Home : Plato's Words : July/August, 2005

July/August, 2005

Time has raced again and perhaps that is fitting since as I write these words the ultimate race, the Tour de France, is once again on . However, whereby speed and time are of importance to the riders, to me it is merely an annoyance these past weeks. The reason for this is that although I try to fight the pressure of time in my life, lately I cannot seem to keep up with the peleton so to speak. How can it possibly be July already? I will have to attempt to suspend time so that I can get the things done that I wish to. Perhaps I have to just let go and realize some things are beyond my control and I cannot be super woman. Not that my life is filled with any kind of hardship! Truthfully I am happy but I am sensing that days and even weeks are going by much too quickly for my liking. I have had a wonderful spring and early summer. Could these days of summer please slow down, w a y…. d o w nnnnnnn…

Our Vancouver Jazz Festival was wonderful as it always is. This year I finally got to see Dianne Reeves perform. I wasn't able to the last time she came because I was singing that same night. She was absolutely fantastic performing live as I knew she would be. A huge voice with a vast range and although it is true she has an instrument perhaps comparable to the great Sarah Vaughan, she has her own unique sound and approach. I think she is a true original. I really love the way she used her range and color in such a tasteful way. She never decided to hit high notes simply to show that she could as some singers do. It was always a natural process of finding the arc of a tune and creating crescendos and excitement in partnership with her trio. In other words everything she did musically speaking was to enhance and develop the song and not simply to show off her limitless range. Of course as a listener it is always impressive to hear the extent of someone's vocal range but to me it's even more exciting when it emerges seamlessly and not in the "listen to me!" sense. I was amazed to see just how far away from her mouth she held her microphone. She has a big and powerful voice and she actually holds the mic somewhere down near her knees it seems and yet the sound is always there. I do remember seeing Carol Sloane several years ago and she had a similar mic technique although she didn't have the same kind of powerhouse voice.

Although I wasn't able to see Dave Holland's band this year I did manage to attend the workshop that he led during the festival. There was a huge crowd of course and that crowd was made up of several bass players and other musicians such as myself who really wanted to hear the man speak and hear him play too. Well play and speak he did! What an inspiration it was to witness this great musician share his thoughts and impressions about being a jazz musician. He spoke at length about his life but it wasn't the kind of story telling whereby he simply listed his accomplishments in order to impress everyone with what he has done. Rather he seemed to suggest that everyone is on their own personal path within the world of music and each person will have various opportunities come their way and it is truly up to each of us to decide what we will make of those opportunities. He is obviously and probably always was immensely talented but it is more than that. He just decided to go down new avenues as they appeared and he took some risks if it meant he would keep working in music and playing with good musicians.

It was quite amusing to hear him tell of his days of playing with Miles Davis. Everyone knows that Miles was quite an eccentric and perhaps he didn't communicate with people in the expected sense. When Miles first booked him to play in his band Dave left his car, records and all of his belongings in England and flew to New York after having details confirmed with Mile's management. He arrived at the club where he was supposed to play and he hadn't even met the other band members. Eventually the drummer came in and set up and Miles walked in. Dave said he felt nervous about going over to say hello to Miles but eventually realized that he better get on the stage since it appeared that the band was going to begin to play with or without him. So with no introduction of any kind Miles basically called in a tune and that was it; Dave Holland was playing with Miles Davis. I am summarizing and it won't sound so interesting but hearing Dave Holland telling the story was lovely. He even did his own little impersonation of Miles with the scratchy raspy voice.

To cap it all off he played solo bass. In the same way that a picture is worth a thousand words, Dave Holland's music without any words at all speaks volumes. Listening to music is a very subjective experience of course and everyone reacts differently and not everyone likes the same things (thank goodness) but I would imagine that everyone there was truly inspired to hear him play his bass in such an intimate setting. That was truly one of my festival highlights.

Another unexpected highlight was seeing Laila Biali perform at the CBC with her band that included Phil Dwyer. Laila is just 24 years old and is hugely talented as a pianist, composer and vocalist. I was so impressed with her natural vocal sound, (no affectations here), her interesting originals and her "dig in" approach on the piano. It's obvious she will go very far in her career or if she doesn't there is something definitely wrong out there. I love it when you don't know what to expect when you go to see and hear a new artist and you are simply swept away by their musicality and their energy. This girl has it! She's also lovely with the audience, natural, warm and candid. Go Laila…

