To me, Carla Bley is one of the most interesting musical figures in North America in the past several decades - seriously, read her biography.
I was introduced to Carla during my undergraduate degree while studying arranging for large ensembles. Her music captivated me at once with it's quirky melodies, heavy chordal structures and innovative presentation of theme.
I once read an interview with Carla where she spoke about her composing process and her inner struggle at the beginning of each big stint of writing wherein she doubts her capabilities and feels that perhaps she lost all of her inspiration in the past few months. Then, she sits down and writes a single thought, a small idea of perhaps only a dozen notes on a page. This becomes the start of her next big idea.
Carla Bley is a wonderful example of an artist that came to jazz and creative music by chance but has started small and her career grew with her ideas. Carla's music is a huge inspiration for young female composers such as yours truly because of her willingness to take risks and write music that is far from perfect but entirely beautiful.
Here's some samples of Carla Bley being her naturally hip self:
As a self-proclaimed "choir geek" from an early age, I have been very lucky to spend a good portion of my life sharing songs with others. I could go on all day about what choral singing has done for me as a person, but I will spare my readers from the never ending list. Namely, choral singing as a child gave me life long friends, positive childhood musical memories, a supportive atmosphere to be myself and a strong sense of community.
Musically, choral singing as a child gave me strong sight-reading skills, the ability to hear moving chordal structures, self-discipline in practicing, a healthy understanding of vocal technique and the ability to sing contrasting harmony against a melody.
However, there was one aspect of choral singing that did not carry far through my vocal upbringing: learning by rote. In elementary choirs, a "call and response" method is often used to speed along the learning process and can allow all singers to learn on the same level as many young children have not yet learned to read music. As the choirs I began joining became more advanced however, all emphasis was placed on sight-reading and learning scores from a theoretical standpoint. Let me now state, that both of these methods of teaching and learning are effective and build different skills in singers. Now, as I work more with adult singers, I see a strong disconnect between what we can read on the page and understanding what we are hearing harmonically.
As a singer coming from a predominantly classical upbringing that launched herself into the jazz idiom, in some ways I had to teach myself how to listen again. I had become so "stuck" to the score that I felt as though my ears were lacking the discipline that my theory knowledge had far outstripped.
Recently I have begun to work with some of my private voice students on the relationship between melody they have learned vs. what they hear in the accompaniment and encouraging improvised melodic development by having them pick out notes from what they hear in the piano, or for some more advanced students, giving them a starting harmony note for a phrase and asking to complete the harmony by listening to the progression of chords underneath. This is the foundation for teaching simple composition, improvised singing and melodic and harmonic arranging. And it's FUN! For some of my students who are strong music readers, this has pushed them to step outside their comfort zone and into new musical territory, while for others who have strong ears but are slow in theory, this method teaches them to think critically and theoretically about what they are singing.
I love harmony singing and I believe having a multitude of methods of teaching harmony is perhaps one of the most important aspects of early musical development in singers.
Pianist Brad Mehldau is one of those musicians who has people talking. Not every jazz musician I know is a fan, while others worship his music. To me, Brad Mehldau represents a new generation of musicians that are willing to take jazz as we know it and turn it into something that is not completely different but rather, shows a new side of the modern jazz personality.
I've been listening to Brad Mehldau for quite a few years. His trio work, which often includes complex arrangements of newer pop tunes (most famously, the vastly overplayed Oasis song, "Wonderwall") and jazz standards. However, departing from the trio setting that he has become known for, Mehldau released a chamber jazz album in 2010 called "Highway Rider" that earned him some much deserved praise.
I was very fortunate to see Brad Mehldau live in a rare duo setting with saxophonist, Joshua Redman at the Montreal Jazz Festival in July 2011. It wasn't until then that I really found an appreciation for Mehldau's innovative improvisation and mastery of his instrument. Watching these two fantastic musicians interact was an experience I will never forget.
And luckily for all of us, Brad Mehldau has a new album out. Coming back to his trio roots, "Ode" is comprised of completely original material (a rare treat from Mehldau) and is highly unique in feel but with echoes to other artists including a dedication to Michael Brecker and some piano styling that this particular blogger finds to be slightly reminiscent of Thelonious Monk. "Ode" features Mehldau on piano, one of my favourite current bassists, Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. His compositions riveted me at many points but I think it is Mehldau's improvisations that are really the shining star of this record.
Here's a little taste of the title track, "Ode", I hope you enjoy as much I did.
I don't remember when I started listening to Joni Mitchell. I don't remember how old I was, where I was in my life musically or personally, and I don't remember who told me to listen to Joni Mitchell. But I remember how I felt. I remember listening to "A Case of You" from the album "Blue" (1976) and remember feeling overwhelmed and at a loss for words. Until that time, I had never heard lyrics that painted such a vivid picture or expressed such a bare emotion as Joni's.
In the multi-decade career of Joni Mitchell she has gone through many transformations as an artist. I don't love every era or every artistic choice she's made (there are few musicians who I could say I do). However, there is an honesty in Mitchell's lyrics that is raw and deeply personal as well as a poetic lilt that has inspired my own writing enormously, always.
Joni Mitchell writes folk music, yet she appeals to musicians of all genres for her surprising turns in chord progressions and intricate melodies.
To conclude, Joni Mitchell gave me inspiration, gave me humility and most of all, gave me a love for the human voice and written word in a way perhaps no other singer has.
Check out some personal favourites of Joni Mitchell.
I was very lucky to discover Gretchen Parlato a few years ago when I was working for the Halifax Jazz Festival. One of the most wonderful things about that job was the continuous influx of new music being added to the eclectic music library of old jazz records to contemporary Canadian jazz.
I was very lucky one day to be introduced to Gretchen Parlato by our fantastic artistic director who presented her in a "you gotta hear this!" kind of way.
The facts: Gretchen Parlato is a young, LA-based singer who got her big break when she won the 2004 Thelonious Monk Institute International Vocal Competition and has since been praised by jazz greats such as Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter and has sung with the likes of Kenny Barron and Esperanza Spalding.
The Songbird's verdict: Parlato is filling a void in contemporary jazz singing. She has started to find the thin line between creating music that can appeal to a non-jazz audience while managing to still play homage to her great jazz predecessors. Her arrangements are thoughtful and inventive and her vocal style, while not virtuosic, is definitely ear-catching and her vocal percussion abilities make me green with envy.
