Green Line Cafe

CUDDLE MAGIC

Cuddle Magic is a large ensemble from Brooklyn and Philadelphia that performs lush, whimsical songs with wide-ranging instrumentation including strings, percussion, vibraphone, trumpet, clarinet, keyboards, guitars, and sweet vocal harmonies. Their unique stage set-up includes half a dozen small lamps and a 3-foot plastic penguin set amidst the players and their many instruments. The ensemble, which sometimes swells to 12 or more, plays deftly crafted arrangements of their complex and varied set of original music. They are as friendly and inclusive as their name might suggest — after forming as a quintet just over two years ago, they have gradually come to incorporate more and more of their musical friends into the band, constructing intricate soundscapes that include elements of folk music, avant-garde classical music, world music, and urban music.

BECCA STEVENS
Jazz / Folk / Experimental

Hailed by the New York Times as a “best-kept secret” with an “impressively absorbing” debut album, Becca Stevens has roots in classical guitar, folk music and jazz, and influences ranging from West African rhythms to eccentric pop. Her accomplished career at the young age of 24 follows several different paths – from being the acclaimed lead singer of Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra to writing original lyrics for jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, Becca Stevens shows versatility and creativity in numerous projects. Becca began her musical life at an early age singing and performing with the family band, the Tune Mammals. By the age of two she had already recorded her first record with the group. She attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, majoring in classical guitar, and proceeded to The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music where she received a BFA with high honors in vocal jazz and composition. It was at The New School that Becca met the members of the Becca Stevens Band. The Becca Stevens Band is unique by virtue of its eclectic instrumentation and musical sophistication. All the band members sing and are multi-instrumentalists. In addition to the conventional guitar, bass, piano and drums quartet, the banjo, ukulele, charango, kalimba, glockenspiel and dense vocal harmonies play a large part in the band’s arrangements and its modern sound. “…a sound both wistful and determined, reflecting her training in classical guitar; jazz and pop singing; and the dramatic, Celtic side of Appalachian folk music.” Nate Chinen, New York Times “…a rare balance between the use of the mind and a surrender to the emotions.” Kate McGarry, jazz vocalist