Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen release new effort

PS CLASSICS is proud to announce the release of ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH: THE NIKKI GIOVANII SONGS, the extraordinary new collaboration from the team of vocalist Capathia Jenkins and songwriter/performer Louis Rosen. The new disc will be available in stores and online on May 13, 2008.

ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH combines the sultry and soaring voice of Capathia Jenkins with the inspired melodies and arrangements of composer Louis Rosen into a fresh and enthralling thirteen-song mix of jazz, blues, soul, classic pop and American roots music. Jenkins’ powerful and sensitive performances blend with Rosen’s music – alternately delicate and exultant, and always highly melodic – in exploring those most universal of human experiences: friendship, lust, love and loss. It’s a lush and memorable collection based on the vivid words of Nikki Giovanni, the renowned American writer and poet recently chosen as one of Oprah Winfrey’s “Living Legends.”

“Giovanni writes in a style that is both direct and sophisticated, with a point of view that is thoughtful, soulful and always surprising,” says Rosen. “Equally important, her words sound right sung in a popular style with a strong rhythmic groove as the foundation. My goal while writing and arranging the songs was to make the music and words play so naturally together that the listener assumes they were written together as music and lyrics.”

ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH features Rosen on acoustic guitar leading an all-star band, which includes Kimberly Grigsby on piano, Dave Phillips on bass, Andrew Sterman on flutes and saxophones, Rob Moose on jazz violin and electric guitar, and Erik Charlston on drums and percussion, Glenn Drewes on trumpet, Kevin Kuhn on electric guitar, Gary Seligson on percussion and Bruce Eidem on trombone. Jenkins and Rosen previewed the album in two African concerts at the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe in April, sponsored by the American Embassy.

Jenkins and Rosen launched their unique collaboration in New York City in March 2005 at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theatre with two sold-out evenings of new songs that were written specifically for Ms. Jenkins, the highlight being the highly-praised world premiere of “Twelve Songs on Poems by Maya Angelou.” The Chicago Sun Times raved: “Rosen’s settings of Angelou’s poems make you think about them anew. And Jenkins’ interpretations – lustrous, worldly wise, yet always with a hint of vulnerability – were uniformly winning. She has a voice of tremendous expressive range and a face of such sweetness and joy that it comes as a surprise when she soars in edgier songs of pain and experience.”

They have since appeared three times at the renowned Manhattan nightclub, Birdland; performed two concerts each at the Metropolitan Room and the 92nd Street Y; and made their Brooklyn debut at The Old Stone House. At Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater, they introduced the highly praised twelve-song suite “South Side Stories,” with music and lyrics by Mr. Rosen. In 2006 Capathia and Louis appeared in concert at the Great Hall of Cooper Union with another world premiere, Louis’ fourteen-song “Dream Suite: Songs in Jazz and Blues,” on poems by Langston Hughes.

That year, they released their debut CD, South Side Stories, which was followed by unanimous rave reviews for both the CD and the piece’s New York premiere at Joe’s Pub. “I’ve never been so seduced by music completely new to me, yet as embraceable as any from the classic American songbook,” said Jeremy Gerard from Bloomberg News. “What is so memorable about this pairing is how unselfconscious and confident both are, Rosen as composer and songsmith, Jenkins his joyous, hand-in-glove interpreter.” They recently reprised this program at the Sixth Street and I Historic Synagogue and Theater J in Washington, DC.

CAPATHIA JENKINS – a songstress boasting a voice described by The Chicago Tribune as “sweet, smart, sassy and full of soul” – has originated roles in Broadway’s Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Caroline or Change, The Civil War and Bacharach & David’s The Look of Love, and received a Drama Desk nomination for her solo performance in (mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story. She has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including the York Theatre’s recent revival of Godspell, Princess and the Black-eyed Pea, and After Hours. Her television credits include The Practice, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Corn, Third Watch, Law & Order, The Sopranos, and Variety Club. The celebrated vocalist can be heard on the film soundtracks of Chicago and Legally Blonde 2. She also played “Effie White” in a national tour of Dreamgirls. Capathia appeared extensively in regional theater productions, including Ain’t Misbehavin’, Children of Eden, and Eliot Ness in Cleveland.

LOUIS ROSEN, the award-winning composer, lyricist, author and performer, was awarded a 2005-2006 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition. His music theater scores include Book of the Night (Chicago’s Goodman Theater; music and co-lyrics); A Child’s Garden (off-Broadway; music and co-libretto); and the forthcoming adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Pearl (music). He is also the author of The South Side: The Racial Transformation of an American Neighborhood – part memoir, part oral narrative – published by Ivan R. Dee. Inc., Chicago. His song suite It Is Still Dark: Songs of Exile, composed for vocalist Darius De Haas, had its concert world-premiere at the Great Hall of Cooper Union, and his many musical scores for plays have been heard on and off-Broadway and at major regional theaters around the country. Other awards include the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award; an NEA New American Works grant; the Sloan Foundation’s Grand Galileo Prize; a 2006 Puffin Foundation Award; a generous grant from the Anna Sosenko Trust; Chicago's John W. Schmid Award, Best New Work, Book of the Night; and numerous ASCAP awards.

NIKKI GIOVANNI, a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator, was dubbed the “Princess of Black Poetry” early in her career, and over the course of four decades of publishing and lecturing she has come to be called a “National Treasure.” Her autobiography, Gemini, was a finalist for the National Book Award; Love Poems, Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea and Blues: For All the Changes were all honored with NAACP Image Awards. Rosa, her children’s book about the civil rights legend Rosa Parks, became a Caldecott Honors Book and reached #3 on The New York Times Bestseller list. Her CD The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, on which she reads and discusses her poetry, was nominated for a Grammy Award. She is the recipient of some twenty-five honorary degrees, and has been named Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle, Ladies Home Journal, and Ebony Magazine. She is currently a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

ONE OUNCE OF TRUTH: The Nikki Giovanni Songs was co-produced by Rosen, Jenkins and their longtime collaborator, Scott Lehrer.

Founded in 2000 by Tommy Krasker and Philip Chaffin, and a four-time Grammy nominee (for its cast albums of Assassins, Nine: The Musical, Grey Gardens and Company), PS CLASSICS has been profiled in publications such as The New York Times and Variety for its diverse line of solo albums and cast recordings, and its commitment to the past, present and future of the Great American Songbook. Its solo albums range from jazz to folk, from pop to show music. PS Classics is distributed exclusively by Image Entertainment. For more information, visit www.psclassics.com.