Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin

Marcya Daneille

[light jazz piano] – Marcya Daneille: As a jazz vocalist, when you go walk on the bandstand, you have to kind of be prepared for anything.

And you have to be able to respond.

It’s almost like the best conversation and the deepest conversation that you’ll ever have.

And when the improvisation gets going really good, that’s when the conversation’s deep.

[light jazz piano] I would describe my music as classically-trained, jazz-influenced, and soul-inspired.

When I think of jazz and the history of jazz, particularly, I think, as an African-American performer, we have to look at the way that music and rhythm was used in the African culture experiencing the diaspora, you know, where we were sent to different countries.

You know, if you look at even, I think, here in America, let’s go to something like the songs that the slaves sang in the fields.

You know, they weren’t singing to instruments.

Oh, in them long, hot summer days Like California Moving from that into the blues, again, simple songs that expressed very specific emotions, whether it was something really humorous or something really sad.

You had your minimal accompaniment, whether it was a, you know, a harmonica, a guitar.

I wonder where my baby is Moving forward into music that was getting more complex and a little more structured, in terms of music theory.

[jazz piano and drums] I would say that the general public would most quickly identify jazz by hearing a trio or a quartet, you know, a piano, bass, drums, maybe saxophone.

When, you know, when you have a good band that actually gets along on and off the bandstand, when that improvisational stuff starts happening, that’s when the real emotions and the humor and all of that’s coming out.

I’d say that the improvisational moments of a jazz performance, you know, that’s where you get the good stuff.

That’s where you get your tea.

[lively instrumental jazz music] I come from a musical family.

My grandpa was a huge fan of country western music.

He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, so I grew up listening to a lot of country western guitar.

He also played the banjo and the steel guitar a little bit.

My dad played jazz piano.

My mom was a singer, so there was a lot of music in general on both sides of the family.

My dad’s family was very involved in the church, so I heard a lot of gospel music.

So I guess, you know, I grew up in a home where creative expression was going to be supported, and it was supported.

As far as how I became a singer, I guess, moving along to that part, I was not a good singer in grammar school.

At least I didn’t think I was.

I was never given the solos.

By the time I was in junior high, I decided that I wanted to audition for the school musical, which was Fiddler on the Roof.

And when I began singing, I guess at that age, my voice had changed, and I could sing.

Take all of me Can’t you, can’t you see I’m no good without you I just, I loved singing.

My teacher at that time, the choir teacher, started hiring me to sing at local weddings at his church.

And so those were my first professional experiences.

Take all of me [lively jazz piano] Standards are tunes that, you know, are just immediately identified with the genre of jazz.

Most typically as jazz singers, we pull from a conceptual songbook called The Great American Songbook.

And these are tunes that were very well-written and whose appeal, you know, musically, intellectually, and emotionally, has withstood the test of time.

Oh, what do I feel like singing?

I think I wanna start off with “Green Dolphin Street.”

– Audience Member: Yay!

Lover [languid jazz piano] One lovely day – I like being able to take someone else’s story, someone else’s words, someone else’s music, things that have been done and rehashed and reworked, you know, a million different times.

I like being able to take that and come up with this special thing for this moment right now.

Bay do ba bay da bay Babodabay da doda doda bay bay Scatting is a really cool way for singers to pretend like we’re instrumentalists.

It’s a way of using syllables, not full words, to imitate the sounds of particular instruments, and it’s our way of improvising.

Dobay ba dobay bobay dobabop dey Dobabop boday bop bodabop boday Da bodadey babay bop bow When you’re in a position like mine, you get to share that with people, you know, through your music.

You don’t even have to like my style of music, but because I’m a jazz musician, I guarantee you that you’re going to feel something.

And I guarantee you that whatever it is that you feel, is going to make you feel a little happier at that moment than you did when you walked through the door.

[ending note] [audience applauding] – Thank you.

[light jazz piano]