Outside In Music is proud to announce the March 10, 2023 release of Other Side, the
stunning sophomore statement from vocalist Danielle Wertz. Wistful and highly expressive, this
daring enterprise is both an immersive sensory experience and a polished showcase of Wertz’s
seasoned and unique artistry. Fearless while navigating new landscapes, Wertz brings our most
existential questions to the forefront, creating a musical work that is hypnotic, impassioned and
familiar at once.
Alongside a visceral cast of esteemed collaborators including Javier Santiago on piano, organ,
rhodes and synthesizers, Owen Clapp on bass, Evan Hyde on drums and percussion, Keith
Ganz on both electric and acoustic guitar and Sam Priven on alto saxophone, Wertz braves
essential questions of the human experience with nuanced expression. The final output
showcases Wertz’s preeminent treatment of contemporary instrumentation, where her voice
stretches across a vast array of channels within the jazz idiom.
After being named a 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals competition semi-finalist,
Wertz released her impressive 2017 debut Intertwined in collaboration with visionary Israeli
pianist Tal Cohen. This buoyant enterprise celebrates Wertz’s aptitude for storytelling over eight
expansive and highly melodic tunes. With Intertwined surfacing, the New York City-based artist
continued to fortify her reputation as a distinguished jazz contemporary, placing 2nd in the Ella
Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, then 3rd in the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Vocal Competition in the
same year of her debut release. Intertwined set the stage for Wertz’s savvy approach to jazz
composition, exhibiting her reverence for the artform through cutting-edge and dexterous
arrangements.
Evident from her early marks, Danielle Wertz has a sensational ability to transform abstract
feeling into sound. Other Side represents a continued exploration of this craft, an invitation for
listeners to indulge in something complex and authentic within a personal, emotional realm.
After the world crumbled in 2020, Wertz chose to abandon the straight ahead collection of music
she planned to record that year. Embracing the turbulent nature of the pandemic, she felt
strongly that the music she put out should reflect the inward evolving she was experiencing. In
effect, Other Side is a musical recount of internal chaos, as Wertz paraphrases, as well as a
testament to the age-old philosophy that our greatest ideas, and perhaps most profound, are
born from introspection and solitude.
“I produced this album as I untangled my internal world, and this music recounts that chaos. It
recounts the anger, the unraveling, the questions, and even some answers. May this music
inspire you to turn toward yourself – to look inward, to accept the chaos and the anger, to find
ease in the unraveling and to trust that if you stay the course, you will emerge transformed on
the Other Side,” Wertz shares.
Sonically, this unraveling begins with the introduction of identical ambient textures on the two
opening tracks, the brief prelude “April 2020” followed by “Spring is Here.” Synthesized sounds
repeat and the listener is suspended into an abstract space where one song blends seamlessly
into the next, provoking the question of when “April 2020” actually ended. Suddenly, Wertz takes
us back 80 years, to the 1930s on an effervescent reimagination of the Rodgers/Hart original.
Metamorphic and metal-inspired, “Spring is Here” is flushed with intensity, indicative of Wertz’s
perceptive re-writing process. “This was a tender, sad, intimate arrangement for months until I
finally realized it felt incomplete without also acknowledging my anger.” Wertz shares. “Living in
this paradoxical reality where beautiful flowers were blooming and yet the world was in
shambles, wasn’t just heartbreaking to me, it was infuriating.”
The intensity and fury put forth on “Spring is Here” sets the stage for the poignant “Rest Your
Head (One for Natalie)” where vocal layering brings a bold volume to Wertz’s didactic lyrical
message. When her lyrics pause, Ganz, Santiago and Priven fill in through stirring solo
opportunities held down by a synergetic rhythm section. “Hall Of Champions” ensues, an
uplifting original flaunting her adroit employment of the voice as instrument. Lyricless vocals
harmonize Priven’s warm tone on alto, enclosing the resilient tune gently. “When The Walls
Crumble, We Return” is another spirited track among the bunch. This high-intensity modern
jazz composition sets out to break down the ‘walls’ of the human ego, rousing listeners to find
their most transparent selves.
While much of Other Side is written, produced and arranged by Wertz, she nods to early jazz by
incorporating a handful of standards, including “A Sunday Kind of Love” and “I Have
Dreamed/Dreamsville,” the last of which collapses Rodgers and Hamerstein’s “I Have
Dreamed” with the Mancini/Livingston/Evans classic, “Dreamsville” on the bandleader’s
crystalline lullaby. “Turn In,” an electrifying ballad, encourages listeners that it is okay to fall
apart when the world is on fire, and to weep when the world is weeping; Clapp and Santiago
channel this sentiment early with haunting introductory improvisations. Though she sings of a
stagnant world, Wertz’s range takes a comprehensive journey of vocal stylings and riffs. Another
demonstration of Wertz’s vast dimensions and stunning lyricism, “Cloud Shaped Thoughts” is
tinged with an aura of avant-folk and Americana.
