Jean Mazzei and Flying Venus: Press

Jean Mazzei

“Breathing Under Water” CD


“BREATHING UNDER WATER marks a big leap forward on my journey as a songwriter.” Jean Mazzei writes on her website. “With this album, I feel like I have come home, trusting and listening to my voice as an artist.” The tongue twister first song “A Bad Luck Black Cat & a Ladder” is an interestingly groovy and melodic guitar driven song that talks of black cat bad luck as a metaphor for being alone. She twists the tale (tail?) weaving in and out of her loneliness story through her cat needs. It’s quite a humorous yet poignant song. With the excellent touches of grammy nominated producer onan Chris Murphy, Jean Mazzei’s album is a really cool and hip sounding album, with sonic textures and interesting guitar sounds.
Her second song “Big Girls Don’t Cry” is a somewhat melancholy and introspective song, entrancing with the sounds she uses. Third song, “Lost in the Chaos”, is like an opening to a 9 Inch Nails song, the distorted guitars and loops are very hard edge, and with her voice, it has a touch of Portishead. I really enjoyed listening to this song, because the sounds were so different. Again, she has a melancholic overtone, and I feel that this theme is somewhat relatable to any individual who deals with the pressures and stresses of life, lost romance, chaotic work life and such. Jean Mazzei’s album is a testiment to singer-songwriters who don’t need to stay stuck in the mold of indie, acoustic folk songs. She has taken relatively sensitive songs to a new place with the production and sonic textures and it’s worked. Please go check out Jean’s album at http://cdbaby.com/cd/jeanmazzei3


- Gilli Moon

Face of A Nation is a soulful album with a funky
undertone that makes you glad you picked up this
cd.

Jean's voice is a sleek sultry sound that is pure
listening pleasure, accompanied by the ideal
instrumental groovy. Making Face Of A Nation a
must have for your cd collection.

My favorite tracks on this cd are Long Road To
Memphis and Kinda Like U although I didn't find a
track on this cd I didn't like. These two songs just
happen to speak to me. You will find while listening
to Face Of A Nation that the album has a pure
ambiance about it that flows from one song to the
next.

Leaving you eager for your next taste of what
Flying Venus has to offer!

Cd Review

Flying Venus – "Face of a Nation”
Floating Island Records, SF CA
2006


“Face of a Nation”, is a fun yet serious excursion through finely crafted pop tunes: high energy emotional funky pop styled rebel anthems that also explode into heavy metal rock and roll gale force winds that take flight without thought. Moving in and out and around the melody like a band of gypsies, Flying Venus, dips, rattles and roars through 14 songs (all tracks written by Jean Mazzei except 10 & 13). Their bio states the band is an abundant blend of “Heavy Americana” and “80’s retro sound with a fresh twist, fishnets included.”. The band’s enthusiasm is strong and consistent while some of the music gets a bit off the main path but quickly catches the drift back to center. Each track a journey down it’s own road, lyrics chosen well and performed with passion by Jean Mazzei and backup Dori Petrie. On “Sweet Dreams”, cool cover of the Eurythmics hit of the early 80’s, Petrie handles the lead vox with confidence. The title song, “Face of a Nation”, is a conscience shattering message with Jean’s voice an illumination about the condition we’re in right now with universal not just global social concerns. "Long Road to Memphis", "House of Cards", and "American Nightmare" are worthy to note. BC Cliver, classically trained artist transforming music beyond genres, delivers monster guitar with the notes and chords bouncing off Xavier Guerrero’s bass lines and Fred Harris precision beats on the drums. Cover songs tend to test a fan's patience but “She Drives Me Crazy” and “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” are performed well. Flying Venus is a free flying, spirited and enlightened blast to the past but you can come back safely tp the present anytime. Check out the album art - earth friendly cardboard sleeve.

Jean Mazzei – producer, lead vox, acoustic guitar
John Mazzei – producer, keyboards, string arrangements
John Mazzei mixed tracks 10, 12, 13, 14.
Seabrien Arata, Seabrien Studios, Pacifica, CA recorded and mixed Tracks 1-9
Gary Hobish, A. Hammer Mastering, SF, CA mastering
Band contact: www.flyingvenus.com or www.jeanmazzei.com

... Face of a Nation will hit you with an edgy flair that is not often heard. This one is sure to add some zing to your music library!"

Flying Venus
" Wild Heart Girl "
Genre: pop
reviewed by Annette Warner

This project was fun to hear and offered up an intense roller coaster of sound. Pop reconstructed and melded with a certain feminine punk one minute and sensual jazz then on to high school bubble gum sounds the next. Simple and fun-hearted driven lyrics. Not sure where it all meets at the moment, but I�m sure it�s making a point. Maybe, don�t take yourselves too seriously in this hateful business?

