JAZZ VOCALIST MICHELLE LORDI EXPLAINS NEW ALBUM 'BREAK UP WITH THE SOUND & HER MUSICAL JOURNEY

Jazz Vocalist Michelle Lordi owns a voice tailor-made for delivering love songs, which was evident in mid-October at Detroit’s Dirty Dog Jazz Café’. She treated the audience to music from her fantastic discography, including original gems from her new recording “Break Up With The Sound.” All evening long, her voice was authentically angelic and inviting enough to make the devil blush. After her final set, half the attendees lined up to purchase CD’s she was selling. She's from Philadelphia. On the jazz scene there, she’s a household commodity. Before she started singing professionally, she worked as a photographer, a product designer, and a medical device sales rep. To date, she’s released three albums “eidolon,” “Dream A Little Dream,” and “Break Up With the Sound.” The latter hit nationwide November 1^st on Cabinet of Wonder Productions, and the album shows her in her natural habitat, performing love songs and backed by a neatly stitched band drummer Rudy Royston, bassist Matthew Parrish, guitarist Tim Motzer, and saxophonist Donny McCaslin. She put a new finish on songs by Cole Porter, Hank Williams, and Mick Jagger. Her four originals are the best overall. A few weeks after her Dirty Dog performance, she talked to I Dig Jazz about the making of "Break Up With The Sound," getting a late start as a professional singer, and encouragement she’d offer up and coming musicians.

The title is interesting, “Break Up With The Sound.” What does that mean?

That’s a good question. That's a line in the song “Poor Bird.” And I think I chose that as a title because some people ask, is that a negative thing? Sometimes they're really good things that you need to break up with like people who aren't right in your life. So, what the title is referring to in that song is the idea of being in love with your sadness or being stuck in a spot that is not fruitful. So that's where that came from.

Listening to the album and hearing you at The Dirty Dog, I believe you have an affinity for love songs. That’s what stood out to me. Do you consider performing love songs your forte?

I feel like everything's a love song. You know, there are love songs that are about love between two people, and there are love songs to places and love songs to memories, and ghosts. So, yeah, I love to sing, and I love making music with the people I make music with. My whole musical journey is like a love story; just being able to have a life in music is a love story to me.

I've never thought of it in that kind of context.

Well, I only will sing about things that I that have a good feel for, so you can read that however you want.

Is it true you’ve only been singing professionally for five years?

I've made an album, like a little demo thing when my oldest son was born, and he's 16 now, but I didn't pursue music full time until about five years ago now.

What did you do before then?

Oh, a lot of things.  I've been a photographer. I’ve been a product designer. I've sold medical devices. I've sold pills legally. I have three kids. So, I had a bit of a road to get to the music.

What was the turning point? What happened to make you decide to drop those occupations and focus on singing professionally?

That's a good question. Nerves, I guess. None of it was practical. None of it was easy. For me, I needed to do something full-on, and this is what I wanted to do. It'll be two years ago in December my house burned down. And this whole new album comes out of that experience of losing everything, but nobody was hurt, which was great. But what I lost was a lot of music I hadn't put out. I lost a lot of writing that I had never made into songs. I lost pieces of songs I'd never produced. And this whole album comes out of that experience.

When the dust cleared literally and figuratively, and everybody was okay, I realized what I had lost is all those opportunities to get something out in the world. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but to get it out there and that if you're an artist, it's your job to make things. I was holding up and not putting things out. This is the first album with some of my original music.

I've been a student of the American Songbook, which is great. You could spend a whole lifetime interpreting those songs. But what I was always driven to do is to write. But I had barely ever done a thing until the fire.

Honestly, that's the more significant turning point in this album, which was recorded about a year after the fire. It's probably the most meaningful piece of art I've ever made. I'm incredibly grateful for what the musicians on the album brought to the project. And my musical director is also the producer. That's Matthew Parrish, the bassist. Everybody gave their heart and soul to interpret my songs and to the way that we did the standards. That's been like the most significant change or direction for me artistically.

It sounds like it was a painful album to do, given you had to revisit that period.

No. I think kind of the opposite. As far as losing, you know, we got back on our feet, and we had insurance. So, it was an incredible inconvenience and a year disappeared, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But what was lost is all the artistic output that never got out.

