The double life of Diana Panton
DAVID FRIEND
THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Diana Panton is leading a double life.
The Hamilton high-school teacher hasn’t told her students much about her other career as a Juno-winning jazz musician, but as she contends for a trophy at Saturday’s Juno Awards gala dinner, it’s getting hard to dodge the subject.
“If I’m trying to do the Clark Kent, it’s a bit hard,” she laughs. “They usually find out at some point.”
Like many of her fellow Juno Award nominees, particularly in smaller genres like reggae and world music, she’s all too familiar with juggling professions. Panton is nominated this year for
a fusion of jazz and kids’ music. It’s her first nod in the children’s album of the year category, after four previous nominations — and one win — for best vocal jazz album.
While her days are spent in the classroom, her nights are all about performing music. Rarely do the two paths intertwine.
“In the classroom it’s not about me, it’s about them,” says the visual arts and drama teacher. “To me, it’s not really that relevant.”
She doesn’t tell her students about winning a Juno for her album two years ago — or that somebody else put the trophy on her mantel because she was reluctant to show it off.
They also don’t know Panton simultaneously topped the Billboard jazz and kids’ album charts last year — a feat so rare that staff at the music-sales tabulator called her to make sure there wasn’t a mistake.
A few weeks ago, while her students were on March break, Panton was in a Toronto studio recording her next album. Making the most out of her “working holidays,” be it Easter, Victoria Day or Christmas, has become a tradition of sorts.
“For me, there’s not really breaks,” she says. “There’s just a switching of scenery.”
Panton stumbled into a life of two professions after graduating from university with a masters in French literature.
The teacher-to-be, who for years performed in Hamilton’s 24-piece all-star jazz band, embarked on a trip abroad and promised herself she wouldn’t leave her creativity behind. She pledged to record her first album when she returned home.
About a month before kicking off her first year as a teacher, she stepped into the recording booth.
When others heard how Panton’s evenings were spent mastering an album after a full day of classes, they scoffed and told her she’d never manage to finish it. It took about a year, but she never lost her motivation.
“It was a realization that music was an indispensable part of my life,” she says. “I was sleeping five hours a night getting stuff ready for class the next day — that was like all year.”
Panton keeps her schedule more restrained these days, but not by much. She speaks about her music career with the sort of analysis usually reserved for a musician’s manager. She does that job too, by the way, and books her own tours. Her Juno-nominated album
is a collection of kids’ songs played with a traditional jazz mindset. Panton came up with the idea after a number of parents said they were playing her past jazz albums to relax their kids at bedtime.
If the kids liked she thought, they’d probably enjoy her singing classics for their age group that weren’t “dumbed down.”
“The sophistication of the arrangements and the harmonies is essentially exactly the same as any album we did (before),” she says.
Panton figures a major label would’ve balked at a jazz artist making children’s music. That’s one reason she prefers to double up on jobs. Without being tied down by other people’s ideas, she’s able to make the albums she wants.
“I’ve always enjoyed having a little artistic freedom,” she says.
While Panton has no intention of leaving either job behind right now, some students have tried to find out more about her nightlife.
Faris Nolan, who takes Panton’s Grade 9 art class, heard about his teacher’s music career but only recently Googled her name.
“It was really shocking,” he says. “When you’re in a close proximity to someone who is more or less famous, it’s a really weird feeling.”