Natalie Cressman: Seamless Skill
Cressman's musical evolution is a journey of artistry
By Eric Frank
April 1, 2019
Natalie Cressman, the multi-instrumental, multi-lingual phenom best known for her work in the Trey Anastasio Band, recently took time out of her increasingly busy schedule to chat with COjam about her lifelong musical ambitions, not only as a member of TAB, but as an ever-evolving artist in her own right.
Her most recent evolution comes in the form of Setting Rays Of Summer, a collaboration with Ian Faquini, the Brazilian-born composer, guitarist and vocalist. The album (Cressman’s fifth) is an incredibly intimate seduction that tugs emotion in simultaneously opposing directions. Beauty and passion seamlessly fuse with sorrowful melody and atmosphere in a fervor of expression that offers pure lifeblood between artists.
“I’ve always had a really special place in my heart for Brazilian music. My mom specializes in singing Brazilian music and it’s been all around me since I was a kid. I knew about Ian because he wrote two songs that ended up on one of my mom’s records, but we hadn’t played together much at all. I took [Ian’s] guitar class at a music camp and after playing together, we realized that the timbral quality of trombone and guitar was just really nice… really different and unusual. It’s a very warm and natural sound.”
Upon hearing the duo, Natalie’s father Jeff Cressman—known not only as trombonist to Carlos Santana Band and Trey Anastasio Band, but also as a talented and prolific sound engineer—encouraged the two to develop the material as a formal project. “He was a big catalyst for us. We spent two days at Dad’s home studio which was super comfy and recorded the music exactly like we play live without any real studio tricks, so to speak.”
Like her (dare I say?) mentor, Trey Anastasio, Cressman more than welcomes a variety of musical design and genre into her spectrum of influence. Her debut release, 2012’s Unfolding, can be characterized as a modern jazz album, a nod to live recording and improvisation. And while her second effort, 2014’s Turn The Sea, dabbled a bit more with effects, over-dubbing and heavier production quality, it maintained the live element she had been raised with and trained in. 2017’s Traces stepped outside of that box, offering little trombone to instead focus on sound design and song crafting. And by the time 2016’s Etchings In Amber came to fruition, Cressman had dropped the trombone completely, offering instead a vibe in the somber, lyrical and artistic, a la Joni Mitchell.
The doors would seem to have been nudged ajar by Anastasio, whom Cressman describes as “unapologetically himself”.
“Trey has been a huge mentor to me. He’s genuine and I think that the success of Phish lies in that commitment to being different and being yourself… and not necessarily fitting into one preconceived notion of what a genre is or should be. Witnessing his musical appetite for so many different styles of music and how they all come together into his own music [is something that] I’ve taken and run with in my own projects. Seeing him do that made me realize that it’s okay to have such varied tastes and to not fit into a specific mold. Also just his work ethic. He never stops thinking and improving and tweaking. Even songs that we’ve played since before I was in the band, there are points in rehearsals where he’s trying to take it to that next level and make it even better. It’s easy to be lazy when you get to that level of fame and he’s not, he’s always starting new projects and being creative and inventive and I think that’s why he’s got this fan-base that just kind of hangs onto every word because he’s just always coming up with new and awesome ideas. But it’s also his kindness and the way he treats the band like family, which is really rare [but] important for fostering a community and an environment where people feel like they can be themselves and express who they are musically in the moment. He fosters a sense of openness and creativity and makes us feel like family. That’s amazing.”
Whether she’ll admit to it or not, Cressman is already applying that mentality to a younger generation of musicians. Between teaching and clinics, she’s stepped into the role of imparting knowledge and encouragement to others. With so much experience under her belt at such a young age, she finds herself in a unique position of being perhaps more approachable to youth than an older musical guide, able to step into shoes with greater ease and understanding, being not too far removed. Though only a few years younger, a close friend, Jill Ryan of the band Great Time out of Philadelphia, occasionally bounces ideas off of Cressman in a back-and-forth flow of ideas.
The calls keep coming in for one-off concerts and super-jams as well. As Coloradans, we’re no stranger to these experiences, from tributes with impressive rosters like Dance Party Time Machine and musical dedications to the likes of Prince, Aretha Franklin and Herbie Hancock, to guest sit-ins and special events such as Boogie At The Broadmoor and Spread The Word Fest. With each performance, Cressman’s resumé grows ever more impressive.
But for now, Cressman and Faquini have three stops in Colorado on their 13-date tour including performances at Denver’s famed Dazzle Jazz Club (Tuesday, April 16) and Ace Gillett’s Lounge in Fort Collins (Wednesday, April 17). Along the way, the duo will make stops along the West Coast. We hope you make it out to one of these intimately sublime concerts!
Setting Rays Of Summer CD-Release Tour:
April 4 - The Mayfair Hotel - Los Angeles, CA
April 6 - The Sound Room - Oakland, CA
April 7 - Skyway Bar & Grill - Zigzag, OR
April 8 - Whirled Pies - Eugene, OR
April 9 - House Concert - Hood River, OR
April 10 - The Old Church - Portland, OR
April 12 - House Concert - Seattle, WA
April 13 - Royal Room - Seattle, WA
April 14 - 1905 Club - Portland, OR
April 16 - Dazzle - Denver, CO
April 17 - Ace Gillett's - Fort Collins, CO
April 18 - House Concert - Boulder, CO
Natalie Cressman Links
www.nataliecressman.com
www.ianfaquini.com
dazzledenver.com