 I was grieving that until one day I just realized, okay, so you can grieve it for the rest of your life, a lifetime of photographs, a lifetime of drawings, a lifetime of music that you didn't get out in the world, or you can make it again and make it better.

The process of making those songs was easy and happy because I realized that it wasn't like a one-time thing. Also, the artwork from the album that's all recent as well. I hadn't made art since probably my twenties, so it all came together.

How long have you been writing songs?

Oh, my whole life. But like I said, this is the first album of any originals.

 Who're some of your musical influences?

Well, first the musicians that you hear on the album. Their music is what I hear. I follow them. I follow their careers. So, they’re my influences because we work together so much. As far as stars from the past, I've always loved Chet Baker and Peggy Lee and of course, Ella Fitzgerald.

.I wasn't exposed to jazz very early, but once I got into it, I would find a song, and then I'd find every version of the song, and follow a song from Mel Torme to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. The musicians I'm around right now are extraordinary. Those are my influences because we're creating together. I love country music, and Patsy Cline, of course, is a beautiful storyteller.

 I wouldn't listen to jazz as a kid. I was listening to punk music and alternative music. But I've been drawn to artists who are artists like their whole life, like Patti Smith, for example, and Chet Baker. It wasn’t even his singing that got me. It was his horn playing.

Michelle Lordi

How has it been making a living performing full-time? Has it been what you thought it would be? Or has there been occasions when you wanted to quit?

You know how difficult it is. We're in the same industry, so you know. But here's the difference is when you know that you have something important that you want to do, it's easy to do, whatever it takes. We could talk for hours about how messed up the music industry is, but that's boring.

So, we all need to figure out as improvisers, how to make something happen, you know, whether it's a side gig or finding a way to connect with your audiences in a way that it's different and gets them to do more than stream your work. Yeah, but I'm right in it. I've got this new album coming out and everything. It feels like everything's changed since the last album.

You know, even how people buy CDs and, or don't. But I had to do a CD for this album because jazz radio still demands them. I mean, that's not bad for me because I grew up collecting records and then CDs. It's comforting to say, "Here's my album," and have it in my hand, but I know that that's probably just an illusion. CDs don't sell much.                                        

How do you like performing in Detroit?

The audiences in Detroit were very kind. I love the Dirty Dog. I have been there before to hear musicians, and I was so grateful to get to play there recently. I love your city. What's the name of the club highly rated for their barbecue?

Bert’s Market Place.

Where else in the world can you walk in and there's like five or six world-class singers just sitting-in. Detroit is such an amazing town. I find reasons to get to Detroit.  And I have fun every time. It's always an adventure. And everybody's very respectful that I'm from Philly because we have got a deep musical history here.

 I was able to go to some small places in Philly like Baker's in Detroit, where you could catch Shirley Scott and Mickey Roker. And I thought that was just what everybody's jazz sounded like. I felt that all jazz is that good. That's what it felt like walking into Bert’s

It's like that all the time here. When you go to The Dirty Dog, you'll be surprised who’ll show up. You were lucky the owner, Gretchen, was sitting at the bar enjoying your set.

I've run into her a couple of times. Talk about somebody who's a fan of the music. It was good to be able to sing for her, and she was very positive.  I've played at Cliff Bell’s a couple of times before. I love your city. It feels like a perfect home for artists. I hope it treats everybody well. It’s wonderful to play in a place with such a history.

 If an aspiring artist familiar with your musical journey wants to quit their job to pursue their art full-time, what advice would you offer?

I might blow up your interview here, but I would say follow your passion. You find musicians who are a hell of a lot better than you, and you play up to them. You don't ever play down, you know. I have a lot of advice musically on not being afraid and about creating your own opportunities.

I've run a jazz session for five years, every week so that I could play with the best musicians in Philly. Sometimes I don't make a dime. Sometimes I pay to do it so that I could play with certain people on the regular. And it's become a way for people of different generations to connect. It's a way for me to know who's 17 and amazing and who’s 87 and amazing.

