| Karrin Allyson |
For jazz vocalist and pianist Karrin Allyson live has it all over Memorex, or any
other form of recorded music.
Originally trained as a classical pianist, her focus shifted when she attended the
University of Nebraska Omaha.
"Going out to hear live jazz, that was very important to my development and I
encourage everyone to do it," she said in a recent telephone interview.
"It’s so different sitting in front of your stereo or listening to your
iPod as opposed to witnessing live music of any kind. It’s very instructive. I
was like a sponge and couldn’t get enough of it"
Local listeners will have an opportunity to hear Allyson perform live with the
Bowling Green State University Jazz Lab 1 Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. in Kobacker Hall on
campus.
She is on campus as one of two artists in residence through the auspices of the
Hansen Musical Arts Series. (See accompanying story on Bill McGlaughlin, the
other resident.)
Allyson, who graduated with a degree in piano performance in 1986, had heard jazz
before going to college, but it was in Omaha that her love of the genre
blossomed. Jazz "really moved me because if the improvisation."
Despite their obvious differences jazz and classical are similar, she said.
"They’re chamber music."
Allyson already had wide ranging musical influences. "I loved the songs I heard
on the radio," she said. She listened to singer-songwriters including Joni
Mitchell, Carole King and Carly Simon as well as funk and rhythm ‘n’ blues. In
college she fronted an all-female rock band Tomboy.
She started getting sheet music, and accompanying herself on piano. Then she
discovered jazz, and fell in love with those tunes, the Great American Songbook,
as well as jazz compositions by the likes of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington.
"I was turned on to the great singers and instrumentalists alike. Their
interpretive skills really did it for me and the fact that you could do things
differently every time."
That launched a career that’s taken her around the world, earning her honors and
accolades. She’s now released a baker’s dozen of albums, the most recent one
”Round Midnight," a selection of standards that’s anything but sleepy.
While it includes some of those jazz favorites including the title tune by Monk and
Ellington’s "Sophisticated Lady," it also shows her penchant for
pulling in pop material from her youth. She does a version of Paul Simon’s
"April Come She Will." While on her album "Wild For You" she
did some thorough reworking of the pop material, where she stayed true to the
folk feel of the early Simon song except for an interlude that was inserted
"so my guitarist (Rod Fleeman) could fly a bit."
Allyson said she draws on a range of music including Brazilian and French – she
minored in French in college – as well as pop, standards and jazz. The key to
performing any song is "to get to the heart of the matter."
That’s part of what she’ll be discussing with students during her stay on campus.
While here she’ll also work with the jazz vocal ensemble Teaching, she said,
"gives me a chance to connect with younger folks and see what’s going on in
their world and how they interpret things."
"I get to talk about more than notes on the page. I get to talk about
interpretation."
Fronting a big band is "just a different animal" than her usual small band
format. "It’s almost like playing with a symphonic orchestra," she
said. "You really have to be very in tune with the leader to tell the
story. You’re not just looking at notes on a page, but you’re telling the
story."
To do that, she added, "I want to make sure the lyrics are understood."
Allyson also advises students "to be as authentic as you can."
"You have to hone your craft and be serious about it," she said. "When
you’re a jazz musician or a classical musician, it’s very, very different from
being some kind of pop overnight star. This is a lifetime pursuit that really
matters and that can make a difference in people’s lives."
The business side is hard. "I’m not saying I don’t wish this life were a little
easier sometimes because I do," she said. In the end, though, "I feel
really lucky I get to do what I really love to do."