Title track “Other Side” closes the record, recounting the story of Wertz’s father who was
disowned by his evangelical mother once he distanced himself from the church. Only after a
diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease and consequently losing memory of her religious morals was
Wertz’s grandmother finally able to unconditionally love and accept her son. Wertz’s passionate
lyrical message offers a chilling interpretation for her listener. Born from the global isolation we
all experienced, Other Side was Wertz’s canvas for artistic and emotional freedom. Her
message on its deeply personal title track is no different, where the isolating and lonely
experience of losing one’s memory finds a path to freedom and love. In “an attempt to find
equilibrium with technique and natural human expression,” as John Daversa astutely observes
in the album liner notes, Danielle Wertz re-emerges on Other Side, a refined and masterful
product of a virtuous artist who has embraced her internal world.
MORE ABOUT DANIELLE WERTZ
Danielle Wertz is an award-winning artist on the rise, making a name for herself as a jazz vocalist, composer and arranger. The New York City based artist weaves together elements of jazz, folk and the use of her voice as an instrumental texture to create an intimate and personal musical world. Described as, “untarnished by the politics of music” (Jazz Music Archives) and “at home alongside more contemporary exponents of improvised singing” (LoudMouth, AU) Danielle has rapidly gained national acclaim.
After being named a 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition semi-finalist, Danielle independently released her debut album, Intertwined. This collaboration with Israeli pianist, Tal Cohen, was ranked #4 on Capital Bop’s list of “Best DC Jazz Albums of 2017” and has continued to receive high praise since its release. That same year Danielle placed 2nd in the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, 3rd in the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Vocal Competition, and co-led a concert with Lena Seikaly celebrating women in jazz at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Danielle has performed in several established national and international venues including The Arsht Center (FL), The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (DC), Blues Alley Jazz (DC), SFJAZZ Center (CA), Nocturne Jazz and Supper Club (CO), The Jazz Station (OR), and the St. Petersburg Jazz Philharmonic Hall (Russia).
In addition to her solo career, Danielle is an avid collaborator. She has recently been featured on
recording projects alongside Javier Santiago, Aaron Janik, Mark G. Meadows, Justin Rock, Ambrose Akinmusire, J. Hoard, Elena Pinderhughes, Braxton Cook, Nathan Bickart and Andrew Dixon. She has also had the privilege of performing with many renowned musicians in a professional, non-academic setting including Kate McGarry, Cyrille Aimée, Jeff Denson, Keith Ganz, Shelly Berg, Chris Botti, Michael Bowie, Mark G. Meadows and Chris Grasso.
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Track listing
1. April 2020 (1:20)
2. Spring is Here (5:42)
3. Rest Your Head (One for Natalie) (7:14)
4. Hall of Champions (6:29)
5. A Sunday Kind of Love (6:20)
6. when the walls crumble, we return (6:21)
7. I Have Dreamed / Dreamsville (6:22)
8. Turn In (6:01)
9. Cloud Shaped Thoughts (3:57)
10. Other Side (6:51)
Bio
Danielle Wertz is an award-winning artist on the rise, making a name for herself as a jazz vocalist, composer and arranger. The New York City based artist weaves together elements of jazz, folk and the use of her voice as an instrumental texture to create an intimate and personal musical world. Described as, “untarnished by the politics of music” (Jazz Music Archives) and “at home alongside more contemporary exponents of improvised singing” (LoudMouth, AU) Danielle has rapidly gained national acclaim.
After being named a 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition semi-finalist, Danielle independently released her debut album, Intertwined. This collaboration with Israeli pianist, Tal Cohen, was ranked #4 on Capital Bop’s list of “Best DC Jazz Albums of 2017” and has continued to receive high praise since its release. That same year Danielle placed 2nd in the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, 3rd in the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Vocal Competition, and co-led a concert with Lena Seikaly celebrating women in jazz at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Danielle has performed in several established national and international venues including The Arsht Center (FL), The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (DC), Blues Alley Jazz (DC), SFJAZZ Center (CA), Nocturne Jazz and Supper Club (CO), The Jazz Station (OR), and the St. Petersburg Jazz Philharmonic Hall (Russia).
In addition to her solo career, Danielle is an avid collaborator. She has recently been featured on recording projects alongside Javier Santiago, Aaron Janik, Mark G. Meadows, Justin Rock, Ambrose Akinmusire, J. Hoard, Elena Pinderhughes, Braxton Cook, Nathan Bickart and Andrew Dixon. She has also had the privilege of performing with many renowned musicians in a professional, non-academic setting including Kate McGarry, Cyrille Aimée, Jeff Denson, Keith Ganz, Shelly Berg, Chris Botti, Michael Bowie, Mark G. Meadows and Chris Grasso.
Credits:
Danielle Wertz, Voice, Synthesizers, compositions
Javier Santiago, piano, organ, rhodes, synthesizers
Keith Ganz , electric and acoustic guitars
Samuel Priven, alto saxophone
Owen Clapp, bass
Evan Hyde, drums and percussion