Jeff Litman profile picture

Jeff Litman

www.jefflitmanmusic.com now up and running!

About Me

New York City based singer/songwriter Jeff Litman has had more than his share of musical twists and turns throughout his career. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he grew up amid the sounds of the dynamic 80’s and early 90’s scene there, soaking up such artists as Soul Asylum, Prince, the Replacements, the Jayhawks, and Trip Shakespeare. Wanting to play an instrument from an early age, Jeff started learning piano at age 6, finally convincing his parents to buy him a guitar by age 10. He took to it immediately. Following the zeitgeist, Jeff started out learning to play Bon Jovi and Motley Crue tunes, then Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, moving on to Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and finally settling on the Beatles/Beach Boys-influenced melodic pop of bands such as Jellyfish and Jason Falkner, as well as singer/songwriters like Aimee Mann, Elvis Costello, and Elliott Smith.Later, Jeff became interested in jazz, eventually graduating from Indiana University with a degree in jazz studies. While at Indiana, he was exposed through his coursework to the world of classical music and the old masters Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Schoenberg, as well as contemporary composers such as Elliott Carter and Pierre Boulez. He began to study classical guitar and composition on the side of his jazz degree. After graduating, he decided to pursue a master’s degree in classical guitar. In 2004, Jeff moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music, and graduated two years later with a degree in classical guitar performance.Jeff’s most recent musical twist has brought him back to his roots in pop and rock music. While beginning doctoral study at the City University of New York, Jeff slowly realized that while his love for classical music was deep, it was not what made him pick up a guitar in the first place, and it would never take the place of pop music in his heart. Since reaching that conclusion, Jeff dropped out of graduate school, and has been feverishly writing songs and recording an album both at his home studio in New York, and with producer/engineer Andy Thompson in Minneapolis. Drawing on his diverse musical background and personal experiences, Jeff writes songs with catchy melodies, unique harmonies, rich arrangements, and deeply personal lyrics.Jeff is currently in the studio finishing work on his debut album, "ps," due out in Summer, 2008.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/19/2007
Band Website: jefflitmanmusic.com
Band Members: Most of instruments and voices are played/sung by me.These lovely people helped me out...Andy Thompson played all the drums, violin and organ on Wife, and background vocals on Let You GoLarissa Koehler played cello on wife.Produced by Jeff Litman and Andy ThompsonMixed and mastered by Andy Thomson
Influences: Jason Falkner, Dan Wilson, the Replacements, Soul Asylum, Beatles, Mike Viola, Fountains of Wayne, Beach Boys, Lisa Loeb, Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Elvis Costello, Aimee Mann, Bleu, Michael Penn, XTC, Jellyfish, all sorts of classical music--Bach, Brahms, Schoenberg, and Carter being some of my favorites--Miles Davis, Jim Hall, Art Farmer, Sonny Rollins, among many, many others.
Sounds Like: It is difficult for me to say with any objectivity, but others have compared my music to Matthew Sweet, Elvis Costello, and Jason Falkner. Send me a message if you have any other opinions about this
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None

My Blog

hey hey hey

I'm back! Many thanks too all of you who were able to come out late on a school night to my show at Pete's last Sunday. I had a great time.The news is, I'm heading back into the studio at the end of t...
Posted by Jeff Litman on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:50:00 PST

Getting out there....

Hey Blog-Readers,I'm slowly, but surely getting out and playing rock music for the people. I've been to open mic nights at the Perch Cafe and Cafe Vivaldi, spent a couple hours busking in central pa...
Posted by Jeff Litman on Mon, 12 May 2008 01:52:00 PST

NYC show added!

Hey Everyone,I'll be playing at the 169 bar in New York on Saturday, May 10 at 7:30. I hope you can make it. Mark your calenders!!-Jeff
Posted by Jeff Litman on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:54:00 PST

lyrics up!

Hey all,I have had some requests to read my lyrics, so I typed ’em up and put ’em up. Enjoy!-jl
Posted by Jeff Litman on Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:24:00 PST

new sites!

At long last, the new sites are up! Very exciting. Many thanks to Emily Branham for her great photography, and to everyone who patiently answered my frantic technical questions/rants, trying to get th...
Posted by Jeff Litman on Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:17:00 PST