• Crossing and Blending (2009)
• Das Wörterbuch (2009)
• The New York Jazz Album 9 (2009)

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Maria Neckam is a singer and songwriter from New York, who was born in Austria and has also lived in the Netherlands. When Maria moved to New York in 2005, she hit the music scene like lightning. Since then she has been working as one of the most innovative musicians on the scene. Her compositions are as diverse as life's surprises, combining elements of Rock, Drum 'n' Bass and Modern Jazz as well as Indian and Western Classical music. Maria often tours the United States and Europe from her home base in Brooklyn. Maria's voice is one of those you either love or hate, and so is her music. Uncompromising in her musical approach as well as performance she hits truth right at it's core and strikes a chord in you. Her clear, airy sound has been compared to that of angels as well as wind instruments, the latter referring to her use of it as well - Maria sings like an instrumentalist plays. This is also reflected in her use of lyrics, as she states her point in an abstract way, making space for everyone's own story in hers. Her compositions are as diverse as life's surprises, merging modern Jazz with Drum N'Bass and Rock grooves as well as Indian and Classical music. You can hear Stravinsky as well as Björk in it, Billie Holiday and Debussy, Nikhil Banerjee and Ani DiFranco, ... but most of all, Maria Neckam. A native of Austria, Maria now lives in Brooklyn. She has been performing and recording internationally throughout the past ten years, in countless settings and styles. Her TripHop band Mia Thought And Something Happened (mtash) has won numerous competitions and awards and toured through Europe several times, as well as her first Jazz project Maryland, with which she released her debut album Crossing and Blending. Maria has appeared with groups such as The Mahavishnu Project, Lars Dietrich Group, Donald Vega Quartet, Will Vinson Group and internationally renowned musicians including Jeff Ballerd, Lewis Nash, Aaron Parks, Peter Eldridge (New York Voices), Aaron Goldberg, David Binney, Dan Weiss, Thomas Morgan, Jon Cowherd, Miles Okazaki, Lage Lund, Sam Barsh, Mike Moreno, Jonathan Kreisberg, Adam Holzman, Mark Guiliana, Niti Ranjan Biswas etc. To date, she has developed and refined her very own style of singing and composing music that runs like a bright and vivid thread through her different bands and projects.

During a recent trip to New York, I wandered into the cellar of an Italian eatery just off Washington Square, where I was fortunate to discover an enigmatic young singer-composer named Maria Neckam. It wasn't just the unaffected clarity or refreshing timbre of her voice, nor her remarkable range that captured my imagination; it was the fearless integrity of her musical ideas. A Viennese expatriate who now calls Brooklyn home, Maria has broken the mold in many ways, and admits that people either love or hate her voice. I would say that, if you have an extensive Britney Spears record collection, you're not likely to be a huge fan. For the rest of us, there's no denying the purity of her pipes or the control of her technique. The tone of her voice suggests a violin with a hint of soprano sax coloration and no hint of affectation. She writes quirky, provoking, poetic lyrics. Some of her compositions have a decided Weill-Brechtian flavor, as if written for a 21st-century Threepenny Opera. This particular track offers a wistful, spirited head over a Latin 5/4 feel with tasty Indian tabla texturing. There are no lyrics to divert attention from her unique voice as it glides above a Lydian dreamscape, backed by an assured, tight group of multinational musicians. The recording is vibrant, the playing strong and intuitively supportive. "How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?" wrote Oscar Hammerstein about another Austrian songbird named Maria. The answer is simply... don't. Just open your mind and enjoy. Bill Barnes, www.jazz.com

Maryland vocalist Maria Neckam can sound like Flora Purim to Franz von Chossy's Chick Corea, but she's working on many other levels, from Björk and Urszula Dudziak to Astrud Gilberto, Basia and any number of classically-trained vocalists. Her supple, reedy voice hits the notes clearly and has that wonderful quality of articulating syllables as notes rather than words, turning even standards into wordless vocals. Neckam, part of the Austrian-American Outreach Jazz Collective, writes impressively in English (November, Blue Birds, This Music) and her native tongue. Crossing and Blending is an ambitious debut that ranges through the breadth of her stylistic tropes and suggests that she's going to be a special voice. John Swenson, OFF BEAT Magazine

Maria Neckam's recording shows her to be a promising vocalist and songwriter. Her high, clear voice soars through the ethereal classical and jazz-inspired original pieces that open the performance. She clearly understands how to use the human voice as an instrument, singing wordless vocals with confidence and technical invention. Her phrasing and spirit are also formidable on these tracks. She follows with a great uptempo wordless jazz vocal, then a heartbreaking ballad performance reminiscent of the standard My One and Only Love. Overall Neckam showed herself to be a talented singer and an adventurous composer. The Rolling Stone Magazine

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Austrian New Yorker Maria Neckam Sings With Full Swing

The trembling buzz about Maria Neckam, which has now reached the international jazz community, is making her the most exciting newcomer-vocalist on the scene. Her gigs at 55 Bar in the heart of Greenwich Village in New York are regular and well attended, and her albums are objects of considerable... Full Story

Austrian Maria Neckam Crosses and Blends as a New Jazz Voice

Austrian jazzsinger-songwriter Maria Neckam is a busy musician on the Downtown New York jazz scene. She is often associated with 55 Bar-centered Brooklyn musicians like David Binney, Aaron Goldberg, Lars Dietrich, Miles Okazaki and Dan Weiss. On... Full Story

Das Wörterbuch Limited Dictionary

Artists have always made mistakes and I guess that makes them artists. Not sure whether this should be treated similarly to ski jumping, where the best and the worst ratings (or albums in this case) are disregarded, and the middle represent his or her real value. If only the top counts, this album... Full Story

Maria Neckam to tour Italy in March

New York based Austrian jazz vocalist and songwriter Maria Neckam will tour Italy in March 2010, celebrating her latest releases. Concerts have been announced for Ferrera, Palermo, Villa San Giovanni, Campobasso and Rome. Maria Neckam's band... Full Story