Ottawa singer brings jazz vocals to Edmonton festi
Jun 30, 2011 7:22:49 GMT
Post by Petruchio - Good God on Jun 30, 2011 7:22:49 GMT
found this link today and yes.... my face is 
Check out the paragraph to which I have marked in bold ....
www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Ottawa+singer+brings+jazz+vocals+Edmonton+festival/5024248/story.html
Ottawa singer brings jazz vocals to Edmonton festival
By ROGER LEVESQUE, edmontonjournal.com June 29, 2011 StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Juno Award-winning Ottawa singer Kelly Lee Evans brings her Nina Simone Project to the Edmonton International Jazz Festival Thursday.EDMONTON - Knowing you want to be a singer is only the first step. Figuring out what you want to sing can take time. Kellylee Evans took awhile to get to jazz.
“The best thing this album did for me was to make me love jazz,” laughs the Ottawa singer. “If anyone wants to call me a jazz singer now that’s OK. I’m having fun incubating new songs and I’m having fun being an interpreter.”
She’s referring to her latest release Nina (2010, Plus Loin Music), which picked up the Juno Award for Best Vocal Jazz album this spring. The disc is a collection of covers, mostly love songs, attached to the repertoire of the late, great Nina Simone, including classics like Sinnerman, Ne Me Quitte Pas and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.
The opportunity to record came from the French Plus Loin label owner Yann Martin and it was in a Paris suburb with stellar players, including Rufus Sewell on guitar. Evans already enjoyed a reputation for trying different musical styles in her three previous albums and that continues with the special twists she brought to Nina.
“No way was I going to compete with Nina Simone’s version of the songs, so I thought I might as well just go for it. The original title for the album was The Songs Nina Taught Me, so it was never my intention to do her thing; it was to feature the songs. Every one of these songs had its own sound, its own feel from the moment I thought about them. My intention was to be really organic and open and not forced.”
All the songs were first or second takes. Evans’s voice verges on the same tonal qualities as Simone’s at times but she’s clearly doing her own thing. Ultimately, Nina has a set of great grooves, some slower tempos, a lot of soul and compelling delivery, and a wonderful way of making the songs new.
“I never saw Nina Simone as a jazz singer exactly anyway, just as a singer and a player. And I hope most listeners are broad-minded enough to accept different styles.
Evans has known the original Nina Simone recordings most of her life. Born in Scarborough, Ont. to Jamaican immigrant parents, she grew up hearing all sorts of music at home. Her mother was a particular fan of Simone, along with reggae and soca.
She can’t recall a time when she wasn’t singing. Joining a choir and taking piano lessons as a kid encouraged her further, but a singing career didn’t jive with her parents’ plans. She wound up moving to Ottawa and taking a master’s law degree at Carleton University before events pushed her to re-evaluate things and switch to making music.
The first big boost for Evans’s career came when she jumped into the Thelonious Monk International Vocal Competition in Washington, D.C. in 2004. She took second place, judged by a rather intimidating jury that included Quincy Jones, Kurt Elling, Jimmy Scott and Al Jarreau.
“I literally went from singing in the shower to singing at Kennedy Center with almost nothing in between. And I thought I hated jazz at that point. Jazz seemed to be either a private club or the thing you listened to with a martini and I didn’t want any part of it.”
She had already been singing on the side with student jazz combos. Those gigs expanded into clubs around Ottawa, helping her to build up her repertoire. She familiarized herself with classic jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae, but it was Abbey Lincoln who caught her attention for doing her own material.
Spurred on by Lincoln’s example, Evans decided her debut album Fight Or Flight (2006, nominated for a Juno), would be all-original.
She got her first real commercial notice from the jazz festivals and her first tour. With her next release, The Good Girl (2009), she was still writing just what came to her and working out her arrangements on Apple’s GarageBand program before she hit the studio. That continued to work for her with Nina.
Evans’s band for the current, fourth tour across Canada will include her regular guitarist Dave Thompson, bassist Jon Maharaj, and drummer Giampalo.
--
CONCERT PREVIEW
Kellylee Evans – Nina Simone Project
Part of: Edmonton International Jazz Festival
Where: Yardbird Suite, 11 Tommy Banks Way
When: Thursday, two sets, 9 p.m. and 10:45 p.m.
