1 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,730 - Most of my teachers were great records 2 00:00:20,730 --> 00:00:24,200 and the great fortune that I had to grow up at a time 3 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:28,870 when a lot of my vocal heroes were still walking this Earth. 4 00:00:28,870 --> 00:00:32,600 I remember listening to records of Sarah Vaughan 5 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:34,683 and I came across this one record, 6 00:00:35,530 --> 00:00:39,460 Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand and strings. 7 00:00:39,460 --> 00:00:41,770 And this record was unbelievable 8 00:00:41,770 --> 00:00:45,750 because it was in this record that I realized 9 00:00:45,750 --> 00:00:50,750 that Sarah really understood how her instrument worked, 10 Page 1
00:00:51,100 --> 00:00:55,210 and that she really defined and refined 11 00:00:55,210 --> 00:00:58,010 the sound of her instrument. 12 00:00:58,010 --> 00:01:01,350 Sarah had this incredibly broad range, 13 00:01:01,350 --> 00:01:04,250 three, maybe almost four, octaves 14 00:01:04,250 --> 00:01:07,170 and she used every single note. 15 00:01:07,170 --> 00:01:08,730 But the thing that I loved about her 16 00:01:08,730 --> 00:01:13,020 is that she could sing a note and change the timbre 17 00:01:13,020 --> 00:01:16,570 and the tone of the note within the same 18 00:01:16,570 --> 00:01:20,210 holding of the note, and it was just unbelievable. 19 00:01:20,210 --> 00:01:24,400 She would soar very, very high and then come down low, 20 Page 2
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,620 and every note was on point. 21 00:01:27,620 --> 00:01:32,010 Every note was just pristine. 22 00:01:32,010 --> 00:01:35,660 And I think that's why they called her the divine one. 23 00:01:35,660 --> 00:01:38,730 She could of easily been an opera singer, 24 00:01:38,730 --> 00:01:42,480 but jazz music was the music that she chose to do, 25 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,660 and thank God she did because she was the one 26 00:01:45,660 --> 00:01:50,640 that opened the doors of vocal possibilities to me. 27 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:52,960 I listened to Sarah and she made me listen 28 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,020 to all kinds of things in a totally different way. 29 00:01:57,020 --> 00:02:00,000 When I would listen to Miles Page 3
Davis, the things that I love 30 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,530 about Miles Davis was that he could play 31 00:02:02,530 --> 00:02:07,530 these incredibly long beautiful tones without any vibrato. 32 00:02:08,910 --> 00:02:13,010 Then I would listen to vocalists that were R&B vocalists 33 00:02:13,010 --> 00:02:17,120 and feel the rhythmic things that they would do 34 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:17,953 with their voice. 35 00:02:17,953 --> 00:02:22,420 But she helped me to be able to hear sound like color, 36 00:02:22,420 --> 00:02:25,023 and that's why she's very, very important to me. 37 00:02:32,460 --> 00:02:36,200 The next person that I really enjoyed listening to 38 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,620 was the great Carmen McRae Page 4
39 00:02:38,620 --> 00:02:42,910 because Carmen McRae had this ability to tell stories 40 00:02:42,910 --> 00:02:46,650 with lyrics that you could see, and taste, 41 00:02:46,650 --> 00:02:48,930 and feel like you were, like right there 42 00:02:48,930 --> 00:02:50,600 in the room with her. 43 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:54,350 She was greatly influenced by Billie Holiday. 44 00:02:54,350 --> 00:02:59,350 Who also had this beautiful ability to take an American 45 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:03,680 standard and change it into something 46 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:05,500 that you wanted to be a part of. 47 00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:08,400 Something that you couldn't wait to sing 48 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,240 and make it your own. Page 5
49 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:15,240 Carmen had this ability of taking songs 50 00:03:15,590 --> 00:03:19,830 that, you know, were even popular songs of the day. 51 00:03:19,830 --> 00:03:23,840 Could be a Beatles tune or, you know, what have you. 52 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,881 Or I remember hearing her sing the song, 53 00:03:26,881 --> 00:03:30,770 All by myself, I don't wanna be 54 00:03:30,770 --> 00:03:32,750 And she took it and made it into 55 00:03:32,750 --> 00:03:35,710 something totally different and made me hear 56 00:03:35,710 --> 00:03:37,320 the lyric in a way. 57 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,510 She would annunciate and her diction was perfect. 58 00:03:40,510 --> 00:03:44,010 Page 6
But she was very musical and would take all kinds 59 00:03:44,010 --> 00:03:46,960 of different chances on the songs. 60 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:49,230 In the beginning of her career when she would sing 61 00:03:49,230 --> 00:03:53,090 she would sing the songs close to the melody, 62 00:03:53,090 --> 00:03:56,600 always with these beautiful, long tones 63 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,480 that, you know, would meet the next note 64 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:00,590 and then she would move on. 65 00:04:00,590 --> 00:04:04,140 So it was kind of like listening to a river flow. 66 00:04:04,140 --> 00:04:09,100 I always enjoyed listening to her and hearing how she was 67 00:04:09,100 --> 00:04:11,853 influenced by the great Billie Holiday. Page 7
