Voice-over Documentary Wildlife Feature "Young Elephant"

Voice-over Commercial "Credit Check"

Voice-over Commercial Advertisement "Honeymooning in Style"

PODCAST Episode: Eating The Darkness

This is an excerpt from an extensive audio guide (this one is for adults there's also one for children) accompanying visitors strolling through the gardens and explaining the different sights and their history.

Audio Guide | Schwerin Palace Gardens

Audio Guide | Hohenzieritz Palace & Garden

"Lonely In The Night" is a sweetly crafted ballad that harmonically has elements of jazz and R&B. Regardless of these elements though, this recording still has it’s own unique character that sets it apart from either one of those genres. The instrumentation is grand piano, double bass and strings.

Frances Livings ~ vocals 
Jeff Colella ~ piano 
Trey Henry ~ double bass 
Matt Cooker and Peter Jacobsen ~ cello 
Paul Cartwright ~ violin

This track is from the album The World I Am Livings In and is available for purchase on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/franceslivings13

The World I Am Livings In

Lonely In The Night

Lonely in the Night

This song was originally composed by Glen Miller as the theme for his orchestra and is usually known with English lyrics as "Moonlight Serenade" written by Parish Mitchell. For the album Ipanema Lounge I recorded the song as a swung ballad with French lyrics by Patrick Loiseau. The track is very true to how it would have been performed in the 1940’s. The tempo is 90 BPM and is backed by electric piano, double bass, electric guitar and a brush snare.

Frances Livings – vocal
Jeff Colella – keyboards
Greg Porée – arch top guitar
Trey Henry – double bass
Sandro Feliciano – brushes

Read the lyrics in this blog on my French repertoire: http://www.franceslivings.com/french-chansons-repertoire-ipanema-lounge/

Ipanema Lounge

Dansez Maintenant

Buy on iTunes

Dansez Maintenant (Moonlight Serenade)

Sexy, danceable and mysterious are the words that come to mind in listening to this track. The cajon (by Sandro Feliciano) and the electric bass (by Isaias Elpes) immediately set the atmosphere. This is followed by Robert Kyle’s subdued alto flute ad libs and Frances’ evocative whispering of the first verse. After that the track becomes a wonderful conversation between the vocals and the wood winds over a very infectious Nu jazz groove.

For more please read my blog post: http://www.franceslivings.com/aganju-music-and-spirituaity/

Aganjú

“Come Closer is like seeing an award winning art film, only in a musical form.”
          ~ Greg Porée 

This original, penned by Frances and the German bassist and songwriter Volker Schwanke, captures hauntingly, the intensity of longing and never attaining. From the vocals to the instrumentalists, this intense topic is beautifully captured. With 5:04 minutes, it is the longest song on the album and has an almost cinematic character. 

Dynamically the range is broad. The beginning is dark and moody, which transitions into a chorus that is tonally dissonant and almost Middle Eastern. The percussion and bass underpinnings are in a contemporary, sultry and passionate Nu Jazz style. From there, going into a double time, the track gets progressively funky and driving. Paul Cartwright, one of the four guest soloists on the album, added an imaginative and atmospheric violin solo to this section. After that, Frances’ vocal brings us back down to the completion of the story.
––––– 
Writers: Frances Livings, Volker Schwanke 
Publisher: Frances Livings Music
 
Recording Credits:
Frances Livings – vocals 
Paul Cartwright – violin 
Darrell Díaz – keyboards 
Greg Porée – electric guitar 
Isaias Elpes – electric bass 
Sandro Feliciano – percussion

Come Closer

Buy on Bandcamp

This is one of Frances' recordings in German: a demo of the famous song, "Surabaya Johnny" from the famous "The Threepenny Opera" (Die Dreigroschenoper), a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, with music by Kurt Weill and insertion ballads by François Villon and Rudyard Kipling. It was adapted from the German dramatist Elisabeth Hauptmann's translation of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera. Songs from The Threepenny Opera have been widely covered and become standards, most notably "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" ("The Ballad of Mack the Knife") and "Seeräuberjenny" ("Pirate Jenny").

Voice-Over - Demo German – Surabaya Johnny

Only Time Will Tell (instrumental)

True Colors (instrumental)

When Love Falls Apart (instrumental)

Don't Ask Me If I Miss You

Don't Ask Me If I Miss You (instrumental)

Glory Me is an acoustic meditation on Christmas with a warm ensemble sound. It's a spiritual, folk-like and engaging holiday carol, written, performed and produced by the singer-songwriter Frances Livings and the composer and guitarist Greg Porée.

Stylistically the tune is very much connected to traditional Christmas songs of the British Isles, rooted in medieval music - the style of Christmas carols Frances heard and sang growing up in South England. 

Greg Porée, whose versatility as a musician, arranger and composer covers every style ranging from Motown to Bach, clearly shows his skills both as a player and a writer. Especially his classical influences become apparent in this piece. The chord structure and progression of ‘Glory Me’ move like they would in a Baroque piece by Bach.

The melody and the lyrics by Livings are clearly crafted for a contemporary listener. They are more of a spiritual than religious understanding of goodness and self-respect like expressed in the lines: “The essence of the Christmas story / is that we may feel the glory / for ourselves for man- and womankind”. Read the complete lyrics here: http://www.franceslivings.com/music/glory-me/

Credits: 
Frances Livings (all vocals)
Greg Porée (classical guitar)
Jeff Colella (piano)
Peter Jacobsen (cello)

Glory Me

Written and recited by Frances Livings, vibraphone improvisation by Nick Mancini.

Ink On Silk (excerpt)

Songwriter, creator of musical poetry, voice-actor & multi-lingual singer (German, English, French & Spanish) | New jazz album "Ipanema Lounge" out now | Always following the motto "An intelligent approach to popular music!

Frances Livings

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