Search - Ali Hoffman :: This Side of Morning

This Side of Morning is the debut album from Philadelphia native Ali Hoffman. The 12-song set is grounded in the American roots and soul music with influences ranging from Nina Simone to Janis Joplin to Thom Yorke. Hoffman, who began singing as a toddler, fell in love with music when the bartender in her father s Philadelphia bar played a Blue Note Records compilation of female jazz masterpieces. In 2006, she moved to Astoria Queens to pursue a singing career and her voice found a home at the newly formed Wing Court Records. Founder Joe Rosenthal shared Hoffman s fondness for the classic rock, blues and soul music of the 50s, 60s and 70s and the music of Motown, Hi Records, Stax Records and Sun Records such as Elvis Presley, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, to name a few. The artists of that era were open to singing and interpreting others songs as opposed to placing all the emphasis on writing one s own material, Rosenthal explains. I wondered if this type of exploration was a key and missing part of today s artist development process the value of getting inside great songs and putting a stamp on them. With this in mind, Rosenthal turned to several of his favorite songwriters, who in turn provided him with songs that Hoffman would make her own. The young singer reworked each tune, including a cover of the Barbara Lynn hit You ll Lose a Good Thing. It was one of the most exciting challenges I've ever undertaken, Hoffman says. I had to walk the line of worrying about doing the writers justice, and also singing in a way that was comfortable and familiar for me, and that paid homage to all the artists I grew up loving. It ended up turning into a party playground of music nerds. This Side of Morning was recorded at Buddy Project Studio in Astoria, mixed and engineered by Kieran Kelly (Sufjan Stevens), and produced by Rosenthal and Art Tavee. Hoffman was joined in the studio by several talented musicians including guitarist and songwriter Matt Hageman, keyboardist Jeremy Voss, bassist Jeremy Kay (Ambulance LTD) and drummer Randy Schrager (Scissor Sisters). Tavee provided additional percussion, background vocals and Moog, and the New Jersey-based horn section consisting of Ken Fink on saxophone, Steve Carangelo on trumpet and Ben Williams on trombone are featured on several of the tracks.