Jill Tracy

Jill Tracy is a singer, pianist, composer, and performance artist based in San Francisco. She has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a femme fatale for the thinking man.” NPR "All Things Considered" has called her “utterly intriguing, transporting you into a magical world solely of her creation.” "My goal is to open the trapdoors, transport the listener into that magical place inside my head," Tracy said in an NPR interview with Susan Stamberg. "I call it the Kingdom of the Mind's Eye."

Jill Tracy states that some of her biggest childhood influences were film score composers such as Bernard Herrmann, and classic suspense tales, including Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang films, Ray Bradbury stories, and Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone.

She is listed in San Francisco Magazine’s "Top 100 Creative Forces in the Bay Area," and has been nominated for two California Music Awards.

"Diabolical Streak" (1999) is the first studio album featuring her back up ensemble The Malcontent Orchestra. “Evil Night Together” from "Diabolical Streak" was awarded the SIBL international Grand Prize for songwriting. The album was listed among the "Top 10 Neo-Cabaret albums of all time" in "Shift" magazine.

“The Fine Art of Poisoning,” from "Diabolical Streak" became an animated short film in 2003, a collaboration with Bay Area animator Bill Domonkos. According to Jill Tracy's official website (www.jilltracy.com), the film has won over 30 film festival awards and continues to screen internationally.

Jill Tracy and The Malcontent Orchestra’s original score to F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent vampire classic Nosferatu debuted live at San Francisco’s Foreign Cinema in 1999 and toured Northern California theatres during Halloween season for five consecutive years. This led to the 2002 CD release "Into the Land of Phantoms", selections from the "Nosferatu" score.

Tracy's affinity for macabre history and science, has included resurrecting classic Grand Guignol stage plays from the 1920's-- collaborating with San Francisco's theatre troupe Thrillpeddlers, and well-known historians like UC Berkeley's Mel Gordon (Voluptuous Panic.)

Her latest (and fourth) album, "The Bittersweet Constrain" (2008), has a heavier, cinematic sonic edge with the addition of exotic instruments such as the sarod, harmonium, and seldom-seen Chapman Stick. The recording also features master percussionist Randy Odell, horn player Ralph Carney (Tom Waits/B52's), cellist Erica Mulkey (Rasputina/Unwoman), and violinist Tony Cross (Tarentel). Produced by Alex Nahas (John Vanderslice/Zoe Keating/LaughingStock), "The Bittersweet Constrain" has been described by the press as "devastatingly beautiful."

Bill Domonkos served as art director/graphic designer for "The Bittersweet Constrain." The CD packaging features Jill Tracy portraiture by acclaimed surrealist photographer Michael Garlington, known for his dreamy macabre imagery shot on vintage film stock.

Jill Tracy was just awarded "Best of the Bay 2008" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The awards issue states:"There's just something about the inimitable Jill Tracy that makes us swoon like a passel of naive gothic horror heroines in too-tight corsets. Is it her husky midnight lover's croon, her deceptively delicate visage, her vintage sensibilities? Who else could have written the definitive elegy on the "fine art of poisoning," composed a hauntingly lush live score for F.W. Murnau's classic silent film Nosferatu, joined forces with that merry band of bloodthirsty malcontents, Thrillpeddlers, and still somehow remain a shining beacon of almost beatific grace? Part tough-as-nails film fatale, part funeral parlor pianist, Tracy manages to adopt many facades yet remain ever and only herself — a precarious and delicious balancing act. Her newest CD, "The Bittersweet Constrain", glides the gamut from gloom to glamour, encapsulating her haunted highness at her beguiling best. "

Discography:

Albums:

*"Quintessentially Unreal" (1996)

*"Diabolical Streak" (1999)

*"Into The Land of Phantoms" (2002)

*"The Bittersweet Constrain" (2008)

Compilations:

*"Meantime" on "Market Street, Best of Café du Nord" (live) (2000)

*"Evil Night Together" on SIBL (Songs Inspired by Literature) "Artists for Literacy" (2002)

*"Evil Night Together" on Projekt’s "A Dark Cabaret" (2005)

Films:

*"In the Wake" (2001) Jill Tracy narrates the film, the song "Extraordinary" is featured in the score.

*"The Fine Art of Poisoning" (2003) short film collaboration/music video project with animator Bill Domonkos
*"Heavy Put Away" (2003) appears as nightclub singer, performed piano score, "Evil Night Together" is the film's end title song.

*"Ice Cream Ants" (2006) stars as the sinister Mona, performed/composed title song "Pulling Your Insides Out"

*"Black Dahlia Movie" (2007) composed/performed the song "Pulling Your Insides Out."

=TV=
*NAVY NCIS (CBS-TV) Episode "Ravenous" - Jill Tracy's song "Evil Night Together" is featured.
*Jekyll (BBC) - Jill Tracy's song "Evil Night Together" is featured.
*Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Ion Network)- Jill Tracy's song "Evil Night Together" is featured.

External links

* [http://www.jilltracy.com Jill Tracy official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/jilltracymusic Jill Tracy MySpace page]
* [http://www.youtube.com/jilltracymusic Jill Tracy YouTube channel]
* [http://www.jilltracy.com/artesix.html Arte Six interview with Jill Tracy]
* [http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sfmetro/09.13.99/tracy-9935.html Mysteria Woman]