Getting to know vocalist Ori Dagan

It’s surprises me to know that the last time I wrote anything for my blog was about a year ago and that was one of my “get to know” blogs featuring my Toronto based friend Maureen Kennedy who was coming to town to perform. Now, fast forward to May 2024 and I am going to introduce you Toronto based jazz vocalist Ori Dagan who is coming out on his first ever West Coast tour. Perhaps you know him already? Welcome to our beautiful province Ori!

Ori and I will share the stage for one concert on May 16^th we’re calling “These Are A Few of Our Favourite Tunes” at Brentwood Presbyterian Church in Burnaby and then Ori heads to the island where he will sing as part of a Big Band Festival in Nanaimo followed by a performance in Victoria and then he’ll return to Vancouver where he’ll perform his special “Rat Pack Songbook” tribute show on May 21^st at Tyrant Studios. As you can see he is a busy guy!

I’m delighted to have Ori do this Q & A with me and I hope you enjoy getting to know a bit more about this uniquely talented and hardworking artist.

K. Ori, you have performed many duets in concerts and for recordings. What are the aspects of singing a duet that you particularly enjoy?

O: For me what makes jazz music so interesting is the element of surprise – so it is always fun to work with different musicians, play for different audiences – and the best is if I manage to surprise myself! I find that duets always lend themselves to moments of surprise, especially when performed live. I have had the honour of singing with some of my favourite vocalists including Alex Pangman, Heather Bambrick, Simone Denny and of course, Sheila Jordan which was a career highlight! It is particularly enjoyable to do this with the standards we know and love and to see how another artist might approach something familiar and make it feel brand new.

K. Who would be some of your main influences in jazz that have helped inspire and guide you in music?

O: It was Ella who got me into the music, with her “Mack the Knife: Live in Berlin” album which I listened to over 10,000 times. My other big influence in terms of vocalists is Anita O’Day – absolutely love her sense of time, use of dynamics, creativity in arranging and her ability to reinvent the familiar. Louis Armstrong I adore forever for the joy, the swing, the love. Carmen McRae is someone I greatly admire for the depth of her interpretation – there is never an instance where she isn’t truthful, and when she takes liberties with melodies these always manage to enhance the lyric.  Of course I adore Billie Holiday – it took me a few years to get into her approach but now I can never get enough. Sarah Vaughan is another one who is almost superhuman in terms of how she makes virtuosity seem effortless – a true goddess of music.  More and more I realize that Mark Murphy is a huge influence of mine, especially when I find myself exploring the possibilities of a song and stepping outside of the box. I am not generally a fan of choral singing in jazz but I absolutely adore Lambert, Hendricks & Ross as a collective and individually – such intense creativity and pure genius in those recordings. Sheila Jordan is like my spiritual grandmother – not only for her brilliantly original approach to singing but also for her role as a “jazz ambassador” which I strive to live up to as well. Besides all of these vocalists I get a lot of inspiration from horn players – saxophone is my favourite instrument to listen to and some of my favourites include Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Don Byas and Arnett Cobb to name a few.

K. When you listen to recordings do you listen to CD’s, Vinyl or do you prefer streaming platforms?

O: I love collecting vinyl – have to stop going to these stores for a while because I have no more space haha. Generally I don’t buy CD’s anymore unless there is a good reason (e.g. a live album by Anita O’Day in Tokyo!) or if I am supporting a fellow artist. I do listen to streaming for the convenience of it. Everyone please check out Bandcamp!!!

K. When you write songs do you sit at the piano or do you do that away from any instruments?

O: It is strange but for me songs just come out of nowhere and I have to run to the piano to try and lay them down. The challenge is always FINISHING the song – this could take months or in some cases years.  Hoping to become more disciplined about songwriting as the years go by, maybe one day I will work on it every day. As the great Sheila Jordan says, “dedication is the key” and I think that applies to everything in life and music.

