Download OVER THE RAINBOW from iTUNES &submit a review (video by Bill Westmoreland)
Anticipating a Valentine’s weekend release date
the Judy Garland project CD will be released on Valentine’s Day on the MIRANDA MUSIC label
“..When I decided to put a Judy Garland musical tribute together, I knew I wasn’t going to try to imitate her. Its all about the musical legacy she left us, this huge swath of work she gave to us all. But I never want to compare – never could, no one could – to her as an artist. What I can do is bring back the memory of her songs, but in a style that fits my voice. That’s an authentic way of listening to this music, and I think it’s the most honorable way to pay tribute to her.” -Hilary Kole
Recording sessions Judy Garland project
Recording my own arrangement of Over the Rainbow with string quartet
“Yesterday, March 9 2015, we wrapped up principal recording for this project. I was honored to have an incredible string quartet play my arrangement of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” — a song I have been singing since freshman year in highschool as Dorothy (and for years before that). I have never had this freedom and this opportunity in the studio before, and it was totally overwhelming — especially when I tried to sing while conducting and listening to my own arrangement live for the first time. I feel so lucky to have had this day in my life, and all while pregnant with my little one. Life can not get any better than it is this moment… feeling so grateful and so blessed. Thank you to the incredible string players and my wonderful team(!!!) and my amazingly supportive husband, for being able to make this dream happen for me….”
The talanted string Quartet for “Over the Rainbow”
with album Producer Richard Barone
Bill Westmoreland photographing Hilary at East Side Sound recording studio Mar 9, 2015
Final day of Judy Garland Recording project & video shoot with Richard Barone, Producer & Bill Westmoreland, Videographer
Album Producer’s Note:
“Dear Hilary, your talents are boundless. I have never produced another singer with such consistently awesome chops, who can come to the sessions as prepared and focused as a top music director, looking as beautiful as she sounds even when she’s been on the road with a grueling schedule, with her own challenging and gorgeous string charts that SHE wrote, conduct the quartet while singing a master vocal and being filmed and photographed at the same time, and make it all look so easy. You are a miracle, a joy, and a pleasure! “- Richard Barone, Mar. 10, 2015
Recording sessions Judy Garland project at the sound board with album producer Richard Barone & Eastside Sound studio Owner/sound engineer Lou Holtzman (Photo by my guest Kimberly Loeffler-Jan 8, 2015)
Recording sessions Judy Garland project with album producer Richard Barone, Drummer Arron Kimmel and bassist/guitarist Paul Gill (Photo by my guest Kimberly Loeffler-Jan 8, 2015)
Producer, Richard Barone– “We’re going to do ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow,’ but we don’t want it to sound like we’re trying to cop ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ This is an adult song. We have to do it in a special way,’ and we started talking about 1939 which was the year that it first came out at the end of the Depression and the beginning of World War II. It was like the darkest, grayest time. I said, ‘Girl, listen. The Nazis are approaching. Somebody’s singing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.” There’s gotta be a better place. That’s what that storm (in The Wizard of Oz) was.’”
Recording sessions Judy Garland project with Pianist John DiMartino
Recording sessions Judy Garland project at the sound board with album producer Richard Barone (Photo by my guest Kimberly Loeffler-Jan 8, 2015)
“A nice review of A Self-Portrait..thanks Jazz Times” (Photo by my guest Kimberly Loeffler-Jan 8, 2015)
Recording sessions Judy Garland project with album producer Richard Barone and the latest issue of “Jazz Times” (Photo by my guest Kimberly Loeffler-Jan 8, 2015)
In the studio with Paul Gill (bass & guitar) & John DiMartino (piano)
In the studio laying down the sax track with Joel Frahm
Recording sessions Judy Garland project at the sound board with album producer Richard Barone (Photo by my guest Kimberly Loeffler-Jan 8, 2015)
Recording sessions Judy Garland project..finally some time to relax.. (Photo by my guest Kimberly Loeffler-Jan 8, 2015)
Anticipating a Valentine’s weekend release date
the Judy Garland project CD will be released on Valentine’s Day on the MIRANDA MUSIC label