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Linda Waterfall
Linda's
great grandfather emmigrated from Switzerland and his surname, Wasserfallen,
was anglicized to Waterfall when he came through Ellis Island, causing thousands
of people in subsequent generations to ask the question, "Is that your
real name?" Linda grew up in a musical family in the suburbs of Chicago,
and had extensive training in classical piano, composition, voice and theory.
She began teaching herself to play guitar while in high school, and her unorthodox
guitar style reflects this. Paradoxically, her family was strenuously opposed
to her pursuit of a musical career. Due to this pressure, she attended college
at Stanford University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, majoring in visual
art.
After college, Linda began to perform professionally. Her first successful
band was Entropy Service, one of the best musical groups in Seattle in the mid
70's. Her first album was released by Windham Hill Records in 1977. She worked
as a bass player in The Skyboys, a very successful country rock group playing
the club scene in the northwest, and later fronted her own band, releasing two
more albums during this period. In 1979 she was voted Seattle's Best Solo Artist
by the Seattle Sun-KZAM Arts and Entertainment Poll. In 1983 she released a
duo album with guitarist Scott Nygaard.
During these years she was soaking up influences from many different musical
traditions. She also began composing for grants and commissions, in vocal and
instrumental styles that reflect her early classical training but clearly contain
elements of the vernacular musical vocabulary. Body English, her 5th album,
released in 1987 by Flying Fish, continued this synthesis of popular and jazz
harmonic structures into through-composed, classically structured pieces, mixed
in among energetic blues- and rock-influenced rhythms. Critics have often commented
on the impossibility of categorizing her music.
Linda currently performs occasionally, does recording studio production in
her home town Seattle, and teaches guitar and piano privately. She also composes
choral music for area choirs. Her latest album, That Art Thou: Songs from the
Vedas, is an example of this new direction.
Other Recordings Available
The following Vinyl LP's released from 1977-83 are available through:
Trout Records
P.O. Box 31435
Seattle WA 98103
EVERYTHING LOOKS DIFFERENT (1983) (with Scott Nygaard)
Vinyl LP ONLY - $25
BANANALAND (1981)
Vinyl LP ONLY - $20
MY HEART SINGS (1978)
Vinyl LP ONLY - $15
MARY'S GARDEN (1977) (originally released by Windham Hill)
Vinyl LP ONLY - $25
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