K. What are some factors you look for when you are putting bands together for your various shows? Do you look for specific qualities in the musicians you like to work with?

O: YES! I love to work with musicians who have good positive energy, who smile, who listen, who swing, and who have a good time.

K. Do you have a specific vocal regime that you use to prepare for a gig?

O: I have a classical vocal exercise that I go through, but I am not too religious about it, just a few minutes in the shower.  I do sing just about every single day whether it’s at my gig, a jam session, a friend’s gig or on a walk, so I find that keeps my voice in pretty good shape.

K. Other than jazz-based music are you drawn to any other genres?

O: Anything that has heart and soul and especially creativity! I only don’t connect very well to heavy metal music because I find the instrumentation to be a bit jarring….but I am always open to something new.

K. What do you find the most challenging aspect of being a musician?

O: Staying positive in the face of regularly being rejected; making a living in an industry that is barely functional from an economic standpoint. And yet I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world!

K. Do you have any advice for young budding musicians who are very early in their musical development?

O: Yes – dedication and discipline, and then go out there! Jam. Listen to others. Meet others. Support others. We have to help each other – community is so important. 

K. Are there any special projects coming up in 2024 that you are very excited about?

O: I just launched a brand new project: The Rat Pack Songbook with jazz orchestra, which debuted in Quebec last month.  I will be performing it again May 18 at the Nanaimo Big Band Festival with the Vancouver Island Repertory Jazz Orchestra and am so looking forward to this!  Also I am working on a brand new album in collaboration with master pianist Hila Kulik and one of my greatest inspirations Jane Bunnett, stay tuned at @oridaganjazz! 

Thank you Ori. Wishing you every success on this tour and, of course I am excited about sharing the stage with you this month!

Here’s a link for our “These Are A Few of Our Favourite Tunes” concert: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/these-are-a-few-of-our-favourite-tunes-ori-dagan-karin-plato-in-concert-tickets-884263063627?aff=oddtdtcreator

And here is a link to Ori’s website for all of you: https://oridagan.com/home

What do you know! ‘Tis AUTUMN

I am somewhat surprised and yet willing to accept the fact that Autumn has indeed arrived. Summer was wonderful and filled with music and vacation time too.

I’m back to teaching in my music studio and I certainly do have some interesting piano and voice students ranging from very young to much older. Some like jazz. Some like classical music. Some are pop singer-songwriters. Some are absolute beginners. My task? To help teach and guide and motivate and cultivate the joy of music no matter what genre my students are interested in studying.

I still have space for new students in case someone out there is considering lessons. Note: typically, my music room is far more cluttered than this photo indicates and that is a fact! Often song books and piano books begin to pile up during the week. There is table for that specific purpose and every once in awhile I decide to place books back on the shelf in an attempt to keep things tidy, at least for a day or so. Ha!

Aside from my teaching I have some lovely opportunities to perform coming up, here in Vancouver and also in Toronto and I am certainly excited about the month of October.

Soon, I’ll be singing at Vancouver’s premiere jazz club: October 11th at Frankie’s!  I’m delighted about sharing some of the music I’ve been working on this past September. I’ll be singing lots of jazz standards, some are new to me and others I have revised after many years of neglecting or “resting” them. I have one new original that I will debut that evening with my band mates. Reservations can be made here: Frankie’s Jazz Club

Just a week later I will be heading to Toronto to attend the Audio Festival and the Vinyl Festival and, even more exciting to me, I’ll be singing two exclusive concerts with the acclaimed Mark Eisenman Trio. The one of a kind “Jazz In The Kitchen” concert series is where these performances will take place and tickets are available here: Jazz In The Kitchen

Last but certainly not least it’s time for the new Joy of Jazz Concert season to kick off and Sunday October 27 will be a doozy! Kate Hammett-Vaughan and I will be joined by Miles Black and Conrad Good and the evening will be a Cole Porter celebration.