68 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,760 Another singer that really, really actually changed my life. 69 00:04:25,930 --> 00:04:30,930 I remember the first time I saw Betty Carter on stage. 70 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,030 I'd heard her name, I knew a little bit about her, 71 00:04:34,030 --> 00:04:37,260 but I hadn't really listened to her records. 72 00:04:37,260 --> 00:04:38,967 And a friend of mine called me and said, 73 00:04:38,967 --> 00:04:43,770 "You gotta come and hear this woman, she's amazing." 74 00:04:43,770 --> 00:04:46,450 And when I went to go hear her it was kind of like 75 00:04:46,450 --> 00:04:50,640 a religious experience because sometimes you see people 76 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,510 and they do things that you recognize, Page 8
77 00:04:53,510 --> 00:04:57,320 and it blows you away because you don't know why 78 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,450 you know that is, but you can feel it. 79 00:05:00,450 --> 00:05:02,630 And they give you a glimpse of something 80 00:05:02,630 --> 00:05:05,190 that probably lies deep inside of you. 81 00:05:05,190 --> 00:05:07,480 And that's what Betty did for me. 82 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:12,410 She was the first singer that I ever saw stand in the middle 83 00:05:12,410 --> 00:05:17,410 of a band and really be a co-creator in the band. 84 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,550 She was the first singer that I ever saw 85 00:05:21,550 --> 00:05:25,210 that really demanded and commanded and directed. 86 00:05:25,210 --> 00:05:29,890 She stood in her bands because Page 9
they were not backup bands, 87 00:05:29,890 --> 00:05:32,140 they were bands playing with her. 88 00:05:32,140 --> 00:05:33,430 Moving with her. 89 00:05:33,430 --> 00:05:34,920 Shifting with her. 90 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,500 And she did this all vocally. 91 00:05:37,500 --> 00:05:40,510 I remember seeing six shows that she did 92 00:05:40,510 --> 00:05:43,780 over a three day period, two shows a night, 93 00:05:43,780 --> 00:05:45,790 I couldn't get enough of it. 94 00:05:45,790 --> 00:05:48,670 It's nothing like seeing somebody standing, 95 00:05:48,670 --> 00:05:51,470 sing the same songs every night, 96 00:05:51,470 --> 00:05:54,090 and every night the songs were different. Page 10
97 00:05:54,090 --> 00:05:56,670 Every night something else was in there. 98 00:05:56,670 --> 00:05:59,130 Every night when you think, you've thought you knew 99 00:05:59,130 --> 00:06:02,760 where she was going, she'd go somewhere else different. 100 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:07,760 She was, for me, the thing that made me understand 101 00:06:08,100 --> 00:06:10,750 that jazz music is alive, 102 00:06:10,750 --> 00:06:13,660 and every night her performance were living, 103 00:06:13,660 --> 00:06:16,373 her performances were living performances. 104 00:06:24,544 --> 00:06:26,710 You know I've mentioned these three singers 105 00:06:26,710 --> 00:06:28,170 but they weren't the only ones. 106 Page 11
00:06:28,170 --> 00:06:33,170 I came up at a time where everybody was just, you know, 107 00:06:33,220 --> 00:06:35,230 unique and doing their thing in a way 108 00:06:35,230 --> 00:06:39,510 that was really amazing, and inspiring one another. 109 00:06:39,510 --> 00:06:43,460 The great Ella Fitzgerald, listening to her sing, 110 00:06:43,460 --> 00:06:46,800 listen to her improvise, listening to the joy 111 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:51,670 in her voice when she sang was a great inspiration to me. 112 00:06:51,670 --> 00:06:54,910 Listening to someone like, Nina Simone. 113 00:06:54,910 --> 00:06:58,680 Nina Simone was telling the truth of the times. 114 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:03,680 Nina Simone was raw, and edgy, and clear, and clean. 115 Page 12
00:07:04,060 --> 00:07:05,920 She was an inspiration in my life. 116 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:07,610 Dinah Washington. 117 00:07:07,610 --> 00:07:10,160 Oh, there was nobody like Dinah. 118 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:14,210 The only one that I never got a opportunity to see. 119 00:07:14,210 --> 00:07:17,420 Dinah Washington's voice was a sound 120 00:07:17,420 --> 00:07:19,820 like nobody else's voice. 121 00:07:19,820 --> 00:07:23,080 And the thing that I love about all these great singers 122 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,780 is they could all sing the same song 123 00:07:26,780 --> 00:07:30,380 and nobody sang it the same way. 124 00:07:30,380 --> 00:07:34,270 So that is to say you have to find your own voice, 125 Page 13
00:07:34,270 --> 00:07:38,480 your own way of communicating your ideas, 126 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,420 and there's no right or wrong. 127 00:07:40,420 --> 00:07:43,170 There's just you doing a song. 128 00:07:43,170 --> 00:07:48,050 So, listen to all of these great, great vocalists, 129 00:07:48,050 --> 00:07:51,010 and the great vocalists that are around here today 130 00:07:51,010 --> 00:07:54,230 that you love, and take from them the things 131 00:07:54,230 --> 00:07:56,530 that really inspire you. 132 00:07:56,530 --> 00:07:59,210 But don't try to be them, they're being them, 133 00:07:59,210 --> 00:08:02,023 be you, and be the best you, you can be. Page 14