Career
Rebecca Martin is a nationally known, critically acclaimed singer and songwriter. She moved from Maine to New York City in the early ‘90s and lived there for a decade before she and her husband, Jazz bassist Larry Grenadier, migrated north to live in Newburgh, NY, before establishing a home in Kingston, NY.
Rebecca began her career as part of the duo “Once Blue.” She made several albums on EMI Records and toured throughout the United States and Canada with Lisa Loeb, Emmy Lou Harris, Squeeze, Shawn Colvin and many others..
In 1998, Martin started her solo career, and has since produced eleven critically acclaimed solo recordings: All have appeared as critic picks or landed in the Top 10 Recordings of the Year lists by publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Telerama and many others. Rebecca was nominated for best female jazz singer by the Jazz Journalist Association in 2011 for her recording "When I Was Long Ago". Her collaborative projects include “On Broadway Volume 4 or the Paradox of Continuity” with the legendary drummer Paul Motian (Bill Evans); the singers and songwriters Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens with their trio project “Tillery”; and the Argentinian composer Guillermo Klein “The Upstate Project.” Martin released a collaborative project with Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos, the National Jazz Orchestra from Porto, Portugal called “After Midnight“. Martin will release her first solo recording of 13 original songs in 2025 called "She" on Sunnyside Records.
Advocacy
Rebecca Martin has more than 20 years of experience building effective campaigns and projects through coalition-building and collaborative strategies with targeted communications.
As a skilled organizer, she launched KingstonCitizens.org with her neighbors to better understand the inner workings of local government. Since then, Martin has mounted hundreds of different initiatives and projects, including leading a regional coalition of partners to fight Niagara Bottling Company’s attempt to purchase a significant share of the City of Kingston’s municipal water supply. She assembled a team of unique partners, strategic planners, and community organizers to educate and engage the public, forcing the company to withdraw its proposal after five months of public scrutiny. Rebecca followed that success by leading a Water Powers Referendum campaign to amend Kingston’s City Charter. The amendment passed by a landslide and it continues to give the public a layer of protection for how its water is sold outside of Kingston city limits.
Rebecca served as Executive Director of the Kingston Land Trust. Under her leadership, the urban land trust was touted as a “National Model” by the Land Trust Alliance for the organization’s work to develop programming that brought community members closer to the City’s open spaces.These programs include the non-profit group’s Urban Agriculture initiatives, Kingston’s Rail Trail Committee and the Kingston Greenline, and protection of African-American history and burial grounds in the City of Kingston.
As Campaign Manager and Director of Community Partnerships for Hudson Riverkeeper, New York State’s Clean Water Advocate, Rebecca built a geographic grassroots organizing platform, co-created the youth-led Water Justice Lab and helped to establish the Hudson 7, the first drinking water Intermunicipal council on the Hudson River. This council was formed by seven municipalities in Ulster and Dutchess Counties to protect the Hudson River as a drinking water source for more than 100,000 people.
Martin is currently consulting in the Hudson Valley.
Paul Bley, CM was a Canadian jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ARP synthesizers. His music has been described by Ben Ratliff of the New York Times as "deeply original and aesthetically aggressive". Bley's prolific output includes influential recordings from the 1950s through to his solo piano recordings of the 2000s.
Stephen Paul Motian was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. He played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties.
Larry Grenadier is an American jazz double bassist.
Kurt Rosenwinkel is an American jazz guitarist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator, keyboardist and record label owner.
Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.
Jesse Harris is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and guitarist. He has worked with Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, and Lizz Wright.
Ben Monder is an American modern jazz guitarist.
Ethan Iverson is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King.
Taylor Eigsti is an American jazz pianist and composer. Eigsti's trio features bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Eric Harland. He is also a member of Eric Harland Voyager, Kendrick Scott Oracle, and Gretchen Parlato's group.
Gretchen Parlato is an American jazz singer. She has performed and recorded with musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, Esperanza Spalding, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Miller and Lionel Loueke.
Linda "Tui" Tillery is an American singer, percussionist, producer, songwriter, and music arranger. She began her professional singing career at age 19 with the Bay Area rock band The Loading Zone. She is recognized as a pioneer in women's music, with her second solo album titled Linda Tillery released on Olivia Records in 1977. In addition to performing, she was the producer on three of Olivia's first eight albums. Within the women's music genre, she has collaborated with June Millington, Deidre McCalla, Barbara Higbie, Holly Near, Margie Adam, and others. Tillery was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Musical Album for Children.
Steve Cardenas is a guitarist who began his career in Kansas City, Missouri and has been part of the New York City jazz community since 1995.
Becca Stevens is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who draws upon elements of jazz, chamber pop, indie rock, and folk.
Trio 2000 + One is an album by the jazz drummer Paul Motian, released on the German Winter & Winter label. It features Motian with tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, pianist Masabumi Kikuchi, acoustic double bassist Larry Grenadier and bass guitarist Steve Swallow.
On Broadway Vol. 4 or The Paradox of Continuity is an album by Paul Motian and the Trio 2000 + One released on the German Winter & Winter label in 2006. The album follows on from the first three volumes of Motian's On Broadway Series featuring features performances of Broadway show tunes. It includes Motian's trio with saxophonist Chris Potter and double bassist Larry Grenadier, along with vocalist Rebecca Martin and pianist Masabumi Kikuchi.
Carolyn Leonhart is a jazz singer, daughter of jazz bassist Jay Leonhart, and sister of the trumpeter Michael Leonhart. She has performed as a back-up vocalist for Steely Dan on several tours and recordings.
Bill McHenry is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He is the leader of the Bill McHenry Quartet and has released over a dozen albums under his own name, in addition to collaborating on many more.
This is the discography of American jazz musician Paul Motian.
Thomas Morgan is an American jazz bassist.
Joel Harrison is an American jazz guitarist, singer, composer, and arranger.