Many years ago Kate performed Porter themed concerts entitled “Kate Loves Cole”. We both love Cole! So, our concert is entitled “Let’s Do It” and we’ll definitely include that song as well as many others. Further information at the website: Joy of Jazz Concerts

Enjoy your Autumn days everyone!

Karin

What’s Your Story Morning Glory?

August greetings everyone! Here in my Vancouver garden the flowers seems content with today’s refreshing rain. Moments before the rain really kicked in, I ran outside to take a photo of my Morning Glory flowers. I love this blue! It’s a good day for me to write a blog about some of the music related projects in my life right now.

I have a new recording which will be officially released in December. It’s called “I’ll Send This Dream” and it is dedicated to the memory of Nancy Thorwardson, a musician who really made an impact on many people with her songs, her sense of humour and her engaging personality. She is dearly missed. Check out more about Nancy at her website: https://www.nancythorwardson.com/

I consider myself lucky to make music with and record with mandolin star John Reischman and incredible guitarist John Miller.  I admire and respect the musicality of both these men so much! Recording engineer Marc L’Esperance  was able to record us “live off the floor” here in our dining room and I am very happy with the end result. It’s natural and unadorned and just the way we like it! We recorded some beautiful jazz standards and we also included some original songs. We’ll be performing a CD release concert later in the year. Thank you to Paul Norton for the graphic design:

I’ve been putting the finishing touches on the next Joy of Jazz Concert Series for 2019-2020. These concerts take place at Hood 29 on Main Street and this year we’re presenting the concerts on Sunday evenings: October 27, December 15, February 23 and April 26. These are early evening concerts starting at 7:30 PM so even people who are working the next morning will (hopefully) consider attending. This is my labour of love series! I am part of each concert however some of my personal pleasure comes from hearing my fellow musicians in performance together and in solo presentations as well. Web-Meister Paul Norton will have the new website up and running soon. Here’s a link to last year’s series: www.joyofjazzconcerts.com 

Take a look at who is involved in the 2019/2020 series!! Yeah, it’s going to be a doozy…

There may be one more “Plato Pop Up Performance” which will be part of this series in 2020. I’m still scheming…

Enjoy the rest of your summer days everyone and thanks for reading my blog.

Karin

Karin’s Q & A with vocalist Jaclyn Guillou

It’s Sunday May 17th and about 2 weeks from now American vocalist Kate McGarry (a favorite of mine and of vocalist Jaclyn Guillou) is coming to perform in Vancouver along with her wonderful guitarist husband Keith Ganz. There’s much excitement building up to their first ever Canadian performance. This will be the 3rd of the Joy Of Jazz Concert Series shows at St. James Hall.

I thought it might be fun to get Jaclyn’s perspective on Kate’s influence and appeal. Here is my little Q & A with Jaclyn’s thoughtful and detailed responses. Jaclyn is a wonderful vocalist and composer in her own right and has graciously taken the time to answer my questions while in the midst of recording her new album…

1. What in particular do you like about Kate’s style/approach to singing?

I have always been drawn to singers that have an open hearted rich quality to the way they express a story and lyrics. Singers like Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn and Nancy King for example. Kate is amongst these singers, as she is deeply connected to the lyrics and also allows herself to draw closer to the music, exploring notes she would like to emphasize within the song. She honors the tradition and takes the melody to improvise around it in such a beautiful way without disrupting the lyrics. That is a hard thing to do. It is very apparent to me that she has an incredible amount of vocal technique but you can never “hear the technique” because her approach to the voice is expressed in an extremely natural way. That is what I love most about her singing. Above all, she spends time thinking about the arrangements and comes up with a unique interpretation that doesn’t distract from the original, it enhances it. And all of her choices, especially in her embellishments, come from within the message of the song. This creates a deep layered approach that brings so much more to the music and engages the listener to be able to hear the entire band surrounding her voice. I can listen to her albums over and over again experiencing new things each time.

