MAKING TRACKS: Carol Emanuel

 
Carol Emanuel has one of the most eclectic resumés in show business, having lent her talent on harp to downtown denizens such as Anthony Braxton, Arto Lindsay, and John Zorn; Las Vegas lounge lizards like Neil Sedaka, Tony Orlando, and Peter Allen (such are the high-paying indignities that come with playing the harp); and pop sensations including Oingo Boingo and Cyndi Lauper. She performs frequently with symphony orchestras and at contemporary music festivals.

On Allow It to Happen, recorded largely in the Berkshires and drawing on such local talents as trumpeter Jeff Stevens, vocalist Robby Baier, and producer Will Schillinger, the Great Barrington, Mass.-based musician comes out of the closet as a soulful singer-songwriter on a selection of eight original compositions. Accompanied by an impeccable, all-star cast of instrumentalists, including Zorn sidemen such as guitarist Marc Ribot, bassist Greg Cohen, and percussionist Kenny Wollesen, and Woodstock, N.Y., legends Tony Levin on bass and Jerry Marotta on drums, Emanuel performs world-music flavored ballads and rockers, approaching her harp much like a guitar—digging into a Grateful Dead-meets-Santana groove on “Morris Township”—on songs that speak of spiritual and mystical inquiry.[FEB/MAR 2011]

THE GOODS

Carol Emanuel
Allow It to Happen
Allow It to Happen Music