Singin鈥� the Blues from Billie Holiday to Bob Dylan: Bria Skonberg performs with the 麻豆传媒映画Symphony Orchestra featuring conductor Christine Jensen, Orpheum Theatre, Friday, Jan. 17 and Saturday, Jan. 18, 8 p.m. For more information visit .
鈥淣ow in my day I鈥檝e made some foolish moves/ But back then, I didn鈥檛 worry 鈥檅out a thing/ And now again I still wonder to myself/ Was it her sweet love or the way that she could sing?鈥� 鈥� Bessie Smith, "The Band"
Bria Skonberg wants to showcase all the colours of the blues.
As the trumpeter and singer contemplates the quintessential American music that Willie Dixon once referred to as 鈥渢he roots鈥� while 鈥渢he other musics are the fruits,鈥� she notes it鈥檚 important to know that the sound of the blues is much more than just doom and gloom.
Wynton Marsalis once said that 鈥渆verything comes out in blues music: joy, pain, struggle,鈥� while Buddy Guy has opined that people think the blues is sad, but when 鈥淏.B. King sings 鈥業 got a sweet little angel/I love the way she spreads her wings,鈥� that don鈥檛 sound too sad to me!鈥�
The blues, she says, encompasses a rainbow of colours and a symphony of emotions. She鈥檒l be adding her contribution to that bluesy discourse as she sings it from Billie Holiday to Bob Dylan over two nights with the 麻豆传媒映画Symphony Orchestra.
鈥淚 chose this theme because I specialize in a lot of roots, classics, American jazz 鈥� which came out of the blues 鈥� and the blues is a really universal feeling that transcends a lot of musical genres,鈥� Skonberg tells the North Shore News from her home in New York City.听 鈥淭his is a feeling that everybody can relate to, the feeling of having the blues, whether it鈥檚 wanting, or missing, or melancholy, there鈥檚 actually a lot of colours within the blues, and they鈥檙e not always sorrowful.鈥�
Noting that many of the bluesy numbers will be peppy and up-tempo pieces, Skonberg, who鈥檚 primarily known as a jazz musician with a penchant for the genre鈥檚 old timey, New Orleans-inspired heritage, is set to perform music by everyone from Leonard Cohen and Louis Armstrong, to Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith, 鈥渙ne of the empresses of the beginning of the blues.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檒l be really interesting to hear the juxtaposition of that with the pristine strings and the elements of the orchestra,鈥� says Skonberg, on her and her band performing alongside the lush arrangements provided by the 麻豆传媒映画Symphony Orchestra. 鈥淢usic, for me, a lot of it is visual. I like to imagine a scene. By inviting more sound into it, it just creates a richer, fuller scene.鈥�
A Chilliwack native who studied music at Capilano University and would eventually be profiled by DownBeat magazine for a series on 25 musicians destined to shape the future of jazz, Skonberg is reluctant to call her new album a jazz album.
Instead, Nothing Never Happens, while featuring her sultry vocals which evoke 1930s lounge singers, is built upon bluesy, gritty undertones, according to Skonberg.
Secluding herself on several writing retreats, Skonberg shut the door, drowned out the sounds around her, and waited to see what would come out.听 She also workshopped some of the material, which includes numerous original cuts as well as a Queen cover and a Beatles/Duke Ellington mash-up, at Joe鈥檚 Pub in New York, described as an eclectic venue not necessarily made up of jazz aficionados.
鈥淭he point behind the album was I got so overwhelmed by basically the white noise of everything going on in the world 鈥� and that鈥檚 the music that came out, there鈥檚 a tension to it, it鈥檚 conflicted, but there鈥檚 ultimately a silver lining of hope and optimism,鈥� she says.
Growing up, before she picked up the trumpet and showed off her vocal chops, Skonberg started off by banging out tunes on the piano, but the rigidity of formal piano lessons proved to be too much, she says.
鈥淚 do remember getting in a little bit of trouble because I didn鈥檛 want to play what was on the page,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat tendency to want to improvise or riff on things, has always been there.鈥�
Skonberg says she鈥檚 excited to play songs for her new album, alongside a bunch of masterpieces that owe a debt to the blues, during her return to Vancouver.
Citing a theme from the new album which could encapsulate the entire worldview espoused by generations of blues musicians, she says the records deals with these hectic times and that constant, ever-longing search for catharsis.
鈥淓ven when things look dire, if you keep going something will happen,鈥� she says.
