 |
 |
Jane Bunnett gets positively apoplectic talking about the overabundance of jazz singers out there.
Everybody, it seems, claims to be a jazz singer but precious few are. Their music is safe, smooth, and lacks emotional depth.
"I can't stand it," the award-winning horn player says from her pad. "It's just horrid! There are so many of them right now. They're fake and mediocre and they're only doing standards because they can't do anything else.
"I think there aren't enough critics out there who really know, so the bar has dropped," she adds. "Nowadays, it's like, 'If you sound like someone else, that's good enough for me.' It all comes down to mediocrity."
When Bunnett says that "the really great singers are the people who, when you hear them, you feel them and what they're singing," she could very well be describing the voices on her gorgeous new disc, Embracing Voices.
The album is a milestone for her since it marks the first time the majority of the tracks include vocals and guest singers.
|
And Bunnett couldn't have chosen a more gifted group of singers, all of whom boast embracing voices. There are the arresting, spiritual voices of Cuba's 10-member Grupo Vocal Desandann, the charismatic voice of Cuban rapper Telmary and the soulful voices of Kellylee Evans and Molly Johnson.
Desandann graces each of the 12 tracks and it's a treat hearing them singing with Telmary, Evans and Johnson.
Wildly enough, this record almost didn't get made.
Firstly, Bunnett was planning on recording a trio album -- just horns, bass and drums.
"I really wanted to get back to my jazz roots and was looking at doing a cutting edge jazz record," she says. "But, over the last year and a half, every time Spirits of Havana was shown, I'd get e-mails from people raving about Desandann." (Spirits of Havana documents Bunnett's and husband/trumpeter Larry Cramer's two-month journey across Cuba in 1999. It features spirited jam sessions with legendary Cuban musicians as well as with Desandann.)
The reaction folks have had to the choir's sublime voices, coupled with Bunnett's involvement with the annual Global Divas show, made her reconsider the direction of her new record.
"It got me thinking about the human voice, the nurturing quality of a really beautiful voice," she says. "I find that that takes us back to our mothers and how their voices make you feel safe."
There's another reason why Embracing Voices almost didn't materialize.
Shortly after her label, EMI Music, green-lighted the project, it was bought and the requisite restructuring began. Money was too tight to mention and Bunnett had to find a way to bring Desandann here from Cuba and then buy 22 tickets to take them, along with musicians from here to Banff, where a portion of Embracing Voices was recorded.
"I almost cancelled the project because we were racking up bills on our credit cards and it was scary as all hell," she says. "Then we got a call from Banff offering me a scholarship and to cover all the musicians' expenses. That was a real blessing.
"And then I got a grant from Canada Council and that gave me a boost."
And few voices will boost your spirit like those of Grupo Vocal Desandann.
"When I first heard them I felt tears running down my face," Bunnett says. "They were performing in this tiny church-like space and I was standing about five feet away from them.
It was a very physical reaction," she recalls. "I didn't feel like I was processing what I was hearing. It wasn't like I said to myself, 'Boy! Isn't this beautiful? It makes me want to cry.' It just hit me. It was really strange because I hadn't encountered anything like that.
"They're really special."