YOW Jazz, September 3: new releases featuring Canadian female jazz vocalists

Sarah Jerrom, Bria Skonberg, Caity Gyorgy, Aimee-Jo Benoit, Jocelyn Gould and Emilie-Claire Barlow

Sep 02, 2024

On this post-Labour Day show I will be featuring new releases from some of Canada’s finest jazz vocalists and performers.

Sarah Jerrom has composed a suite that is sweeping in its storytelling. This summary from her Bandcamp page summarizes it well:

The suite, which premiered on April 6, 2023 in Toronto, is a masterful blend of storytelling and music, guided by the folkloric nursery rhyme "One for Sorrow." It takes listeners on a journey through the eyes of its main character, Woman/Magpie, exploring profound themes such as feminism, infertility, grief, hope, and love. Each of the eight suite movements, from "The Road" to “Crystallization," offers a distinct musical experience, seamlessly integrating elements of classical and jazz ensembles as well as four vocalists led by Jerrom, creating a dynamic and immersive soundscape. “Magpie” is a tour de force, an emotional odyssey, a narrative of resilience, transformation, and the magic of storytelling through music.

We will hear Part V: Nest Predator. The album was co-produced by Reg Schwager - who we will also hear on the last song on the show. The listing of musicians on this recording is too long to list - it includes most of the Carn Davidson 9. Here’s a video of a live performance of Part IV of the suite (The White Elk).

Bria Skonberg is both a trumpet player and vocalist - both roles very much on display on her new release, What It Means. We will hear “Beautiful Boy” and “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans”. Here she is with Benny Bennack III in a duet of “In A Mellow Tone”.

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Aimee-Jo Benoit is a Calgary based artist and we will hear two tracks from her album Horns of Hope - “Where Will I Be” and “Moon at the Window”. She is accompanied on the album by:

Carsten Rubeling – Trombone
Mark DeJong – Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
Andre Wickenheiser – Trumpet
Daniel Gaucher – Drums
Mark Limacher – Piano, Rhodes
Jon Wielebnowski – Upright Bass, Electric Bass

Benoit has given some thought to the difference between a “cover” and an “arrangement” (and in the process given us an insight into arts funding in Canada):

So why is there a pervasive attitude about what we do in jazz as unoriginal? Canada Council, the major funding body for Canadian artists, does not consider arrangements to be originals, and so to qualify for Canada Council funding, at least 50% of the album must be original music. To me, this says that what I do is invalid and unoriginal which begs the question, what is the difference between a cover and an arrangement?
A cover is:
an homage to the artist who wrote it
recognizable to the listener in its new state
On the contrary an arrangement should:
represent the artist preforming it more than the original composer/performer.
have movement that feels different than, but nods to, the original.
have hermeneutic value. In philosophical terms, an interpretation can give new meaning to a song and transcends its original context.
An arrangement asks you to take what you know about a song and throw it out the window, to shed yourself of what you heard to take on what you hear. As listeners, we regularly take songs in and make them about us as listeners, mis-taking meanings and creating stories all our own. “As [Quincy] Jones puts it, "The meat and guts of arranging is sweatshop work, a blend of experience, architecture, soul, and science." What I try to do when making a choice is to build in those songs the feeling that is inherent in me when I hear the magic moments that I know would make good pieces, and bringing that collection of notes to new players will automatically give new feeling to the music. There is no outright mimicry, we leave that to a pristine cover, which I consider an homage to the song and its writer.

Caity Gyorgy is also from Calgary and we will hear three tracks from her new album, Hello! How Are You? She is joined on the album by the trio of Anthony D’Alessandro on piano, Thomas Hainbuch on bass, and Jacob Wutzke on drums. We will hear “I Don’t Mind”, “Fly Baby” and the title track. Here she is in a recent living room concert with Emmet Cohen.

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