Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Jack Littman is a young troubadour with an old soul. Able to spin convincing tails of longing, regret, deceit, rejection, and vindication, his life experiences appear to come from a longer trail than he could seemingly have traversed in his 21 years. His father, a screenwriter and character actor in the film business, always encouraged Jack to follow his own path, and while assuring him that the entertainment business was a tough road to navigate, he nonetheless encouraged him to take it on if that’s where his heart led. Jack got his first taste of performing at age 9, playing Peter Cratchit with Orson Bean as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. In his early teens, he taught himself guitar and later piano. At Hamilton High School in West Los Angeles, Littman dove into the performing arts, joining the choir, taking drama and continuing to perform in musicals. At the same time, he began writing his own songs, inspired by artists such as Neil Young, Bob Marley and Roy Orbison. Littman’s vintage tastes reveal themselves in his full-bodied vocal delivery, which varies from a deep baritone croon to a soulful falsetto, harkening to such extremes as Nick Cave and Jeff Buckley, but always completely Jack Littman. He began performing his songs where he could, eventually breaking into the club scene at a variety of L.A. venues, such as the Viper Room, House of Blues and the Knitting Factory. At the Knitting Factory, he caught the eye of Knitting Factory Entertainment CEO Morgan Margolis, who signed him to the company’s brand new artist management wing, High Adventure Management, making Littman their first signed West Coast artist. Just 20 at the time, Littman got down to the business of recording with producer Bruce Duff (Prima Donna, Circle, Angus Khan) and bringing his heartfelt songs to life. Enlisting the help of drummer Bryan Howard (Ladykillers), the arrangements began to take shape, with Littman and Duff bringing in top-flight players in to fill out the arrangements. Joining in the sessions were Paul Ill (Christina Aguilera, Linda Perry) on string bass, Brantley Kearns (Dwight Yoakum, Simon Stokes), on violin, and Chas Smith (Thomas Newman) on nuclear-age pedal steel, and Adam “Lights Out” Levine (Ladykillers, Super Bees) on electric bass. The first batch of these recordings contain a wide pallet of moods and atmospheres. From the gritty “Murder by Desire” to the beat box driven “Fairy Tale” and the other-worldly lament “Carpenter’s Son,” Littman’s music gives the listener an adventurous, emotional ride. Essentially the first half of Jack’s soon to be completed debut album, copies are available from High Adventure Management.
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