Rick Holland: I want to thank you for stopping in at 247. And want you to know how much I’m enjoying “In The Company of Friends”.Could you give us some of your background, where you studied music, important teachers, etc.?

 Denise Donatelli: I started playing piano at three years old. My oldest sister was taking piano lessons and after my mother heard me playing Silent Night, she asked my sister's piano teacher if he would take me on as a student. He immediately declined because he felt I was too young but agreed to meet me for one lesson to see if I had potential. I must've impressed him because I was taking a lesson the following week and was his student for 14 years. So I am classically trained. There was always music in the house ... my father was a clothing manufacturer by trade but he loved to play the piano. He played by ear... couldn't read a note of music and my mother had a short career as a singer before they married.

RH: I’m most familiar with the disc you did in 2005, the musicians you hired are exceptional. Frankly, some of the best creative souls in LA. Tell us how you began working with Garvin and company?

DD: I managed to book my first gig after moving to LA. It was just a duo gig and I never thought he'd agree to do it since he hadn't heard of me. It was my good fortune that he showed up. We hit it off musically and he advised me that if I wanted to book more work here and be taken seriously as a singer, I would need a CD or at least a demo. Three weeks later I was in the studio recording a demo. I started to book some work here but it became apparent that I would need a CD ... not having a CD these days is like trying to do business without business cards. In any event, I gave him a list of tunes and he started fiddling around with A Sleepin' Bee. I thought we were just going to do a trio album but the arrangements expanded into horn parts and he knew exactly who to call to play them ... Clay Jenkins, Bob Sheppard, Andy Martin, and Brian Scanlon.  It didn't hurt having Tom Warrington and Steve Houghton round out the rhythm section.

RH: Who were some of your most important influences musically?

DD: We lived in a remote area outside of Allentown, PA and music stores were few and far between. My oldest sister was very much into jazz, so she subscribed to the Capital and Columbia music clubs and all of this great music came through the mail on a regular bases. I listened to Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughn, and of course, Frank Sinatra. Some of the jazz instrumentalists included Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Monk, Miles, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamaal, Stan Kenton, and Oscar Peterson. While my sister was building her library of music, I was getting the education of my life.

RH: Are their things unrelated to music, that have influenced you’re musical outcome in your opinion?

DD: Sure ... I think life experiences played a major role in my musical outcome. I married early by today's standards and subsequently divorced.  Having to raise and be the sole support of two children, jazz singing wasn't an option. I think we do what we have to do and make personal sacrifices along the way to survive. Fortunately, I was able to wend my way  back into music and utilize the sacrifices and hard times I've experienced.

RH: What are some of your goals with this and future recording projects?

DD: To create a combination of something beautiful, technically sound and still earthy and real.

 RH: Do you have any vision to be involved in the educational process at some point? If so, on what level?

DD: I've done a clinic with Tom Garvin when we performed at the Salt Lake City Jazz Festival a couple of years ago. That was a lot of fun, but right now, I don't have any plans to be involved in the educational process. Right now, I'm focused on recording and performing.

RH: Where do you think education for Jazz should begin?

DD: I grew up in an environment where music was always playing.  We watched very little TV and when we did, it involved music. I think parents should expose their children to the classics ... both jazz and classical music. Expose them to the beautiful melody lines of Chopin and Brahms et al.

RH: What is the advantage of being a great singer in a town like LA?

DD: I have access to some of the most talented, musical and creative musicians in the world.

RH: I know you had some relationship with Keith Jarrett when you were younger. Did he have any impact on you?

DD: Keith studied with the same piano teacher as I did. When we performed at piano recitals and competitions outside of Allentown, my mother would do the driving and he would come along. Since I was about 10 years younger, we really didn't have much of a relationship. As an aspiring classical pianist, I was striving to play like Keith. What I didn't know, was that he was embarking on a jazz career at the same time.

RH: Do you have any important concerts or tours you’d like us to know about?

DD: I'll be heading up to the Central Coast of California at the end of August. I am currently working on booking an East coast tour.

RH: Who are some of the local pianists you work with?

