Home : Plato's Words : June 2008

June 2008

Here in Vancouver, finally, it appears as though the hot days of late spring and early summer have arrived. It seems as though it took longer this year for the temperatures to actually climb high enough for people to leave the cozy comforts of inside and head out to sun and sand of our Vancouver beaches and cycling paths and walks through neighborhoods to admire gardens of rainbow color. This warmer weather means that jazz fest season is right around the corner too. Each year the festival here in Vancouver is a form of season’s end celebration. By that I mean the period of winter has truly ended and that itself inspired a type of celebration to Vancouverites. Summer arrives and so do the touring artists from across the globe and we the listeners (and artists) get to choose what musical pleasures we want to experience for the annual jazz festival. It’s fun to study the festival guide and see just how many things one can cram into a day for the 2 full weekends of music taking place plus of course there are several evening concerts to choose from for each night of the festival. So the choices come down to seeing mainstream jazz, avant-garde, blues, gospel, latin jazz, folk-blues, free and improvised music etc. I think its important to take chances and to try to see some groups that one wouldn’t normally be exposed to during the course of the year. Jazz is all about taking chances and about freedom of expression so therefore perhaps good jazz listeners will keep an open mind as well. That’s my intention. I know that I can’t always like everything I go to see but perhaps my ears and mind and even heart will be open to new musical experiences.

I have been very busy teaching this season and I haven’t had as much time as I usually have to work on my own music. It’s not so much a lament as an observation about what has been taking up my time and the teaching has been wonderful and inspiring in its own way. Time for my own music work seems to come in shorter spurts for me and lately when there is a block of time I grab it carefully and willingly trying to do some writing and also as always continuing to choose new repertoire for the ever-expanding collection of music I have compiled over the years. There’s something satisfying and gratifying to chart out a new tune and work through it so that it is performance ready. Sometimes it is simply a lyric that influences me to select the song and sometimes it is the fact that while flipping through a book I will be reminded of the beauty of a particular tune that I already know I like but haven’t actually performed before. This is a constant and pleasurable process. It is so very different from composing one’s own material. That can be more frustrating of course because it is coming from somewhere inside you. Charting out an already existing tune is like the warm familiar feeling of hanging out with a friend while perhaps the composing of a new work is like giving birth and even though I am not a mother I do understand that can be a painful process. Still the rewards can be gratifying obviously so when my writing appears to flow with ease I go with that flow and otherwise the older I get I accept the fact that for certain and sometimes longer periods my creative well will not flow or I will simply not have hours of time to sit at the piano. So be it.

As far as recent performances that I have been a part of I have to say that one friend’s bad luck was good luck for me. My friend Jennifer Scott was feeling sick so I subbed for her at the Cellar last Sunday and the group I got to sing with were 3 of the best musicians a vocalist could hope for: Bill Coon, Rene Worst and Buff Allen. There weren’t very many people there to hear us but we have some fantastic fun playing together. The amazing thing about musicians such as these three gentlemen is that they put their complete soul into the playing no matter who is there to listen to the music. They all sounded so incredible and I felt elevated to be able to sing with them. Bill Coon just continues to be growing and expanding his musical abilities each and every time I hear him play. I adore his playing and I always have but it’s wonderful to hear him pull out brand new ideas and approaches that I have never heard him use before. He also played some of his original tunes with the trio and hearing those made my night. Rene always sounds incredible and he is such a versatile bassist and has amazing ears to go anywhere the music may pull him, His choices are always exciting and passionate and he gets a rich full sound on the bass that I love to hear. I hadn’t sung with Buff for sometime and I had truly forgotten what a treasure he is on the drums. He used some beautiful brush work and all kinds of sub-divided playing that seemed to bring another level of excitement to the grooves he was creating. I have mentioned how I have been more of a teacher in the past several months and I have enjoyed that experience to the fullest of course since I get to share my passion with students. Still when I get to sing with musicians of that calibre I remember what a thrilling feeling it is to be singing and feel surprises along the way and I know that I am not just a teacher and I have this need inside me to express myself as a jazz vocalist too. It’s good to have that reaffirmed sometimes and be lucky enough to do that as well.

Have a wonderful festival season everyone…

Karin