Interview by John Stevenson
EJazzNews
June 6, 2009

Following on her acclaimed 2005 jazz outing “The Slow Club”, all-round artist Angela Carole Brown, has delivered an impactful follow-up with “Expressionism”.

On it, she has prepared a smorgasbord of musical delights – from straightahead jazz, to 1970s and ‘80s pop, through to the Persian strains of “Bavar Kon” on which she offers a tasteful Farsi vocal. The quaint arrangements and vocalisations on Jimi Hendrix’s “If Six Was Nine”, and Tom Waits’s “A Soldier’s Things” will surely prick up the ears of non-jazz listeners.
I caught up with ACB in Los Angeles for a fascinating peek into her oeuvre.


John Stevenson: “Expressionism”, your most recent Slow Club Quartet CD, exquisitely explores the jazz tradition, taking up in gamely fashion, where 2005’s ‘The Slow Club’ left off. The concept of a “new standard”, or a jazz take on some of the more recent pop and rock material, looms large. What are your thoughts on the inclusion of this kind of material? Does it draw new audiences into the so-called jazz tradition?



Angela Carole Brown: Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about whether it would draw a certain audience. I did, however, feel very stale about the notion of one more standards album; with all reverence paid to the great standards songbook, but it just seemed to have been done to death. So the idea of culling for material from other genres and finding ways to place them into the jazz environment was exciting for all of us, especially since the first CD was all original. And these rock and pop songs are all, by and large, standards in their own world - Joni Mitchell, Hendrix, Tom Waits, the Stones...

JS: As if your life journey so far as a singer/songwriter, published novelist and artist/designer has not been already been self-sacrificing, you’ve gone the extra mile as a kidney donor – a courageous deed not without its own potential life-endangering hazards. Would you care to share some your religious or spiritual sources of inspiration?

ACB: The most I can really offer about any religious leanings is just my desire to be a creature of compassion and to be of service in this life. You speak of the artistic pursuit as being self-sacrificing, and honestly I can’t help but see it as a very self-absorbing pursuit, so I think my desire to be of service was, perhaps, a way of bringing some balance to my life. And Hans, my kidney mate, is an incredible (and creative in his own right) human being, so it was an honour to take part in extending his life and health.

JS. How long have you been singing jazz and what drew you to it in the first place?

ACB. It was the first music I really pursued and leaned toward when I began singing, which was in my early twenties. But even earlier than that, my stepdad was very instrumental in giving me that influence with the older more classic jazz repertoire, the standards, the crooners, and big band. And my older sister had thrown some very strange (to my teenage ears) progressive jazz at me; Pharaoh Sanders, Lonnie Liston Smith, Miles, etc. So I had good solid early exposure to jazz.

JS. Did you undergo any apprenticeships with other singers or instrumentalists?

ACB. Nothing official or formal, but every musician who came through my life in those early days was certainly a teacher of many music and life lessons.

JS. Do you think the Barack Obama presidency has the potential, at least, to usher in a new dawn for American music and more specifically for your own creative efforts.

ACB. I think this presidency has the great potential to usher in all sorts of new and wonderful changes, and I think art and artists finally stand a chance to be considered important and crucial again. It’s my hope, at least. It is certainly a new day, and I, for one, could not be prouder of our nation for putting this man in the White House.

JS. Your interesting original, “Sleepwalk”, carries some fine orchestration. I like the spoken-word concept as well. You are a born storyteller, willing to take on topics that Americans would prefer to ignore. What are your thoughts on California's sexual identity politics?

ACB. Well, that song was written almost 2 decades ago, and really was meant to be light-hearted and fun. But I do find it interesting, and serendipitous, that it finally got recorded and placed on an album, after years on the shelf, right at a time when these specific politics are in the forefront right now. I was quite disappointed that California overturned legislation that supported equal rights for gay couples. I personally think that the "we support civil unions, but not gay marriage" spin line is really no different a dynamic than the old "separate but equal" clauses of the Civil Rights Movement in the 50's and 60's, and it pains me that we haven't progressed a whole lot from there.

JS. I can’t help but comment on your poignant and moving take on the (much under-recorded) bluesy Eugene McDaniels piece, “Sunday and Sister Jones”. As if that wasn’t eye-moistening enough, you proceed to floor listeners with Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”. What inspired the inclusion of these two selections in particular?

ACB. Well, first of all, thank you for the compliment! These are two of my all-time favourite songs. And this album really was an opportunity to honour songs that have been moving me for years; as well as for the rest of the guys in the quartet, who all brought songs to the table. But, yes, I brought these two. Sunday and Sister Jones is just so haunting, and carries with it an undertone of old Black-culture, front-porch, religious-conjuring flavours that liberally saturate the traditions of old Negro Spirituals and Blues, yet it’s a song that’s very stylistically modern. Roberta Flack first exposed me to that song with the recording in the early 70’s. And Both Sides Now has always resonated with me as a piece about looking back over one's life. I don't think I could've sung it with any real gut connection in my twenties or even thirties. It’s an old-soul song.

JS. The Hollywood Master Chorale for the LA Composers Concert performed your composition, ‘Pavements’. This must have been a tremendous form of validation for your years of artistic endeavour. Do you like the complex enormity of the orchestral setting as much as you do the intimate quartet date?

ACB. Yes! And it’s a real challenge for me, because it isn't my experience or my background. I've always been in amazement and awe of composers and orchestrators of huge pieces, because it really takes such great craft and skill and nuance and the understanding of musical relationships to write something for that many voices or instruments and not have it be just a cacophony of noise. It's like juggling 80 balls in the air. And in the orchestral sense of the word, Pavements is still very small and intimate; but it was such a high to hear 45 voices singing it. And it's also just an odd piece; so it had every potential to stick out like a sore thumb on this bill with all these beautiful, romantic pieces, because it isn't a ‘pretty’ piece. I describe it as ambient-industrialist pop, in that it's meant to mimic the mechanized sounds of industry and factories and trains, which, for me, is the image evoked when I think of L.A.’s homeless, which is what Pavements is about. But it got a really lovely response, so yes I felt quite validated.

JS. What are some of the challenges of working with a great group of musicians like Ed Czach, Don Kasper and Craig Pilo? Do egos sometimes get in the way?

ACB. Well, they’re the best musicians I know, hands down. So, the challenge for me is rising to the occasion when I perform with them. They make me better than I am. These three guys are very different and distinct personalities, personally and musically. So there is every potential for artistic clashes, and yet it's never happened. They all bring their own aspect of musicianship and approach to the table, and it just works. The only ego clashing we’ve had yet is arguments over who's buying the round of beer on the next set break. It’s been a wonderful journey playing with these gentlemen.

JS. Tell us about some of the creative projects you will be engaged in soon?

ACB. I’m trying to write more music toward another singer/songwriter folk album. Folk music is my musical alter ego, as you know. I’m trying to get the next novel published. And I’m just trying to live well, honour this new one-kidneyed body, and continue to be of service through these artistic pursuits. And thank you for such a wonderful opportunity to talk about it all.