TEACHER’S NEW ALBUM
Young players jazz it up
Mandy Morris has an unusual response to jazz music, one that might cause a few frowns among the genre’s more serious-minded adherents.
“I have to admit, the reason I like jazz is because I go to jazz shows and I giggle like a two year old,” says the Calgary-based singer and early-childhood educator. “I think that jazz is so much fun.”
So Morris had no problem finding the inner goofiness of jazz standards for her new album, On the Sunny Side of the Street. Released under the name Music with Mandy, it combines her love of jazz with her love for music education. The album checks off a number of her passions, including introducing children to jazz and expanding the traditionally tight parameters of what is considered music for kids. Best of all, it features the talents of 12 of her students, ages five to 11, from the Chinook School of Music.
The children — including violinist Quinn Brosseau and singers Libby Code, Adrianna Kares, Elena Lonardelli, Olivia Mix, Danica Peters, Gabi Peters, Mitra Pooranalingam, Anja Roth, Carolyn Smart, Graham Smart and Payton Young — combine their talents with Morris and some of the province’s top jazz players, including bassist Kodi Hutchinson, drummer Ian Yule and pianist Matt Morris.
“I think a lot of people are afraid of jazz because they don’t quite understand what’s going on,” Morris says. “I wanted to take my giggliness, my reaction to jazz, and make it more possible for other people. Because it is playful. Jazz is a conversation that happens on stage and a conversation that happens in the studio, not necessarily with words.”
The young singers weigh in on an exceptionally playful I Won’t Dance, a standard that has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Lady Gaga. It features solo performances and a gang-vocal outro (ending ).
A Ticket, A Tasket — also made famous by Fitzgerald — has some cute back-and-forth between the student singers and Morris.
Nat King Cole’s Orange Coloured Sky, meanwhile, features both Quinn Brosseau’s violin and some exuberant chants by the young choir.
All three songs, while elegantly played by the jazz trio, feature a certain silliness that make them perfect for children adaptations.
“I think a lot of jokes are told through the music,” Morris says. “So I just brought those jokes forward in a way that is harder to ignore.”
Besides, kids love jazz, particularly when it swings, Morris says.
“I started looking at jazz repertoire and realized that a lot of it was about love, and romantic love in particular,” he says. “I wanted to turn that in a way that not only would they be able to connect with the music like they were, but also be able to connect to the lyrics and then be able to perform it. Hopefully, when they are older they are not going to have the same reaction that adults have where they don’t like jazz because they don’t understand it.”
A Medicine Hat native, Morris has been singing since she was four years old and began taking formal lessons at the age of 12. She has a diploma in vocal performance from Grant MacEwan University. She moved to Calgary in 2013 and teaches voice and piano at the Chinook School of Music.
Morris and the band rehearsed with the children for eight weeks before recording, which took place both in a studio in Rosebud and in the basement of the Chinook School of Music.
“One at a time, we brought them in for their solos and then did some group stuff,” Morris says. “Through the process of recording, I changed some arrangements and put the kids on the spot. They were always happy to jump in with both feet.”
On Sunday, Music with Mandy will hold a CD release party at the Ironwood Stage and Grill, featuring five of the singers on the album and four newcomers.
“They are so excited,” Morris says. “We finally listened to the tracks from top to bottom at our last rehearsal.
“I felt like I had just drank six cups of coffee, the way these kids were vibrating.
“Hearing their own voice over the speakers and seeing their song on iTunes, it was a really great experience.”