We recently caught up with renowned singer, songwriter and jazz artist Martyna – one of the UK’s most acclaimed up-and-coming musicians. She has already toured the country, headlined a few festivals and released two EP’s and a full-length album.
As well as being a highly popular and respected solo artist, she’s also currently very busy working with jazz pianist and arranger John Bowman. ”I’m very much an acoustic singer songwriter, I sing, play the piano and I write my own songs. My background is acoustic music, but over the last couple of years I’ve moved more into jazz whilst still trying to keep the ’singer songwriter’ aspect. Basically, my jazz has a lot of roots in acoustic music”. Along with John, double bassist Loz Garratt and Mike Wrigglesworth on percussion, Martyna performs original material alongside classic standards. A debut release from the “John Bowman Trio” is expected later this year.
Martyna has recently acquired a Yamaha CP33 digital piano and Stagepas-300 compact PA system, which she now uses for all her musical activities including live shows, recording and rehearsals. “In the past I’ve used many types of different pianos but now I find that the CP33 will do everything I need, from studio to live work. It has such a great sound, it’s beautiful for gigging and is just like a traditional instrument for my purposes. People are always impressed”.
This year Martyna has been performing at a wide range of venues and is keen to praise the versatility of her equipment in coping with some demanding live spaces. “I don’t think there is such a thing as a typical live venue so it’s vital that my instruments and sound equipment perform consistently at 100% in any type of environment or event. Currently our live work can vary from venues like the Stables in Wavendon through to large concert halls, regional theatres and even noisy and raucous clubs”.
A live performance by Martyna was featured in the January edition of the Yamaha podcast, which you can find here. To hear more, you can check out her official website or her MySpace page.
