Jasmine Jamillah 'Estimates' (Live Cuts EP)

New York, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Jasmine Jamillah Official Website) - Sultry New Yorker Jasmine Jamillah has a new EP available, entitled Estimates (Live Cuts EP). Recorded over two nights in Fall 2006, the EP is an eclectic array of truly remarkable material crossing many genres including soul, folk and indie, and always with the breathy vocal tones of Jasmine.

Immediate and touching, these songs vary from raucous blues to intimate, calming folk-tinged ballads, united by urgent lyrics and a beautiful soulfulness. This is music straight from the heart - a cathartic record. She says: "I'm a horrible emotional communicator and always leave conversations and confrontations with a ton of things I should have said. These feelings usually go into songs and help me to get the words out some way. I continue to write to express what I'm horrible at expressing otherwise."

Estimates follows last year's self-released debut album, Overdue, but departs from that sweet folk offering by enrolling musicians such as blues guitarist Josh Rosaler, funk and soul bassist Matt Mannisto, jazz pianist Peter Bierhost and rock drummer Eric Newman. The EP indicates a new direction for this hugely talented 24-year old.

Jasmine JamillahJasmine Jamillah's work has met with enormous critical approval. Village Voice, no less, wrote: "Tender acoustic-rock jams hung off breathy pop-star vox – if Tori were sexier, or Britney less face-caked – but don't yawn, dudes. Jasmine Jamillah knows people's reservations about her sort of gush, which makes her all the more disarming."

The Deli's Kitchen said her songs "sound like Nina Simone meets Fiona Apple meets a lot of cymbal crashes. The good kind of crash."

Jasmine grew up in Southern California on a diet of her parents' soul music. She began playing violin at age three and writing songs at eleven, before getting really serious when she taught herself guitar and piano at nineteen. She moved to New York in 2004, and after a while began to make a name for herself playing venues including the legendary Sin-e. She managed to get a like-minded band together, and calling themselves Damsel and Fly, they became a fixture on the New York live circuit before splitting in March 2006, at which point Jasmine put the wheels in motion for Overdue.

Jasmine JamillahShe cites a huge variety of influences on her music. They include, to name but a few, Debussy, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, The Pretenders, The Rolling Stones, Mariah Carey, Okkervil River and Ray LaMontagne.
Both Estimates and Overdue can be purchased from Cdbaby.com
For more information visit www.jasminejamillah.com or www.myspace.com/jasminejamillah.