DD: Victor Borge ... (kidding) ... Tom Garvin, Tom Ranier, Christian Jacob, Jeff Colella, Ted Howe, Stuart Elster. I also work with LA guitarists Larry Koonse, Ron Anthony and Barry Zweig.

RH:Do you write and of your own lyrics?

DD:I have been working on some lyrics to an original tune written by trumpeter Carl Saunders entitled Sad Happiness but nothing has been recorded yet.

RH: Would you like to answer something on State of Jazz currently?

DD: Jazz is an American art form that has spread all over the world now. The whole world is following our artistic lead in spite of the fact that we Americans don't appreciate it as much as they do. We don't fund and support our own art forms. All over the country the symphony orchestra's are being squeezed financially. We stifle the dissemination and promotion of this beautiful music to our young people by letting our government get away with cutting funding for the arts.

RH: What are some of the good and not so good trends you see in the Jazz idiom?

DD: Jazz is misrepresented in a lot of clubs and on CD. Some musicians are playing experimental jazz instead of good swinging straight ahead jazz. This is turning some audiences off and making jazz less popular.

RH: Did you learn in clubs, or combination of school and gigs?

DD: My education started at home and I developed my ears by listening to the greats of jazz at a very early age. I've learned a lot from musicians I've worked with.

RH: Are there ways you prepare for concerts, gigs?

DD: Preparation is key. I like to get my set lists together ahead of time and make sure the charts are in order for my musicians.

RH: What are some ways you practice?

DD: I run scales in the morning for about an hour then try not to talk much for the rest of the day. An hour before the gig I'll warm up again.

RH: Do you study piano?

DD: Yes. For fourteen years since I was three.

RH: How has this helped...

DD: It helps with ear training. I practice daily by randomly hitting notes on the piano and singing them. It's like tuning your voice ... of course if the piano is out of tune, it could really mess you up!  Some of the best jazz singers also played piano.

RH: How does one aquire the fine sense od beauty and taste you seemingly posses?

DD: Beauty and taste are subjective ... what's beautiful to one person may not be to another. It's hard to know what beauty and taste are if one hasn't been exposed to it early on. People typically like what they're accustomed to hearing. If a child is raised on rock or rap, how could they ever identify or much less appreciate a beautiful melody line?  I was fortunate because my parents exposed me to classical music, opera and jazz. It's what I became accustomed to hearing.  Sadly, children who aren't being exposed to beautiful music at home aren't being exposed to at school either because funding for the arts is the first line item to go. The media is feeding mediocre music to society. We are in a cultural decline. You hear it in TV shows, in commercials and movies. It's the musical dumming down of America.

RH: Why are so many people scared to seek beauty in your opinion?

DD: Again, people will buy what they're accustomed to hearing ... audiences are being inundated with rap, rock and whiny singers who sing repetitive, uncomplicated melody lines. And sadly, that's what's selling.

RH: What do you do to seek quality sound and creating a great vocal Instrument?

DD: Use it or lose it. I practice every day to keep my voice flexible.

RH: What are some ways you developed great pitch control-intonation.

DD: Working with a piano/keyboard helps to develop pitch control. Listen and sing.

RH: How you conceive projects, the next one, the last one?

DD: I'm currently in the conceptual stage of my next project. This next one is proving to be a lot more difficult than the first. The quality has to be as good if not better.

RH: Who you'd like to be involved with if you had a wish list, and why.

DD: I've gotten a lot of advice about who I should work with etc. and while I agree that name recognition is important, I think a good working relationship and friendship is key to a successful project.

RH: Can you tell us who were the singers and musicians you really respect and attain to?  Who inspires you now and when you were younger.

DD: I grew up listening to Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson, Ella, Sarah, Carmen and of course Sinatra (I am Italian, you know). I got hip to Shirley Horn about 20 years ago and have just about everything she's ever recorded. I love Brazilian music ... Rosa Pasos and Eliane Elias are current favorites of mine.

RH: Thanks Denise for your time and sharing some of your perspectives at JR247.

For more information about the music of Denise Donatelli, please visit: www.denisedonatelli.com