On July 1st I played with my quintet at Performance Works for the festival. What a fantastic venue Performance Works is. The sound was perfect and we were able to use dynamics to our advantage. I love when you can play very softly and still hear everyone on the stage. My band played beautifully and even though they were all exhausted, what with all the other festival gigs that they had been playing, still they put their hearts and their remaining energy into the music. I performed several new original tunes with the band and actually felt some kind of relief that the tunes and the arrangements worked. This was my first time including the trombone in the band and I had written some specific lines to share with the horn and I do believe the color of my voice and the color of the trombone seems to work well together. This is the first band in awhile where I have played with my husband Lou on piano instead of Bill Coon on guitar. Months ago it became apparent that Bill would not be available because of a scheduling conflict so I built a band around Lou and tried to create a repertoire that I thought might lend itself to his style. My husband is very modest and always claims that he doesn't really play jazz. He is a latin-jazz player only he says. I beg to differ and I think many audience members would agree with me. Lou is too modest and perhaps his true strength lies in playing salsa and latin jazz but he is very musical and has a lot to bring to the table musically speaking. And I think he had a particularly good night. The rest of the band was wonderful too with Rod Murray on trombone, Paul Rushka on bass and Nino DiPasquale on drums. I hope to do more with this band in the future.

Early in June I did make my trip to Toronto to perform at The National Jazz Awards. What a wonderful experience for me that trip was. Everyone was very welcoming as they have been in the past when I have sung in Toronto. The all star band was fantastic and included leader Jake Langley whom I had not heard before. He is a guitarist that has been recording and touring with Joey DeFranceso. Another band member that really impacted me was drummer Davide Direnzo. I hadn't heard him before either but I was really impressed with his versatility and energy. He' s obviously one of Toronto's top drummers although there are others that are more famous in reputation perhaps. So many great musicians, such little time or perhaps I should amend those words and use drummer Terry Clarke's words for the evening as he accepted his award for Drummer of the year: "So many drummers, so little time". Terry is a wonderful drummer that I have had the pleasure of singing with in the past.

As I was there for a number of days I was able to hang out with my singing pal George Evans. I adore George and he always puts a smile on my face with some of his witty words. He is such a talented and intelligent man who works consistently at his craft. He will be coming to Vancouver to perform in early September. George has been very supportive to me in the past couple of years. We have had many conversations about certain aspects of singing jazz and the business of music too. George has an incredible memory and can probably tell you the composers, publishers and recording artists and labels for any given jazz standard. He has a detailed memory that includes dates and facts that most jazz music historians would be jealous of most certainly.

Now I will jump back to Vancouver, post jazz festival. What a convoluted words entry I am making this month. Perhaps that is why I am fighting time. I am jumping about here and there and that can be confusing but that's what my life has been like lately so I will continue in this fashion for today.

After the festival I performed a little concert at The Silk Purse Art Centre in West Vancouver to a sold out audience. That was wonderful since the last time we had performed there we were definitely only half full. I played with Bill Coon, Darren Radtke and with one of my favorite sax players, Dave Say. This is another group that I can sing extremely quietly with if the tune calls for it. We did some of my new songs and some other standards. These three guys really listen to where I am trying to go and they keep inspiring me to go further somehow. There's a feeling of trust singing with them. In jazz you have to take risks (I believe that anyway) but it is fun to have some safety as well and that safety is the gift of singing with musicians who truly support and create with you. That's what these guys do for me.

In August Festival Vancouver takes place and I am quite exited about having tickets to go see Chick Corea. I haven't seen him for a number of years and that will be a real treat. I am also going to be seeing another concert that has nothing to do with jazz. Alison Kraus is a bluegrass singer with a high, clear and  soulful voice. I have seen her live concerts on DVD and that demonstrates what a great singer and fiddler she is. Her band, Union Station is top notch too. They sing impeccable vocal harmonies that match Alison's range and clarity note for note. So there are two more musical treats for me to look forward to this August. A little jazz and a little bluegrass, what more could a girl ask for? Well we won't get into that.

Also in August I will be teaching at a jazz camp in Sorrento BC. This will be my first time there and I hope to do a good job. Bill Coon, Jennifer Scott, Renee Worst, Kate Hammett-Vaughan and several others will be there teaching too so I am sure the socializing will be a big part of the Sorrento experience. I have been booked to teach repertoire classes, one of my passions for sure. I don't know what I will be like as a teacher in a group situation but I will try my best to share whatever knowledge I have accumulated in the past  10 years of singing jazz.

Summer, dear summer
take your sweet time
slowly, so slowly
let leisure be mine.
No further speeding
there's no need to race
summer, dear summer
please slow down your pace...

Karin