Home : Plato's Words : January 2007

January 2007

This past December I had great fun singing with my two singing girlfriends; Kate Hammett-Vaughan and Jennifer Scott in our annual Christmas jazz performance. We sang several arrangements of carols and Christmas songs in three-part harmony and then also each contributed a couple of solo tunes. It is always a very special night for us and it does seem that the audience enjoys seeing the three of us share the stage. We had a wonderful trio to sing with this year: Chris Gestrin on piano, Rene Worst on bass and Tom Foster on the drums. The guys are each musically talented and are also a pleasure to be on stage with because they want to be there and they show it with their positive energy and wonderful playing.

I sang with my quintet for the annual Christmas Jazz Vespers at St. Andrews Wesley Church, which this year landed on Christmas Eve. How exciting to see the church packed with people! It made for a special level of excitement somehow to share our renditions of carols with all those people who were preparing for their Christmas days ahead. One of my favorite new tunes to sing with my group was the traditional carol PATAPAN that I had arranged into a gentle march. We had a lot of fun improvising within the tune too. I had chosen some particular chord structures to use and somehow with Lou on piano and Bill on guitar the chord colors evolved from there to somewhere beyond those basics and there was a lovely mood that was created.

Every year I do try to find new tunes to arrange and perform and this year I found a  wonderful minor key waltz entitled ONE KING. I also sang that at the Cellar on the evening with Kate and Jennifer and people seemed to enjoy it. Of course there has been many a song written about the Christmas story; the 3 Kings, the Star of Bethlehem, the angesl, the birth of the baby Jesus; yet still its fun to hear yet a new rendition of the same story.

I have a couple of out of town trips this coming up January with my band. These trips will take us out to places in Alberta and Saskatchewan. I am excited about going to perform concerts again but I admit there is some trepidation as well since we will be traveling in winter conditions and I know how quickly the winter weather can change on the prairies. Just a few months ago I experienced some brutal winter weather with my group while traveling in BC and that was enough danger for one year. So I am crossing my fingers that Mother Nature will be kind to us on this trip. This time Bill Coon will not be able to go with us because he has some other commitments so Doug Stephenson will be on the guitar. Doug played the bass when I did my November USA dates. Yes, he is as amazing on the guitar as he is on the bass and he is such a wonderful human being as well. It really does make a difference somehow to be playing with someone who has a warm and friendly personality. Doug’s personality is the icing on the cake because he is just a fantastic musician with a great sense of time, harmony and melody. I love singing with him. Paul and Nino will complete the group so I will be in good hands musically speaking.

I am also excited about one of the Saskatchewan dates for another reason. Of course Saskatchewan is my birth province but I haven’t performed any concerts close to my hometown of Alsask. Now I will be doing just that because one of the dates will take us to Kindersley Saskatchewan, which is in the vicinity of Alsask. I am hoping that I do a good job with my group because I believe that my parents and other people that I know will be in the audience. For some of the people in that area the last time they would have seen me sing on stage would have been in high school years and that is a very long time ago. That’s a funny thing about time and how it passes. It doesn’t seem possible that I went to high school well over 20 years ago but that is a fact. Certain things from high school days I remember like yesterday and other events and people of course have faded into my memory. It also seems odd to me sometimes to think about how I ended up being a jazz vocalist since none of my musical upbringing throughout high school and University had anything to do with jazz. I suppose once I got my “jazz bug” as I like to call it, I was hooked for life. Thank goodness! Moving to Vancouver in 1985 opened my eyes and ears to many other musical avenues and somehow jazz is what has captivated me and continues to captivate me. I will always love classical music and other forms of music too but jazz to me is heaven. I love singing it and I love hearing it. There can be no greater joy than singing with one other jazz musician with whom you are able to connect with musically speaking. Good chocolate is wonderful, a beautiful day filled with sunshine is wonderful, a scented bouquet of flowers also is wonderful; but singing jazz is WONDERFUL!

As 2007 arrives I’d like to wish everyone a year filled with good health, happiness and great music. I believe I am at a cross roads in my life and I will be facing a challenging year. I hope I can be strong and courageously face those challenges that life has to offer me. Regardless of what will come my way I know that I am a lucky woman and I have good friends who care about me and I have a family that loves me too. Who could ask for more than that? Happy New Year to you all…

Karin