Tickets: $15 each set, $25 for both, or Johnny Jazz Pass
Available in advance from Tix On The Square (780-420-1757)
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Check out the paragraph to which I have marked in bold ....
www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/Ottawa+singer+brings+jazz+vocals+Edmonton+festival/5024248/story.html
Ottawa singer brings jazz vocals to Edmonton festival
By ROGER LEVESQUE, edmontonjournal.com June 29, 2011 StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Juno Award-winning Ottawa singer Kelly Lee Evans brings her Nina Simone Project to the Edmonton International Jazz Festival Thursday.EDMONTON - Knowing you want to be a singer is only the first step. Figuring out what you want to sing can take time. Kellylee Evans took awhile to get to jazz.
“The best thing this album did for me was to make me love jazz,” laughs the Ottawa singer. “If anyone wants to call me a jazz singer now that’s OK. I’m having fun incubating new songs and I’m having fun being an interpreter.”
She’s referring to her latest release Nina (2010, Plus Loin Music), which picked up the Juno Award for Best Vocal Jazz album this spring. The disc is a collection of covers, mostly love songs, attached to the repertoire of the late, great Nina Simone, including classics like Sinnerman, Ne Me Quitte Pas and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.
The opportunity to record came from the French Plus Loin label owner Yann Martin and it was in a Paris suburb with stellar players, including Rufus Sewell on guitar. Evans already enjoyed a reputation for trying different musical styles in her three previous albums and that continues with the special twists she brought to Nina.
“No way was I going to compete with Nina Simone’s version of the songs, so I thought I might as well just go for it. The original title for the album was The Songs Nina Taught Me, so it was never my intention to do her thing; it was to feature the songs. Every one of these songs had its own sound, its own feel from the moment I thought about them. My intention was to be really organic and open and not forced.”
All the songs were first or second takes. Evans’s voice verges on the same tonal qualities as Simone’s at times but she’s clearly doing her own thing. Ultimately, Nina has a set of great grooves, some slower tempos, a lot of soul and compelling delivery, and a wonderful way of making the songs new.
“I never saw Nina Simone as a jazz singer exactly anyway, just as a singer and a player. And I hope most listeners are broad-minded enough to accept different styles.
Evans has known the original Nina Simone recordings most of her life. Born in Scarborough, Ont. to Jamaican immigrant parents, she grew up hearing all sorts of music at home. Her mother was a particular fan of Simone, along with reggae and soca.
She can’t recall a time when she wasn’t singing. Joining a choir and taking piano lessons as a kid encouraged her further, but a singing career didn’t jive with her parents’ plans. She wound up moving to Ottawa and taking a master’s law degree at Carleton University before events pushed her to re-evaluate things and switch to making music.
The first big boost for Evans’s career came when she jumped into the Thelonious Monk International Vocal Competition in Washington, D.C. in 2004. She took second place, judged by a rather intimidating jury that included Quincy Jones, Kurt Elling, Jimmy Scott and Al Jarreau.
“I literally went from singing in the shower to singing at Kennedy Center with almost nothing in between. And I thought I hated jazz at that point. Jazz seemed to be either a private club or the thing you listened to with a martini and I didn’t want any part of it.”
She had already been singing on the side with student jazz combos. Those gigs expanded into clubs around Ottawa, helping her to build up her repertoire. She familiarized herself with classic jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae, but it was Abbey Lincoln who caught her attention for doing her own material.
Spurred on by Lincoln’s example, Evans decided her debut album Fight Or Flight (2006, nominated for a Juno), would be all-original.
She got her first real commercial notice from the jazz festivals and her first tour. With her next release, The Good Girl (2009), she was still writing just what came to her and working out her arrangements on Apple’s GarageBand program before she hit the studio. That continued to work for her with Nina.
Evans’s band for the current, fourth tour across Canada will include her regular guitarist Dave Thompson, bassist Jon Maharaj, and drummer Giampalo.
--
CONCERT PREVIEW
Kellylee Evans – Nina Simone Project
Part of: Edmonton International Jazz Festival
Where: Yardbird Suite, 11 Tommy Banks Way
When: Thursday, two sets, 9 p.m. and 10:45 p.m.
Tickets: $15 each set, $25 for both, or Johnny Jazz Pass
Available in advance from Tix On The Square (780-420-1757)
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
