Barb Lica brings the light to Niagara Jazz Fest
Outgoing jazz singer Barbra Lica is called many things, but shy isn’t one of them.
Until she’s around one of her songwriting heroes. Like St. Catharines-born Ron Sexsmith. When he still lived in Toronto (he moved to Stratford earlier this year), Sexsmith and Lica often found themselves at the same parties.
“It kind of became a thing where I would sit myself next to Ron Sexsmith and try to say something, and we’d both just awkwardly sit there saying nothing,” she recalls. “So I said, ‘You know what? I’ll just record a cover of this guy’s tune so that should I meet him again, I have a talking point!’”
The tune was Secret Heart, the melancholic classic which kicks off Sexsmith’s 1995 self-titled album. Lica’s take is considerably lighter, with a touch of reggae and flamenco. It’s one of the stand-out tracks on her Juno-nominated third album, I’m Still Learning, and will more than likely show up when she plays Day 3 of the Niagara Jazz Festival on Saturday.
Being a huge Sexsmith follower, Lica tweaked one of the song’s lines to show her fandom: “Let her in on your secret heart” became “Let ME in on your secret heart.”
“To me, that song is about ‘Come on, Ron! What’re you thinking?’ He’s one of those people that doesn’t say much. Some of it is kind of poetic and hard to understand, at least in my opinion. We talked, but I don’t know.
“He’s a mystery, but he also has such a presence. He can say so little but the whole room will shut up just to hear what he says.”
Some shows, Lica is getting the same treatment. Mind you, she has to go to Tokyo. And she wasn’t sure how to take it, until she heard from other artists who said the same thing: The Japanese show how much they like you by how quiet they are.
“We always make fun of Toronto audiences because they do this thing where they cross their arms and have that whole ‘We could have seen anything’ vibe, and the Japanese were just so quiet with their hands in their laps. We thought we were completely messing it up.
“I talked to other musicians who played Tokyo when I came back, and they said because English is not really a thing there, they’re just being quiet because they want to hear every word. You really think you’re having the worst show of your life! You came all this way and you messed it all up, but they’re actually really excited.”
The daughter of a professional singer from Romania and a pianist from Russia, Lica was immersed in music from the day she was brought home. Even her parents’ divorce didn’t interrupt things: Her stepdad was a huge jazz buff who encouraged her to pursue a musical career.
Which she did, while also studying human biology at the University of Toronto. While still in school, one of her songs started getting radio airplay. It led to 2012’s debut album That’s What I Do, which opened atop the the Canadian jazz chart on iTunes and quickly entrenched her in the Canadian jazz scene. CBC called her one of the country’s top five female jazz singers, and this year she earned her first Juno nomination when I’m Still Learning was up for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year (losing to Bria Skonberg).
Her perky demeanour and bright-sounding songs are a constant surprise to fans expecting moody, sultry jazz. Nina Simone she’s not.
“Growing up with old movies … the jazz singer is this dark woman of the night, you know. I always found that very strange and intimidating. It cuts out what I love about jazz, which is those silly stories and that sort of linear plot all these songs seem to tell.
“I want to be the version of it I like, and for better or for worse have a good time with it.”
As it is for any jazz singer in Canada, the process is slow. There’s no pop single to quickly convert the masses — it’s like an endless grind to win over new fans every night.
“It’s my one thing I find most discouraging, that you’re constantly having to prove yourself,” she says. “In every part of the process.
“You can have the easiest time booking in Ontario, the easiest time booking in British Columbia, then all of a sudden you’re talking to Nova Scotia and they’re like ‘No thanks!’
“It’s a super niche thing, and you really get to learn where you can go and it’ll be fine.”
Waterloo’s Jazz Room, for instance, is a “stress-free” stop. Other places…not so much. “You just don’t know. New Brunswick wants to know if you have a fiddle. I don’t. Quebec City wants to know if you speak French. I’ll sure try, you won’t like it!”