Gina Izzo/ ladyybirdd Album Release “Tomorrow’s Yesterday”
Release show at Joe’s Pub in NYC, Aug. 23
Download/Stream ‘Tomorrow’s Yesterday’
(password: 3dotsKEY)
"....rattles speakers and expectations with stop-time razzle, vocal (flute-talk) and electronic (phaser) effects"
- New York City Jazz Records
Tomorrow's Yesterday, the debut solo album by flutist/composer Gina Izzo, performing as
l a d y y b i r d d, will be released Friday, August 25 on Innova Recordings. Joined on various tracks by all-star improvisers Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet), Erika Dohi (Juno synthesizer), Nick Dunston (bass), Ian David Rosenbaum (percussion), and Immanuel Wilkins (alto saxophone), Izzo has crafted a collection of intricately layered textures and refreshing timbral explorations. The thirteen-track album, produced by Joseph Branciforte, will be released digitally and physically (CD).
To celebrate the release, Izzo will play music from Tomorrow's Yesterday with Wilkins, Dohi, Branciforte, and other artists to be announced at Joe’s Pub in NYC on Wednesday, August 23 (7pm). Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.
l a d y y b i r d d, Izzo's electro-acoustic solo project, has been described as “an absolute masterpiece in experimentation” (XuneMag) with “an unbridled sense of adventure, razor-sharp technique, and dynamic intensity” (Honk Magazine).
Far from conventional, Tomorrow's Yesterday is a personal exploration integrating original music by Izzo, improvisation, and analog effects pedals, with the flute at the center. While a flute may seem an unlikely candidate for musical insurrection, l a d y y b i r d d brings dynamic intensity and unrestricted adventure – a unique and compelling sonic tapestry, with brilliant contributions from her collaborators. In Izzo's hands, the acoustic flute takes on an entirely new identity.
T R A N S I T I O N A L S T A T E S , L U C I D D R E A M S
Says Izzo, "Tomorrow's Yesterday represents a sound I have developed over the past ten years, utilizing the acoustic flute through a series of analog pedals and modular synthesizers. The flute timbres are altered through extended techniques, and effects such as layering, looping, reverb, delay, and distortion, among others.
"The album is a personal response to loss and observing and experiencing the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep. 'Threshold consciousness,' (i.e. hypnagogia) is a state of being half awake and half asleep, and sparks hypnagogic hallucinations, lucid dreaming, and sleep paralysis.
"Disrupted breathing, lucid dreaming, and ruminating thoughts connect intimately to the album’s musical narrative explored through electronic FX and the flute. The only musical instruction I gave to my collaborators was, 'Stay until you lose the urge to leave.'
"In an attempt to reshape direction, Tomorrow’s Yesterday explores the questions of how we can possess painful memories but not let them overpower us and how we internalize, normalize, and manifest trauma – through an electronic and visual landscape."
I N S P I R E D I N T E R A C T I O N S
The album’s introductory track, Still, leads with subtle tension, as a breathy syllable on the flute cycles through a delay pedal. An emergency room doctor, captured on a field recording, states, “I had her here for at least an hour and a half, and she's just still,” setting the tone for the album's liminal narrative. Lilting saxophone accents from Immanuel Wilkins, subtle trumpet pitch shifts from Ambrose Akinmusire, and reverberated percussion set up the album's dynamic of moods, oscillating between disturbing and reassuring, troubling and calming.
Layered flute harmonies form the canvas for the improvisational explorations of the second track, Into What is Wanted. Immanuel Wilkins and Nick Dunston (bass) venture into this soundscape, skillfully building intensity up to a musical surge in which the flute changes course and takes on the unexpected role of percussion.
On Dream Within a Dream, Izzo’s flute takes a supporting role as she crafts an ethereal meditation on a Fender Rhodes keyboard. With masterful word painting, the warm texture of the Rhodes is intermittently disrupted by chilling flute accents, creating a sensation akin to the piece’s title.
In Shadow Boxing, Ian David Rosenbaum (percussion) joins Izzo on a harmonic and rhythmic journey, as they delve into the vast timbral palettes of their respective instruments. As in many of the album's thirteen tracks, the result is a singular space of uncertainty, leading one to question what is organic and what is processed.
Tomorrow's Yesterday was engineered and produced by Joseph Branciforte at greyfade studios, which is located just north of New York City and boasts a long client list of Grammy, Pulitzer Prize, and MacArthur "Genius" Award winning artists.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
T R A C K L I S T
- Still (introduction)(1:15)
- Into What is Wanted (feat. Immanuel Wilkins, Nick Dunston)(4:40)
- when you fall asleep(2:26)
- Tomorrow’s Yesterday (feat. Ambrose Akinmusire) (5:04)
- Mirror(s)(3:22)
- Stay_Leave (feat. Immanuel Wilkins, Ian Rosenbaum)(5:40)
- dream within a dream(2:23)
- when we say goodbye(1:54)
- Where Do We Go (feat. Ambrose Akinmusire, Nick Dunston,
Ian Rosenbaum, Immanuel Wilkins) (4:30)
- false awakening (0:41)
- Shadow Boxing (feat. Ian Rosenbaum)(4:02)
- two ends of a burning candle(1:37)
- Still (feat. Erika Dohi and Nick Dunston)(5:13)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A B O U T G I N A I Z Z O
NY-based flutist Gina Izzo "rattles speakers and expectations with stop-time razzle, vocal (flute-talk) and electronic (phaser) effects" (NYC Jazz Record). Far from conventional, Izzo integrates improvisation and analog FX, with the flute at the center.
Recently, she has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, David Geffen Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, The Stone, Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, the Jazz Standard, National Sawdust, and the Bang on a Can Festival, among others.
Her debut solo project, l a d y y b i r d d, which features original electro-acoustic music, has been described as "an absolute masterpiece in experimentation"(XuneMag) with "an unbridled sense of adventure, razor-sharp technique, and dynamic intensity" (Honk Magazine). In 2018, Izzo co-founded bespoken with Eunbi Kim, a mentorship organization for women in music, serving over 80+ artists from around the world through their fellowship program. In 2010 she co-founded RighteousGIRLS, with pianist Erika Dohi. The duo have received a 2023 Chamber Music America project grant, a 2016 New Music USA Impact Award, and whose debut album "gathering blue" received 4.5 stars in Downbeat Magazine.
Izzo is currently adjunct faculty at The New School, on the Board of Directors of the Willie Mae Rock Camp, and an ambassador for the Interlochen Center for the Arts and can be heard on Innova Recordings, Jagjaguwar, Nation Sawdust Tracks, Panoramic Records, and New Focus Recordings.