Heartland Indra Rios-Moore

• 1Little Black Train03:27
• 2Azure03:20
• 3Money04:09
• 4What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted05:09
• 5From Silence03:53
• 6Blue Railroad Train04:35
• 7Heroes06:55
• 8Hacia Donde04:18
• 9Your Long Journey04:04
• 10Oshun04:34
• 11Solitude02:53
• Total Runtime47:17

Info for Heartland

Every once in a while you hear a new record by an artist that you’ve not heard before and it just sends shivers down your spine. Indra Rios-Moore is the newest addition to this select group.

Indra, named by her mother after the Hindu warrior deity of the sky and the rain, was born to a Puerto Rican social worker, Elizabeth, and an African-American-Syrian jazz bassist, Donald Moore (his credits include, the New York Contemporary Five, Archie Shepp, Elvin Jones, Sonny Rollins, and Jackie McLean). Growing up in a tough neighborhood, Indra spent her formative years in an imaginary world with her mother’s extensive record collection of jazz, soul, and rock music for company.

13 year old Indra won a scholarship at Mannes College of Music where she developed her soprano voice and during the same year she attended the Village Harmony, summer camp in Northern Vermont. Her teenage years were spent in a musical parallel existence; one full of classical arias and vocalization practice and the other filled with traditional American folks tunes and old Balkan folk songs in the woods of Vermont.

While working as a waitress in a Brooklyn wine bar, she met Benjamin Traerup, a Danish jazz saxophonist; three weeks later they were living together and one year after that they were married and living in Denmark. Indra, her husband and his friend, bassist, Thomas Sejthen formed a trio in 2007 that soon built a strong following in Denmark and Scandinavia.

No sooner had Indra won the Danish Music Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2012 for ‘In Between’ her second album than her thoughts turned to making a follow up. Among her favorite recordings Indra counted Joni Mitchell’s 1994 album, Turbulent Indigo and so she thought she would reach out to its producer, Larry Klein, to see if he could create a similar kind of magic in the studio for her next project.

“We invested every penny we had, and more, to make this record, and given that neither Benjamin nor I are irresponsible people it came as a shock to both ourselves and people that know us well.”

The result is Heartland (released 13 April) and it is unique collection of songs, songs that represent Indra’s eclectic musical background including, jazz, folk, rock and classical music. But at its heart are songs that have their inspiration in her Mother’s record collection and events throughout her life. They run the gamut from Duke Ellington to Doc Watson and from Billie Holiday to David Bowie with a Spanish love song, a Yoruban song to the deity Oshun, with parts of a requiem thrown in for good measure.

According to Indra, “ ‘Hacia Donde’ is definitely my Mother’s influence as it was written by the Mexican singer Marta Valdes. Doc Watson’s ‘Your Long Journey’ and ‘Blue Railroad Train’ date from my time with Village Harmony as a teenager. We were all influenced by Alan Lomax and the other collectors of folk songs so that is also when ‘Little Black Train’ came into my life. My favorite song on the album is ‘From Silence’ and it was written by Thomas Bartlett who recorded it as Doveman. Thomas and I have known each other since we were teenagers and so to do this song was just such a natural choice for me.”

Heartland is a remarkable album, and making it has been the ultimate ‘labour of love’. Indra and Benjamin’s love for one another is there to be heard in every note they sing and play, but it was a struggle too; if they had made different decisions along the way it could have meant a very different outcome. “So many people have supported us, allowed us to stand on their backs and that is what has allowed us to get to where we are today.”

Indra sums it all up in a simple, yet elegant way, “If you walk towards your bliss it conspires with you, because what we are doing is in the service of joy.”

Simple and elegant… it’s Heartland.

Indra Rios-Moore, vocals
Benjamin Traerup, tenor saxophone, clarinet
Thomas Sejthen, bass
Uffe Steen, guitar
Jay Bellerose, drums

Produced by Larry Klein

Indra Rios-Moore
named by her mother after the Hindu warrior deity of the sky and the rain, was born to a Puerto Rican social worker, Elizabeth, and an African-American-Syrian jazz bassist, Donald Moore (New York Contemporary Five, Archie Shepp, Elvin Jones, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, etc.), on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

In an effort to keep her daughter away from the dangers of the housing projects they lived in, Indra's mother encouraged her to stay indoors. She learned to play in an imaginary world and sang along to her mother's extensive record collection of jazz, soul, and rock music.

Singing was always a private experience for Indra. So much so that she did not realize others could hear her until she was 6 years old. At the age of 13, her mother convinced her to take a cab ride to the Mannes College of Music to audition for the director of the preparatory division, Joan Bergman. Too embarrassed to show her stage fright, Indra auditioned and was awarded a scholarship for vocal and music studies. Under the tutelage of Lois Winter, Indra developed her soprano voice and slowly learned to let go of her fear of performance. The same year that she started studies at Mannes, she attended a music summer camp based in Northern Vermont called Village Harmony. Over the course of her teen years she lived two parallel musical lives, one full of classical arias and vocalization practice and the other full of traditional American folks tunes, old Balkan folk songs and running around the woods of Vermont.

At 26, while waitressing at a Brooklyn wine bar, she met Benjamin Traerup, a Danish jazz saxophonist. Three weeks later they were living together and one year later they were married and living in Denmark. At her husband's urging, Indra started playing in a trio with him and his friend, bassist, Thomas Sejthen. What started out as an occasional wedding gig turned into a formidable vocal jazz group that continues to tour throughout Denmark and Scandinavia. Their debut album, the self-titled "Indra", was nominated for a Danish Music Award in 2010 for Best Jazz Vocal Album. The same year, their performance was given as a gift to the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark. Their follow up album, "In Between" won the Danish Music Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2012.

They are releasing their third album, Heartland, on Impulse Records in early 2015. Heartland was produced by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Madeleine Peyroux, etc.)

Booklet for Heartland