Big Mouth Martin Nievera fulfills an old fantasy

HE PICKED nearly all of the songs in his new cover album, Martin Nievera says.

Though he’s been in show biz for more than 30 years, Martin Nievera insists he has many more unfulfilled dreams. One of these, he says, is playing in a band, a frustration from back when he was 16. It may be too late to go down that road now, but he gets to live the fantasy once in a while.

In his coming album, “Big Mouth, Big Band” (PolyEast Records), the 52-year-old balladeer gets to be the frontman of musical director Marvin Querido’s band which, Martin notes, includes cello and horn players.

Twelve tracks

“I love the idea of having someone onstage with whom you can play up the sounds, music,” Martin tells the Inquirer. “So, I figured, why not try something I had never done before?”

He adds of “Big Mouth, Big Band”: “This is the first time I made an album with only one arranger and one band for all the tracks.” The album will be released in November.

Having the words “big band” in the title doesn’t necessarily mean that the music will have that swinging, jazzy vibe, Martin clarifies. Rather, the term pertains to famous groups that he grew up listening to, like the Doobie Brothers, Kansas, Toto and Chicago.” “It’s about big bands during my time, being covered by me, the Big Mouth,” he says.

Among the cuts in the 12-track album are “Biggest Part of Me” by Ambrosia, “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Suede, “Sing a Song” by Earth, Wind and Fire, “I Can’t Tell You Why” by The Eagles and “Love of My Life” by Queen. Almost each song, Martin says, was his personal choice.

To make the songs sound raw and more organic, Martin says that his team recorded the album the way things used to be done—with live vocals and instruments playing.

“We’d like to make the listeners feel like they’re listening to live performances and not overly processed music,” he says, adding that he did have to rerecord some of the vocals in a much smaller studio later on. “Frank Sinatra used to just walk into a studio and sing with a band or an orchestra. We sort of emulated that.”

Radio-friendly

Martin describes the new record as “relaxed and very radio-friendly.” The songs’ keys were lowered and so there isn’t much of his signature belting. In fact, the singer says, the collection has none of those slow-burning ballads that he is famous for.

“The songs are ‘Martinized,’ which means they’re more fun and laid-back. There will be some nice instrumentals, too… and I tried to keep in touch with my ‘mature self,’ if there’s any such thing!” Martin says, laughing. “I hate listening to myself, but this album I can actually stand!”

As for his next goal, Martin says, he would love to do an album with the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra. “I’d happily pay to make a record with them.”

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