NPR Music: Alt Latino
Album Review: Eleanor Dubinsky's 'Soft Spot Of My Heart'
By: Felix Contreras
April 3, 2018
Vocalist Eleanor Dubinsky is slowly, but steadily, building a body of work that consists of elegant and thoughtful songwriting that slides easily between genres and geography through top-notch musicianship, all in service to a voice that stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it. Her new album, Soft Spot Of My Heart, is her strongest work yet.
Dubinsky's journey is similar to that of so many songwriters — the story of finding a voice to match the music she hears in her head. In her case, that means the songs arrive in either English, Spanish or Portuguese. She lets them determine which language is best suited to express the emotion within.
Dubinsky is a vocalist, cellist, guitar player, songwriter and an intrepid musical explorer, yes — but what she is not is from Latin America or of Latin American heritage. Still, her approach to writing in Spanish, as well as her affinity for Latin music and rhythms, come from a place of respect, aided by musicians from various parts of the Spanish-speaking world, organic and true to a sensibility consistent with the best folk music of Latin America. It proves there is plenty of room under the umbrella we call Latin music to accommodate those who did not have the benefit of a birthright to contribute and, at times, expand the traditions. Original article here.
Concert Review: Eleanor Dubinsky Singing International Elegance at the Parkway Theater
By: Ann Treacy
September 4, 2019
"Sometimes you get lucky and you find yourself seeing an international musician in a suddenly intimate setting because it’s her first time playing in Minneapolis. And that was the case seeing Eleanor Dubinsky at the Parkway Theater on Tuesday night....Dubinsky is elegant and worldly with songs in French, Spanish and Portuguese. She sang a catchy French song about stopping life to focus on forgetting a man and smoking. Funny to see a French song nearly become a singalong. And a rare treat that makes a lapsed French minor feel smug. Her band is impressive and accomplished. Each musician has a way of making certain songs their own while working on the whole. The percussionist was especially fun to hear. The bongos lifted every song while the chimes and other sounds left an exotic feel. There were some nods to the world to with an apropos version of Wind Won’t Knock it Down in honor of the people standing strong in the face of Hurricane Dorian. You Are Special, You Are Beautiful brought the room together in recognition of the people who feel disenfranchised or really unseen and unheard since the last election. The song is an anthem. Jazzy but with a pliant blues edge..."
Read the full review here.
Eleanor Dubinsky Brings World Music To Levitt
Radio interview with Lori Walsh, South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB) (16 min.)
July 25. 2019
"Touring on her third release, Eleanor Dubinsky's music is reflective of time she has spent in South America, Western and Central Europe, Portugal and Cape Verde. She composes in four different languages while exploring self and contemporary issues while building bridges between diverse listeners. Dubinsky performs Thursday at Levitt at the Falls in Sioux Falls. Her concert is part of the Levitt's World Music Series."
Listen here.
NPR Weekend Edition Sunday: Alt.Latino's Picks For New Spring Music
By Felix Contreras, April 1, 2018
"Coleman picked vocalist/songwriter Eleanor Dubinsky because of the poignancy of the lyric. Dubinsky is a multilingual musician who can capture the emotions and soul of a community in a song like the one that selected, Cuando Voy A Mi Trabajo."
Kelolandland Television
News at Five Feature: Levitt at the Falls Performer Celebrates Diversity with Children in Sioux Falls
By: Lauren Soulek
July 25, 2019
"Before Eleanor Dubinsky and her band take the stage at the Levitt tonight, they wanted to share their multi-cultural and multi-lingual music with children in Sioux Falls...Today they shared their music and cultures with children at the Multi-Cultural CARE camp. On top of performing some of their own songs for the kids, the band also worked with the kids to write their own song..."
Watch the full story here.
Eleanor Dubinsky is prodigiously talented: a gifted multi-instrumentalist with a strong, clear voice and a knack for catchy, open-hearted, multilingual pop that invokes the likes of Maria Bethânia and Carole King. While Dubinsky’s recordings are well worth your time, you need to see her live to appreciate the full package. Her recent performance at NYC’s Joe Pub celebrated the release of her latest album, Soft Spot of My Heart, and it was a knockout. Dubinsky’s multilayered songs — inspired by jazz, soul, Latin, and afro-Atlantic influences — opened up and revealed themselves in performance. Songs like the gospel-inflected “Turn It Around” and “You Are Special, You Are Beautiful” are relentlessly positive, but leavened with enough emotional grit and musical muscle to stop cynics dead in their tracks. The result was a joyous, uplifting and deeply generous performance — to her musicians and the audience alike — that was just the tonic for the frayed nerves of many New Yorkers after another long winter in these parlous times. Go. See her. This is music as medicine for your soul.
- Tom Pryor (Music Journalist; Nat Geo Music, Songlines, Afropop Worldwide)
Soft Spot Of My Heart Featured On Radio Deluxe with Jessica Molaskey and John Pizzarelli (12/23/18)
(Listen at 32:00)
Hear the full program here.
"It is so precious to hear carefully crafted songs, matching the standard of vintage era New York songwriters like Carole King. Unfortunately, this sense of quality is quite rare now. But at the same time, Eleanor Dubinsky is the exact opposite of routine singers sticking to retro formula. She bravely finds her own way and is willing to take risks. Her songs are filled with joy and desire, but also you hear personal reflections exploring the fragile links between human emotions and responsibility. She always finds a perfect balance between burning passion and understatement - and consistently, her message is supported by crisp musical ideas. Dubinsky plays guitar and cello, and has a wide knowledge of musical languages from Cabo Verde, Latin America, gospel and jazz. Yet her strongest weapon is her voice: a warm, flexible and very feminine tool expressing her stories, not ego."
- Petr Dorůžka, Czech National Radio, Radio Prague, recipient of the WOMEX 2017 Professional Excellence Award
Popmagazine Heaven (Netherlands) March-April, 2019
4 Star Album Review: Soft Spot Of My Heart
English translation; "Eleanor Dubinsky from St. Louis has a talent for languages. She has mastered the Spanish and Portuguese languages, in addition to English and French. On her previous two albums she sang in French. On Soft Spot of My Heart she is limited to English and Spanish [sic]. However, her greatest talent is writing and singing songs that are on the cutting edge of pop and jazz. Latin, Brazilian and West African influences are also present. All ten songs are self-written and she has a prominent role in their production. Her music is accessible and there is a potential pitfall: superficial listening could lead to typing Dubinsky as "too radio friendly." That is a misconception. Without making a substantive comparison with Steely Dan, she has a similarity to that band: the songs are well composed and plays her music at a very high level. You can hear the excellent rhythm section and all the special percussion accents on the beautiful Wind Will not Knock It Down. In addition, Dubinsky is an excellent singer. It makes Soft Spot of My Heart an album to savor.” - Ed Muitjens ****
Town & Style: Eleanor Dubinsky: A Master of Music
An internationally acclaimed musician whose songs are the products of global influences, Eleanor Dubinsky’s passion for music was first nurtured as a 3-year-old learning classical cello in her childhood home in University City. After traveling the world and mastering several instruments and languages, Dubinsky has released three albums and cultivated her musical career in New York City, where she now calls home. It’s here that she also teaches songwriting and performs for children receiving cancer treatment at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
You gravitated to music early on. What is your earliest memory of musical expression?
Taking a music class in University City with my mom. She tells me the teacher recognized talent in me and told her she should put me in music, so she signed me up for cello lessons at the age of 3. I would sit and practice and make stuff up. I didn’t know it was called composition or improvisation at the time, but it seems I’ve always been inclined in that direction.
Read the full feature here.