blues anthem, Freedom Is A Voice.  Rondi made this her own by asking a professor of Zulu at Columbia University to translate the lyrics to be sung by her own back-up choir, consisting of her daughter, Emma, and friends Bailey and Sage, later joined by the entire band at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.  The full house rose and cheered.  Add to this remarkable mix a courageously vulnerable read of the usually full out male, baritone highlight of South Pacific, This Nearly Was Mine; Frank Loesser’s I Hear Music, brought to a new, syncopated jazz high by Rondi’s arrangement concept with dear friend and bass master, Rufus Reid; and two gorgeous Brazilian jewels, the familiar but more modern, percussive take on Wave and the less familiar Nacscimento original, Tudo Que Você Podia Ser, which Rondi translated into English and passionately sang as Everything That You Were Meant To Be, her hope for everyone who loves life as much as she does.

 

Timeless, musically diverse, sophisticated yet completely accessible, intoxicating, smart and irresistible all describe this extraordinary collection of material, but even better describe Rondi Charleston, an extraordinary artist who brings it all to life on her own terms, in her own time.  “Act 4” -- time is everything….