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education in music . I took what little knowledge that I had about music technically and completely immersed myself .
What happened while you were in college ? I ended up really , really loving it and falling in love with the singers and musicians and the artists within this genre . I can ' t say that I was thinking about a career like this . I was just thinking , wow , I really love singing in this way . I really love not only the challenge of the technique of learning my voice , learning how to practice and to discipline myself in that way , but the creativity that is required of you to always have to be thinking , always have to be exploring , always in situations where you have to improvise . That was my first time doing that kind of thing — going to jam sessions and playing with people I ' d never met before . But somehow , we know the same set of tunes , we can find a song that we can play and create something . I am still kind of mind blown by the fact that there ' s so much to learn and there ' s so much music to inspire and so much to be made .
What is it about jazz music that makes it unique for a singer ? I learned that you have to be your own musician , and you have to practice in the same way that any other musician would . It ' s not just you up front and you ' re singing the melody , and then the solos happen . You ’ re as integral to the music that ' s happening as anybody else on stage . It requires you to train your ears and be open to receiving ideas and also giving ideas to other musicians around you in creating some sort of musical conversation .
You ' ve said that jazz is a home for your voice . What do you mean by that ? I don ' t feel like I have to change anything about myself or the way that I sing in
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order to fit into what people ' s perception of jazz is . I can honestly and openly be myself and incorporate all of the musical elements that inspired me before jazz entered my life and freely express myself . |
What changed everything ? Choosing to pursue music in school was a turning point . I met so many peers and professors . The Sarah Vaughan competition in 2019 is where I met my current manager , and the competition introduced me to the jazz world . It was my second semester of junior year , and I was , like , I ’ ve won this money , I ' m gonna perform at Newport , and hopefully gigs will start rolling in ! It didn ' t happen that way , but I ' m kind of grateful for that . When the pandemic happened , we all had to take a step back and resort to posting online . I posted a thank you video to the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation for offering me a scholarship for my last year . And it went completely viral . People were asking where the album was , and I hadn ’ t recorded anything at that point . So I thought , maybe now ' s the time . I don ' t have anything to lose .
You find new takes on jazz greats like Ellington and Mingus , and you write original lyrics over famous compositions . Tell me about your creative process .
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It spawned when I was in school , and I had assignments to write lyrics to solos . Maybe the songs already had lyrics , but I was just writing to the improvised section . Then I realized , wow , these solos have so many beautiful moving lines , and they ' re beautiful melodies of their own . I ' m attracted to that . I want to know more about that . Some of the most beautiful melodies come from jazz musicians and come from that repertoire . They ' re not necessarily songbook standards , and they don ' t have the same harmonic approach or even the same melodic approach . They ' re a little bit more complex . They are influenced by classical music . Each jazz musician ’ s background also isn ' t the same , so each song is different . But it has their identity in it . I was fascinated by that . For example , I wrote lyrics to a Mingus tune called “ Reincarnation of a Lovebird .” I was introduced to it by one of the musicians in the band . The harmony is insane . It ' s not in a standard key for a singer at all . The melody has so many different jumps and so many wide intervals , not easy half steps or whole steps or anything like that . Still , it sounds like a complete song . It ' s not a 32-bar form . It ' s a long song . It ' s almost like through-composed . It took about a year before I said I was going to try it on stage . I find that even though people have no
AMBE J . WILLIAMS
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idea what the song is and who wrote it or anything like that , it still reaches them . Hopefully , the words that I wrote to it only enhance the power of the melody and what was already there .
It must make you feel really proud and excited to share this music , this history , and your reinterpretation . It does , because I ' m not trying to reinvent anything here . I ' m not trying to save anything . I fell in love with the music and with the exploration of music , and the exploration of who I ' m going to become by studying music and how that ' s going to impact and affect other people . I don ’ t want people to think that I ’ m preserving something ; I ’ m singing a music that is alive . It ' s for people to create and to expand .
Who are some of your heroes ? Charles Mingus is definitely one . Betty Carter . Abbey Lincoln . Sarah Vaughan , Ella Fitzgerald . As far as musicians go , Duke Ellington , Billy Strayhorn , Eddie “ Lockjaw ” Davis , Benny Golson ….
Is there anybody alive today that you would love to collaborate with ? Cécile McLorin Salvant .
Yes , she was at the Mahaiwe last summer , which is where you will be performing . What ' s your advice to musicians just starting out ? Keep practicing . You have a lot of time right now to harness your strengths . Use this time wisely , use it as preparation , use it as planting seeds in your mind for what kind of musician and artist you want to be . Do your best to listen to and surround yourself with musicians you like . And listen to interviews of musicians that you maybe wish to have worked with and what their perspectives are on music and what their creative process is . Be hopeful , because there ' s something for everybody . n
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May / June 2024 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 21 |