FLYING VENUS IS AIRBORN
Reviewer: Steve Devo

Wild Heart Girl by Flying Venus a.k.a. Jean Mazzei is a sharp, sweet and definitely bouncy effort worthy of permanent addition to anyone's library; see them live if you can -they're one of very few groups who carry as well if not better from their recorded work to the stage. Jazz-pop sensibilities frame the opening cut �Follow You.� From there we move onto numbers that are obviously inspired by the love of her life, keyboardist John Mazzei-specifically the melody/chorus driven �Shopping Cart�-you can hear the smile in Jeans' voice, and that helps sell the tune as a legitimate ditty. This emotion is even more succinctly defined in �Heaven on Earth,� which gets as close as you can get to Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale without being a ripoff. The lyrics are sweet, making one wish Jean were singing to them personally. For the coup de gras, we have the worthy of radio play �I'm a Girl� (take THAT No Doubt!) and �I Wanna Be Bad.� Sharp lyrics, kinda thrashy in a Go-Go's/punk inspired thrust. �100 Hairs a Day� is a reflective song with some melancholy directly related to the fact the days are passing, and that's the fact of life...but it doesn't mean your world�s over, either. Another fact is you'll be sorry if you don't make a minimal investment, support this group and get your hands on some original change of pace music to spice up that aging collection of Judas Priest.
Steve Devo
San Francisco, CA
darthdevo2000@yahoo.com

"Jean Mazzei ROCKS!"

Jean Mazzei is amazing! Nice, rich vocals with a compelling raw honesty! Listen for her on NetteRadio.com.

"...Mazzei's self-described "attitude pop" has a pleasant, retro-'80s girl band feel. Her voice is great... Word on the street is she's an exceptional jazz vocalist. A thudding bass line and squealing guitar breaks with Mazzei's funky vocal stylings creating a song that sounds like a perfect soundtrack for a '70s B movie..."

"You know those albums you're not really connecting with but you nevertheless still bounce between the tracks, revisiting songs that WON'T GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD? Well, this act from Frisco, Flying Venus, led by the high elegant voice of Jean Mazzei, is one of those things that's wheeling me to my wits end. "I call my music attitude pop," she explained, "a fun and quirky retro sound, reminiscent of the 80's with an updated twist." This was all in a letter enclosed with some nice temporary tattoos and her record, Wild Heart Girl (playing now), which as she described, is indeed a cross-breed of the Go-Go's, Deborah Harry, and the escalator to (or off) womanhood. The album is solid, a friend, unsteady at times, but honest enough to make me play it twice in a row. Fiery organs, sugary rhythm, distorted layers, searching for the "dare"-- I suppose it all depends where ya stand...I'm more a Patti Smith person. Though unlike that rigid bunch, Jean is free and wandering-- you can hear this-- yet there's a whole lotta product-placing lyric that distracts the rest of the breezing music-- mild references to coffee, phones, and shopping carts and things. This isn't always irritating, 'cuz when you escape into the moments of "Objects In The Mirror", there's a waterfall of an unforeseen chorus waiting on the other side, illuminating Jean's place as a sensitive but striking singer."

The scoop: B52s meets Peter, Paul and Mary; retro '80's with a fresh twist; lots of female "go girl" energy; high energy and visually fun with enough edge to cut the sugar.

The story, in Jean's words:

"I've been gigging in the jazz world since the '80's, and about 3 years ago took a class from Bonnie (Hayes) to help my songwriting. I went to see her at Sweetwater and she inspired me so much that I bought an electric guitar the next day! (I'd always wanted to play electric as a kid, but my mom felt very strongly that I should learn classical guitar. Eventually I got frustrated because I wasn't able to express myself and create the sounds I was hearing in my head on my guitar, so I poured my energy into singing and dancing.)

"My husband told me about Bonnie and made the suggestion. He and I had been collaborating on some songs and I felt the need to gain musical independence. After I bought the guitar, I took privately with Mike Rao for awhile. At that time I was in Spooner's Contemporary Rock workshop, where I met who was to become my first bass player. I wanted to develop finger strength so I got an acoustic axe and took with Spooner for awhile. I decided I needed to learn some covers and get some inspiration for songwriting so I took Acoustic 4 with Kent Brown. (We'll be sharing a bill on April 30 at Irelands 32.) Then in January I took a seminar from Tal Morris and found my guitar teacher. He is exactly what I've been looking for to help get me to the next level.

"Jean Mazzei and Flying Venus now gigs a few times a month as a whole band and I go out with either by myself or with Dori (backs) or John (keys) to do acoustic gigs. We've played a few gigs in LA as well as lots locally (Hotel Utah, Red Devil, Irelands 32, Bazaar Cafe etc etc etc). Our cd "Wild Heart Girl" was released in October 2003. I also had the pleasure of producing "Girlz Who Rock" - a female fronted originals night. I booked Bonnie Hayes, Jen Yax and Stacy Kray as well as Flying Venus. I've been self producing most of our shows."