So, I would say you can't sit back and whine and wait. You can't sit back and wait for something to come. You must make it happen. And if it doesn't work, you must keep going. I don't know if I could give advice and say quit your job and run off to the circus.

 But you could start by developing. You learn your craft, make a sound, and then find a way to get out and play on the regular. And it probably means screwing up. I have done that. I've screwed up a lot.

 But then you screw up in new and more interesting ways next time. I would tell somebody to go and get good at what they do and find ways to create music in unique spaces that they can get behind.

THE RODNEY WHITAKER SEPTET PERFORMS ELLINGTON'S MUSIC AT THE DIRTY DOG

Rodney Whitaker

If you attend a  Rodney Whitaker concert, bank on getting a history lesson on whatever jazz music the bassist's group performs, and as a bonus some comic relief. For 25 years, he’s taught jazz at Michigan State University. No surprise, he uses the bandstand to educate audiences, and his kidding them before introducing tunes is a piece of his musical personality. He’s quick to jokingly warn an audience of his plans to pursue standup comedy when he retires. Saturday evening at the Dirty Dog Jazz Café, the comedic moments of his 90-minute set didn't go over well, which he took in stride. However, the Duke Ellington compositions his septet worked Whitaker's “All Too Soon The Music of Duke Ellington” was a combination of fire and raw sophistication. Whitaker's septet is made up of some of his former and current students such as pianist Corey Kendric, drummer Michael Reed, and baritone saxophonist Len’I Glenn McKinney. The centerpiece was vocalist Rockelle Fortin, Whitaker’s daughter. She’s performed with his various groups since her teen years and has become a world-class vocalist. Her gracefulness, her stage know-how, and her ability to wrap her voice around you like warm scarves beg comparison to the Detroit jazz vocalist Shahida Nurullah. Fortin sang so beautifully on “Mood Indigo” and on “Perdido,” you would've sworn the spirit of Duke Ellington gave her permission to treat his songs as she saw fit. The multi-layered manner Whitaker structured the concert was brilliant, featuring the septet, for example, on three selections. Then showcasing just vocals and saxophone on “Mood Indigo,” and just the rhythm section on “Just Squeeze Me.” Whitaker only soloed a few times. He’s at the elder statesmen leg of his career, comfortable putting most of the workload on the young musicians he’s nurtured musically, and they handled Ellington’s gems like seasoned swingers. 

CHICK COREA'S TRIO PERFORMS MUSIC FROM THE TRILOGY RECORDINGS AT THE UNIVERSITY MUSIC SOCIETY CONCERT

Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade

The jazz pianist Chick Corea has a knack for getting an audience all hyped before playing a single note of music, sharing, for example, funny anecdotes from his vast and storied career, and in between numbers teasing his bandmates. At Hill Auditorium Saturday night in Ann Arbor, MI, Corea opened his concert by name-dropping Detroit jazz musicians he considers formidable. At Corea’s side was the animated drummer Brian Blade and bassist Christian McBride. In 2016, Corea’s trio played at the Paradise Jazz Series in Detroit. There Eddie Gomez was on bass. The concert was memorable, but Corea’s trio sounds more organic with McBride shouldering the bass responsibilities. The trio performed cuts from the Grammy-winning album “Trilogy,” and the recent recording “Trilogy 2 Live.” The trio could’ve swung a wrecking ball through Thelonious Monks’ “Crepuscule with Nellie,” “Work,” and Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood.,” but they showed a level of control and taste expected from such globally accomplished jazz musicians. McBride was the centerpiece. All concert long, he proved he has skills unlike any jazz bassist of his generation. He logged in the most solos — each hand-crafted on the spot for the appreciative audience. Blade, a master jazz drummer tenfold, broke loose on Corea’s “Fingerprint,” As for Corea, the entire concert his playing was sharper than the devil’s tongue, and it was awe-inspiring witnessing him sand the rust off “In a Sentimental Mood” during his solo. The trio was so on point every selection they performed qualified as a showstopper.

