New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Patty Lee Records) ARMAND ST. MARTIN, New Orleans extraordinary pianoman performs in a Louisiana music archive on vimeo, a segment filmed at Rock n Bowl by Patty Lee, St. Martin's wife-manager. St.
Martin rivals any hit Louisiana pianoman, hands down. Critics have written of Armand St. Martin: "This musician could kill crocodiles with his bare hands!"; "Armand St.
Martin is a keyboard burrrr!"; "If cut, this musician would bleed Tabasco!" Raw footage in this link, https://vimeo.com/3447480, shows an undeniable piano talent with astounding zest and accuracy in playing and performance. A voice in the audience shouted, "This man's not just a piano player, he's an entertainer!"
Armand St.
Martin is just as entertaining "live" as he is on his original CDs, "Alligator Ball", "Sizzlin'" and "Katrina Anthem," all on Patty Lee Records which can be found on CdBaby, iTunes, Amazon, and at Barnes and Noble, Louisiana
Music Factory,
Peaches Records, and more.
Armand St. Martin's CDs, "Alligator Ball" and "Sizzlin'" are also represented by Los Angeles-based Varese Sarabande Records, where St. Martin's CDs, "Alligator Ball" and "Sizzlin'" are offered in Varese Sarabande's Licensing Catalogue.
All of St. Martin's CDs are recorded by Armand St.
Martin and his Bayou Bohemians, including his Allstar
Friends such as Kenny Gradney on bass (Little Feat); Dony Wynn on drums (Robert Palmer); Lon Price on sax (Elvis, Tom Jones); the late
Danny Federici on accordion (Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band's organist and glockenspiel); Stanley Behrens on harmonica (Canned Heat, Willie Dixon); Steve Allen on sax (Rita Coolidge); Kirk Bruner on drums (Melissa Manchester, Mac Davis); Lee Thornburg on trumpet (Tower of Power); Paul Devilliers on acoustic guitar (producer of YES and Mr. Mister); Marabina Jaimes on back-up vocals (Emmy-award winner for PBS' Storytime); Samantha Newark on back-up vocals (Leonard Cohen, voice of Jem of Jem and The Holograms); and more.
In the early 1980's, Armand St.
Martin toured with Micheal Smotherman, a singer and Nashville hit-songwriting performer from Oklahoma. The tour to promote Smotherman's Epic Records album proved beneficial to St.
Martin when the band of pros performed at the Bottom Line in NYC with Andy Warhol in the audience. After the concert, Warhol personally approached St. Martin, complimented him on his performance on synth and as a back-up singer for Smotherman, and encouraged St.
Martin to "go solo." St.
Martin eventually did go solo in early 1985, after spending several years writing and composing enough original material to launch a solo career, while still performing live shows with Smotherman, including being in Smotherman's HBO-video short, "Crazy in Love." Smotherman and St.
Martin eventually co-wrote St. Martin's recording of "Watching the River Boats Go By."
Patty Lee Records subsequently released Armand St. Martin's first EP Cassette, "Be Your Own Parade," which was recorded and mixed at Canadian Paul DeVillier's North Hollywood, Ca. studio, Southcombe, the former
Supertramp Studio.
St.
Martin and Lee next purchased their own vintage analog studio (Ampex MM1000 2" 16 Track and a 1972 Spectra Sonics Mixer in Hollywood, Ca. which became the cornerstone of Patty Lee Records) and called it Bayou Bohemia where they recorded St. Martin's first two full CDs: "Alligator Ball" and "Sizzlin'" on Patty Lee Records. They added "Be Your Own Parade" as the bonus tracks on their "Alligator Ball" CD, due to popular demand.
Before Katrina in New Orleans, St.
Martin and Lee remastered "Alligator Ball" but they lost everything in Katrina. Stu Feldman, owner of TSI Manufacturing in Los Angeles replaced, free of charge, all of St.
Martin and Lee's CDs lost in Katrina. So appreciative of this humanitarian act, St.
Martin and Lee turned around and gave away the same number of CDs through the years, for free, to Katrina survivors.
After Katrina, Patty Lee decided to produce a compilation CD, "Katrina Anthem" which consisted of six of St. Martin's already-produced songs, plus St. Martin's unreleased Katrina song, "Orleans Lullaby," so as not to miss their opportunity to release a meaningful Katrina product in New Orleans before many other musicians followed suit. "Katrina Anthem" met with rave reviews from local critics.
St.
Martin performed his "Orleans Lullaby" live at Brad Pitt and Angelina Joilee's press conference for their Pink Project, in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans several years after Katrina. "Orleans Lullaby" and another of St. Martin's originals, "St. Expedite," are the soundtrack for Chris
Madden and Patrick Madden's "Project Katrina" DVD.
St.
Martin also performs "Orleans Lullaby" yearly at St.
Martin and Lee's Annual Katrina Artistically Revisited special commemorative event, staged each anniversary eve of Katrina and now in its 9th year, for free to the public, at the Theatres at Canal Place in downtown New Orleans. This artistic program is designed to include "everything Katrina" in a respectful manner "to remember those who perished and to honor those who survived."
Armand St. Martin's original song, "Storyville Blues" from "Alligator Ball" can also be found on the indie film, Brawler, and the tv-series K-Ville, and Treme.
