Tuesday Jams Audience Tunes Into “Too Human”

Story by Broadside Correspondent Kristen White. Photo by Teddy Meyer.

The moment acoustic group Too Human began playing for Tuesday Jams in the Johnson Center, the atmosphere in Jazzman’s Café evolved from a bustling coffee shop to a soulful, bluesy hangout stop. Students peacefully enjoyed chatting with friends, worked on their homework or just relaxed with a tall latte. The comforting sounds of the heartfelt songs seemed to strike an impact on the audience. The passion found in Too Human’s music filled the air and reminded students to take a break from the stressful college life and just listen.

Too Human’s style of music is best described as what group vocalists Ellen Schwartz and Roger Bruno call, “music with heart.” Schwartz went on to say that Too Human, “loves music and does all different kinds of things” in terms of style and genre. Both New Yorkers, Schwarts and Bruno became involved with writing and singing music at early ages; Bruno in Jazz and Schwartz in Pop and Folk. Years later, at Warner/Chappel Music publishing company in Los Angeles, the two performers founded the singing/songwriting duo Too Human in which the three genres of jazz, pop and folk merged seamlessly together.

According to Schwartz, the environment at Warner/Chappel fueled the duo’s musical involvement because they “wrote songs that we believed in.” To achieve this feeling of emotional authenticity, Schwartz and Bruno eliminate feelings of artificiality. Their formula proved successful as they began working with artists such as Pat Benatar, Teddy Pendergrass, Martha Davis, Anne Murray and Nancy Wilson. Specifically, they wrote Cher’s song entitled “Dangerous Times” and Agnetha Faltskog of ABBA’s solo record, “Little White Secrets.” They have opened or shared the stage for numerous performers, such as Janis Ian, 10,000 Maniacs, Martin Sexton and Kenny Rankin.

Today, Too Human can be heard on radio stations all over the country and seen all along the East Coast with personal performances of their self-authored materials. Their CDs were on display and for sale in Jazzman’s Café, which included four of their albums: From There to Here (1997), True (2001), and two separate live-performance albums. The duo performed songs such as “New Surrender,” “Simple Needs” and “Poison Ivy,” among others, and are featured on the group’s CDs.

Too Human had fun with its student audience. During the performance, Schwartz took a second to ask the audience to sing along to the tune, which turned out to be the theme song from the popular 1990s sitcom, “The Nanny.” Schwartz told the audience afterwards that she fell in love with the show when it was first popularized and planned to record her interpretation of the song in a Too Human album. Schwartz’s recording made Too Human the first group ever to record the song onto a studio-produced album. This unique tune was placed on their 2005 Live Standards album and, according to Schwartz, became very “popular on iTunes in Japan and Europe.”

If you are in the mood for a jazzy, soulful album, buy any of Too Human’s albums online at toohumanonline.com and be sure to check out future Tuesday Jams and Jazzman’s artist this semester.