USA: MARIA SCHAFER Happy Fall! Time for baking and preparing holiday shows

Autumn is here full swing, and I have to be honest, it kind of snuck up on me! With some last minute heat waves in Southern California lasting well into October, I was starting to think summer would stay here forever. And yet...here I am typing this to you while I'm baking goodies in the oven and my whole apartment smells like butter and cinnamon!

I'm slowly putting up videos from the release party of "No Broken Hearts"! Clicking above will lead you to YouTube to watch the video of "Jitterbug Waltz" album. The band was Shane Savala on guitar, Max Kraus on bass, and James Yoshizawa on drums, and what a show they put on! I was floating on a cloud the whole week afterward!

My newest album, "No Broken Hearts", has now wandered into the world and I am hearing some wonderful things about the tunes. There's a mixture of love for the jazz standards like "The Lady Is A Tramp" and "Love For Sale" as well as surprising adoration for the new originals, which are a singer-songwriter-y departure from the jazz standards and Great American Songbook tunes most people know me for. The most heartfelt feedback I've gotten is that our original song, "Echoes", has been cathartic in dealing with the passing of a loved one, but I also got to hear from a teacher in Ontario, Canada who heard my original "Make It Real" on CBC Radio and wants to teach the song to his students!! Mackenzie Horne, of All About Jazz, had this to say about the album: "The strength of Schafer's performance resides in her expressive phrasing; while purists might reel against it, this aspect of her presentation has a way of modernizing tunes like "Angel Eyes," "The Lady is a Tramp," and "When You're Smiling." " If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, here are the most popular streaming links: Spotify: http://bit.ly/MS-NoBrokenHearts Apple Music: http://bit.ly/MS-NoBrokenHearts2019 Amazon Music: http://bit.ly/MM-NoBrokenHearts2019 And if you're the type of person who likes to support the music directly and have goodies to take home, you can visit my website for digital downloads or my BandCamp site for physical merchandise :)

A lot of people have been asking about how to get t-shirts and totebags for the holidays, and I am working on getting a shop running on my website ASAP, but for now here's a sneak peek at what they look like. The black ones are unisex cut and the teal heather ones are ladies' cut in super soft cotton with a bit of stretch. You can always email me directly to snag one too, the good old-fashioned way :)

I'm also working on a couple of holiday shows I've booked around Los Angeles, and will be performing with my 8-piece little big band "Lady Sings, Trumpet Swings!" (which I lead with my husband) at The Blue Guitar in Pasadena on Thursday, November 14 at 7PM! It's a bit early for Christmas tunes...but we might just try to sneak one in there