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"When some of the biggest international music performers are our Canadian women (Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, Diana Krall, Shania Twain, Anne Murray, Sarah McLaughlin, Holly Cole, Feist, Joni Mitchell, Avril Lavigne, K.D. Laing) you know there must be something magical in the great Northern drinking water."
"I think the women here have a way of defining themselves pretty quickly - they re not copying anybody or caught up in trying to be soul singers or next coming of Frank Sinatra. They are what they are and come to it naturally. I think there's a genuine quality - voices with distinct personalities that connect both emotionally and entertain," says pianist, arranger and founder of Real Divas, Bill King.
Bill King created Real Divas seven years ago in Toronto. Every Tuesday night for fourteen months singers of all ages and abilities climbed the stage and sang a couple numbers before a welcoming but critical audience. Emilie-Claire Barlow was there as well as Jackie Richardson, Shakura S'Aida, Alex Pangman, Dawn Tyler Watson, Melissa Stylianou, Liberty Silver, and a young singer just out of her first year music program at Humber College at the time, Sophie Milman.
Here it is 2008 now and new faces and voices have arrived.
"I've been listening and working with all kinds of singers the past few years and thinking about each one who would make the perfect blend from jazz to opera, from Broadway to the Beatles, and the idea for Young Divas came to mind."
"I'd already worked with and produced singing sensation Sophie Berkal-Sarbit since she was fourteen - Lauren Margison performed with 15 other select singers in 2006 when she was 14 as part of Real Divas as part of the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival and impressed everyone in the house. Kinga and I launched CTV's new season last summer at the Opera House and she immediately captured a following. Josephine Biundo has won the Chin Picnic songwriter of the year the past two seasons and the two of us have been working on her debut recording; and Jessica Lalonde appeared through a friend and settled around the basement piano and I knew from that moment there was something totally unique and inviting about her voice.
These are five young singers who can conjure the spirit of Peggy Lee, swing like Sinatra, touch the heart like Sarah Vaughan, and reach for the bright lights of Broadway like Barbra Streisand. Young Divas present an evening of great songs with a personal touch and youthful vitality.
As a bonus concept in each market presenting the Young Divas, an invitation will be made for the inclusion of a local 'young diva' to participate in the concert as well. This young, up-and-coming local talent could be chosen via a cross-promotion with the promoter and the regional media. It is sure to boost the stature of the selected young woman in her hometown and add to the excitement and diversity inherent in a Young Divas concert performance.
| Bill King's Rhythm Express |
The Rhythm Express Band is one of those five in the morning grand moments of clarity when all the music circulating inside gets introduced to an imagined cast of great musicians. Fortunately, I had Ontario Arts Council on my side and some incredible players willing to embrace the idea. They are simply the best!
Rather than chatter on about the music I would like to express for myself and our caring community the loss we all feel for those players and friends who passed recently. It's taken a toll and all of us. I scripted “The Wake” in memory hoping every time it's played their contributions and friendship will return to view ( Doug Riley, Oscar Peterson, Newton Garwood, Domenic Troiano, Richard Bell, Curtis Bailey, Dougie Richardson, Jeff Healey and Paul Hoeffler.) You generous spirit and enormous talent made this music country what it now is!
Beat Street is my homage to the great soul jazz pioneers who have inhabited my inner sound system since I was a fifteen year old searching the keyboard for those elusive blue notes in between. Cannonball Adderley , Ramsey Lewis, the Crusaders, the Jazz Messengers, Junior Mance, The Three Sounds, Miles Davis, Eddie Palmieri, Herbie Hancock, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and all.
I can't recall the number of times I played “The In Crowd’ or “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” or “What’s Going On” on the bandstand. I do know I never tired of playing the form and soloing over the changes. It was always about the groove, mood and original intent that kept me intrigued and in the pocket. |
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Youth Initiatives: | | |
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