2.  In what ways has the music of Kate McGarry influenced or informed your own style?

 Kate’s soloing has been the most inspiring thing. She has concrete ideas that don’t sound mechanical or cold. And while it’s easy to listen to, it’s not easy to transcribe, an example of her vast vocabulary and understanding of the changes on each tune.

Her arranging and overall general vibe of her albums have also been inspiring to me. Excluding her recent release, all of her recordings feature 2 chordal instruments (guitar and piano) with bass and drums in a quintet format and have arrangements that fully support her vocal choices. Her tunes yield a particular groove and vibe but don’t appear to feel dictated or overly arranged. It won’t always be a straight ahead or swing feel, maybe a slower straight 8ths tempo with everyone playing in the right places that lift her voice in a powerful way. In her albums Target & If Less Is More..Nothing Is Everything with Gary Versace & Keith Ganz there seems to be a collaborative sound going on which has certainly inspired me to be more part of the band.

3. Do you have favorite songs as recorded by Kate from her various acclaimed records over the years?

My favorite tracks of hers are sometimes tunes that I wasn’t too fond of or have been tired of hearing and she has converted me to become instantly in love with her versions. I remember feeling that way when I heard  “Can’t Help Loving That Man” from her duo album with Keith Ganz. I’ll name one favorite tune from each of her recordings: from The Target “It Might As Well Be Spring”, from Girl Talk “We Kiss In A Shadow”, from Less Is More “You’re My Thrill”, from Mercy Streets “How Deep Is The Ocean”, from Show Me “Gypsy In My Soul”.

4. The live record Genevieve & Ferdinand (except for one track) is a duo record with guitar/voice combination. Are there qualities you were able to hear in this record compared to other ensemble recordings which Kate has made?

I was certainly excited to hear her voice in this duo format because it truly is such a different thing playing duo! I am such a fan of Keith’s playing and it has been wonderful to hear him accompany her in such an acoustic way. The first time I heard Kate in concert 4 years ago was in duo with Keith so I know that the album must have been a long time coming. The intimate sound in her voice is highlighted on this album but it doesn’t feel like a departure from all her other recordings. It is a special treat that they shared this side of their playing for all of us to enjoy.

5. Kate is also a composer (as you are) What do you enjoy about her original compositions? 

In my opinion it is actually because Kate is a composer is what makes her a great interpreter. There is always a fresh approach to the tune regardless of whether she wrote it or not. In her own compositions I can appreciate the way that the lyrics and melody create a synthesis together. You don’t notice either one on its own so much which to me means that there are no sacrifices being made in order to find a more interesting note or word. They work as one and the feeling that exudes all of that is expressive and very much alive. Her song “Ten Little Indians” is one of the most beautiful pieces of music, it gets me every time.

6. If you were to describe what a new listener might experience at a Kate McGarry concert, what might you tell them in advance?

I would tell music lovers that despite whatever genres they might usually be interested in will not matter when it comes to this concert. That Kate & Keith will bring them into a whole new world of sound, so they should go for the experience of that. If you are looking for music that is real and without pretense, this will be a delight.

7. How did you personally discover Kate McGarry’s music?

I was first introduced to Kate by way of Randy Porter (piano player from Portland) who was working with me on my first album. We were discussing various singers and he was going through a list of all his favorites and all of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks and said “You know Kate McGarry right? If you don’t, you must check her out right away! That’s your kind of singing, I just know it.” A few months later I drove 4 hours to Tacoma, Washington in the pouring rain to see her play. A night I will never forget!

So dear reader….if you’re reading this and it is not yet Sunday May 31st you still have a chance to obtain tickets to see this remarkable duo perform in Vancouver at St. James Hall. Go to http://www.joyofjazzconcerts.com

In closing here’s a little pic of us on stage at “Strong Women Strong Music” (Jaclyn Guillou & Karin Plato) from about a year ago now…