THE BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET OPENS THE 2019-2020 PARADISE JAZZ SERIES

Branford Marsalis Quartet

Over the years, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has put on some terrific concerts at the Paradise Jazz Series. One example, is the 2017 concert with jazz vocalist Kurt Elling, featuring music from the album “Upward Spiral.” The performance hit musically on every conceivable level, and you left that concert feeling a  spiritual awakening. Some of the music at the quartet's Friday night opening performance for the 2019-2020 Paradise Jazz Series was too way out. The quartet performed a few well-known standards and cuts from their recent album “The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul,” starting the concert with the “Dance of the Evil Toys, ” one of several esoteric compositions from bassist Eric Revis. Marsalis joked while introducing one of Revis' tunes that it's the kind of music you play when you don't want to get paid. Many times the quartet switched from  slower tempo numbers to the way out, making it seem as if  you were experiencing two different concerts. On those way out numbers, pianist Joey Calderazzo, and drummer Justin Faulkner whaled on their instruments like mad-men, which seemed to unnerve some of the audience. The concert had two noteworthy moments. The quartet’s bluesy treatment of the oldie “Sunny Side of the Street,” and the mini-reunion of Marsalis’s former bandmates Jeff “Tain Watts,” Robert Hurst, and Terence Blanchard on a hip take of Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm-a-ning.”  

JAZZ PIANIST MIKE MALIS EXPLORES THE MUSIC OF DON CHERRY, GERI ALLEN, ANDREW HILL & OTHERS AT MOTOR CITY WINE BAR

Mike Malis

Detroit’s jazz community is known the world over for producing many great jazz pianists such as Barry Harris and Tommy Flanagan. To this very day, Detroit continues to make sensational jazz pianists. One such sensation is Mike Malis, a graduate of the University of Michigan and a former pupil of the late pianist Geri Allen. Of the current pool of young jazz pianists on Detroit’s scene, Malis has proven to be one of the most daring, willing to go musically where his peers are reluctant to or don’t have the chops yet to go. Malis’s daring was on full display Friday evening at the Motor City Wine Bar where his quartet performed challenging compositions by Don Cherry, Andrew Hill, Geri Allen, and Wayne Shorter, mixed with some of Malis’s originals fresh from the oven. Malis’s band was comprised of some skilled swingers in trumpeter Kris Johnson, bassist Josef Deas, and drummer Jonathan Taylor. The quartet opened with an updated and extended take on Don Cherry’s “Guinea,” followed by Geri Allen’s “Dolphy’s Dance,” a complicated piece of music Malis admitted he’s been trying to master for years. The audience’s enthusiastic response after the quartet completed the number was a sign Malis with the help of his band has finally nailed Allen’s composition. Malis is a thoughtful young musician who hasn’t been around long, but who has already built quite a name for himself with two terrific recordings on the market “lifted from the no of all nothing,” and “Balance.”  Then there’s his growing body of work as a sideman. Aside from his willingness to tackle complicated material by jazz greats, Malis is equally adept at every branch of jazz bop, swing, the blues, and the avant-garde, which his chops seem to be most suited. Plus, he has a knack for de-complicating compositions so the layman can relate to and enjoy. That trait was immediately recognizable also in the band as a whole. Musically, they were more than capable of going in whatever direction Malis pointed them. The quartet doesn’t hit together often, which is surprising given how totally in sync they were. You wouldn’t have been wrong to estimate the band has been playing together for years. Then again, each member is accomplished. Johnson has been on the road for years now with the Count Basie Orchestra. Deas was a vital force in one of Detroit’s all-time great jazz ensembles Urban Transport, and for years has been a Godsend in every band that’s employed him. He isn’t a constant presence on the scene currently like he was when Urban Transport was hot, but given how wonderful he sounded Friday evening on solo after solo he’s been somewhere invested in some woodshedding. His bass walking has grown exponentially. Taylor is new to my ears, but I loved what I heard, a mature and tasteful drummer not interested one bit in wrangling the spotlight. It was refreshing hearing a jazz band run by a young musician confident enough to treat an audience to a night of rarely performed compositions from jazz greats and his own catchy originals.

