I have loved being a jazz vocalist for the past 20 years and I wouldnt trade it for all of the world, but I am enjoying my venture into other genres now because I am feeling fresh and happy with all the new material. The hardest thing for me about singing jazz and standards was when folks would talk to me about the tunes I sang at a show, and comment on how I did not sound like Ella or Billie when I did their song. Some jazz singers can write originals and perform then successfully, like Abbey Lincoln did, but many of us just sing our favorite standards, that many singers before us have done. But I have always enjoyed interpreting the songs in my own way, and giving my own twist to them. Some folks enjoy that, but others want to hear a singer just repeat their favorite Billie or Ella arrangement of a song, and want the singer to use the same phrasing and inflection that those great ladies did. When that happens, I often feel like an actress just doing a tribute show, and not an authentic interpreter of music. I dont blame folks for loving Billie or Ella and wanting to hear them reproduced by other people... but I always try to put my own twist on a song. I know that musicians go through this too... constantly being compared to Duke, or Miles, or Trane... and some enjoy replicating the sounds and styles of their idols, but many of us want to be original and have our own interpretation as well.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 06:21:18 +0000
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