ALTO SAXOHONIST KASAN BELGRAVE'S THURSDAY RESIDENCY AT COBB'S CORNER IS WORTH CHECKING OUT

Kasan Belgrave

Of the current pool of young and talented jazz musicians making waves on the Detroit jazz scene, the alto saxophonist Kasan Belgrave is possibly the most scrutinized because his father is the late legendary trumpeter and jazz educator Marcus Belgrave. Being the heir of such an internationally revered force could be daunting. However, if the young Belgrave is feeling the heat of his father’s legend or obligated to surpass his father’s accomplishments, it didn’t show Thursday evening at Cobb’s Corner Bar & Restaurant where Belgrave has a weekly residency. Belgrave, a respectful, smart and good looking young man, is comfortable captaining his band, a skin tight-knit trio with bassist Mike Palazzollo and guitarist Jacob Schwandt. Belgrave is graduating soon from the University of Michigan where he studied with saxophonist Andrew Bishop. A few songs into the opening set it was obvious Belgrave is a serious and adept student of jazz who’s tapped into the history of the alto saxophone. Listening to him perform some standards such as “I Remember April,” and “Nobody But You,” proved he’s spent many man-hours picking apart the mechanics of alto players Sonny Red, Lee Konitz, Larry Smith and Sonny Criss. Belgrave doesn’t showboat or play unnecessarily long solos. For a young player still maturing he possesses a polished sound. When his trio performed the standards, he made certain they didn’t stray from the original structure and overall intent of the compositions. It’s worth pointing out he performed in a challenging situation not having a pianist or a drummer in the mix. So, he was exposed for all to bear witness. But his playing was devoid of kinks or imperfections. I chatted with Belgrave after the opening set about his father’s influence. He said his dad encouraged him to explore whatever music the young Belgrave fancied. He doesn’t harp on exceeding his father’s accomplishments. Listening to him talk and perform leaves the impression he’s confidently fixed on making his own name note by note. I doubt if the Cob Corner residency pays much. Nonetheless, it’s a good training ground for Belgrave. Unfortunately, only a handful of people attended his show. The next challenge for him is making a bigger effort to promote the residency. He deserves to be heard.

JAZZ BASSIST MILES BROWN CELEBRATES 'EVIDENCE OF SOUL AND BODY' AT DIRTY DOG JAZZ CAFE

Jazz Bassist Miles Brown

For eight years, the jazz bassist Miles Brown ran the jazz studies program at Oakland University. During that stretch he also became a key figure on Detroit’s jazz scene, performing with heavies such as Sean Dobbin, Scott Gwinnell, and Mike Jellick. Brown moved to Baltimore, but before the move, he gifted the scene with a wonderful jazz album out last month on the Detroit Music Factory label titled “Evidence of Soul and Body,” which since its debut has been on rotation on jazz stations nationwide. Over the weekend, Brown officially celebrated the release of the album with a four-night residency at Detroit’s Dirty Dog Jazz Café. People hip to the album was able to experience the music – a mix of familiar standards and originals from Miles’s pen and his dad’s guitarist Steve Brown – live. The set Saturday evening and the recording have very similar feels. I left the concert believing I’d made a smart choice investing a piece of my life listening to an hour- plus of prime choice jazz. I felt the same after hearing to the album for the first time. Brown is a pristine bassist. When he plays the bass, he doesn’t just lean it against his shoulder and pluck away at the strings. He literally dances with the bass as if it’s a prom date. For the project, he assembled equally gifted jazz musicians such as pianist Scott Gwinnell, drummer Sean Dobbins, saxophonist Andrew Bishop, and guitarist Steve Brown. The concert opened with the senior Brown’s “Two Birds One Stone,” a modernized twist on the standard “Bye Bye Black Bird”. Brown simply infused the standard with a hipper melody. It was a strong start to a concert that never lost any momentum. Brown didn’t perform every cut on the album just the ones that gave the album its charisma “Three and One,” ”Blues for Joaquin,” ‘Like Dave,” and the closer “Sonny’s Hustle”. Every performance was a highpoint or a mini-concert in itself. Brown’s dad Steve served up a handful of memorable solos and his old-school elegance was the linchpin. Dobbins was colorful as always with semi-automatic like rim shots, and Bishop displayed throughout the concert world-class tenor play, the kind of cheek and bone blowing that required years to perfect and that’s hard to come by these days. The four-night celebration was a fitting way to formally introduce a bonafide jazz album to the public.