Interview by Nick Lea

One of the pleasures of writing for a website such as this, is that every now and again something special lands on the doorstep…unfortunately it wasn’t the delightful Ms. Kelly in person, but a copy of her stunning debut CD Aphrodite’s Child released on 33 Records (check it out in our CD Reviews).

Everybody had been complaining about the recent glut of releases from female singers, and let’s be honest, many of them could be rather mundane and run of the mill; but what I heard in Juliet Kelly was something else altogether. A strong, full and rich voice, nothing was contrived; this was the blossoming of a new and exciting talent! As if that wasn’t enough she had the nerve to demand that we accept her on her own terms. Only one jazz standard and a well known pop song (‘Softly As In The Morning Sunrise’ and Sade’s ‘Your Love Is King…seeing as your asking) as a safety net for the listener amongst eight originals. Almost unheard of for a jazz debut, what no paying of dues, how dare she?

Careful listening to the disc in question shows that Kelly has certainly studied her subject thoroughly, and the songwriting is just as strong as her impressive vocal prowess. It was therefore a pleasure to be able to interview Juliet and find out more about the person behind the music

JAZZ VIEWS: Perhaps we should start at the beginning, how did you get into jazz and singing, is it something that you’ve always been interested in?

JULIET KELLY: You know, I never even thought about jazz or even singing until I was in my late teens. I grew up in a strictly religious household where secular music was frowned upon. Apart from hymns and gospel music, the only other acceptable form of music was the kind I learnt in my classical piano lessons. But I stopped piano lessons when I was 13 as it wasn’t really doing my street cred any good! I also secretly listened to the chart shows on my radio in my bedroom and was a huge Top of the Pops fan.

I stumbled upon singing at a local music workshop when I decided to try a jazz a cappella singing class, after attempting and failing miserably to learn the bass guitar. They wouldn’t refund the money for the class and suggested I transfer to another. I opted for singing as it meant I wouldn’t have to buy another instrument. The class teacher was Anita Wardell and she was a great inspiration to me. She introduced me to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae and I never looked back!

JV: I believe that despite having started singing relatively late, that you have studied formally at the Guildhall Of Music, and all this after studying for a degree in Economics!

JK: Yes, my original plan was to make millions by becoming a merchant banker in the city! Not much chance of making millions through jazz but after my degree I realised that doing what I love is more important than money and I’ve no regrets.

Although it was a lot of hard work, going to the Guildhall was one of the best things I ever did. I was able to meet other musicians, work with bands (including the big band) and discover artists like Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Bill Evans and Chet Baker. I was overwhelmed by all this fantastic music I’d never heard of and it was a very exciting time for me.

JV: And what about your influences?

JK: My influences are varied. My earliest influences were Anita Baker (whose album ‘Rapture’ is one of my all time favourites) and Sade. Once I’d discovered jazz singers, I became a big fan of Dianne Reeves, Betty Carter, Carmen Lundy, Cassandra Wilson and Shirley Horn.

JV: With your debut album Aphrodite’s Child on 33Records (see CD Reviews) you have taken a bold step in writing much of the material yourself. Whilst it is this very aspect that makes the album so refreshing, do you find that sometimes audiences can be a little sceptical because of the lack of standards…perhaps their comfort zone has been taken away, and there is a reluctance to quite so readily accept the unknown?

JK: It took me a long time to decide that I would release a debut album of mainly original material. It was a risk, but I hope it has paid off. I’m encouraged by the fact that at my gigs a lot of people have come up at the end to say how much they’ve loved my songs. I think they’re pleasantly surprised and some of them have even admitted that their hearts sank when I announced I was about to perform an original song! I’ve had so much positive feedback about my songwriting that I believe I made the right decision. Although I love standards and do perform a couple of my own arrangements of them, I think the versions recorded by the greats like Ella and Sarah are timeless classics and I’m better off following my own path.

JV: Writing is obviously very important to you, and an integral part of Juliet Kelly as a communicator and artist. Would you perhaps like to be considered a singer/songwriter, or does the singing take precedence?

JK: Songwriting is really important to me. It’s an even more direct route to self-expression than singing songs written by others. Another reason is that to keep jazz fresh it’s important to look forward and that, for me, means new material. Although modern music is quite retro at the moment even in the pop world, I think younger audiences will be more attracted to jazz if the music keeps moving forward and charting new territories.

But I also consider myself as a singer and above all a communicator. I love the rapport that is built up with an audience during a live performance. Getting great feedback from the audience is the best feeling on earth.

JV: What you do is very obviously straight out of and within the jazz tradition, and yet is very un-American (which is a big plus in my book!). You have described you music as acoustic groove, perhaps you could explain a little more?

JK: I’m glad you’ve recognised my music as jazz even though it’s not particularly American sounding. It’s also been labelled as soulful jazz and pop/jazz which is fine by me as I have all sorts of influences. In my live set I perform songs by Soul II Soul, Des’ree, Sade and the Eurythmics. I identify very strongly with being British and use those influences in my songwriting and even in the choice of material I cover. The “Acoustic Groove” thing came about because the music has all been acoustic based and most of the songs have a definite groove to them. I think this happens because I usually start writing a song from the bass line and then add the melody, harmony and lyrics.

JV: From that attention grabbing performance supporting Carmen Lundy at the Queen Elizabeth Hall last December, things have seem to happen quite quickly for you; and I understand that you have just returned from the Teggiano Jazz Festival in Italy?

JK: Yes, it appears to have happened quickly for people who’ve never heard of me but a couple of the songs on the album were actually written 5 years ago. At the time I had no thoughts of putting them on an album but saw songwriting as a challenge and just wanted to see if I could do it. It was the feedback from audiences when I finally started to perform them that made me believe there was something there.

Supporting Carmen Lundy at the QEH last year was my first gig with my own material and the current band. It was a wonderful experience but also daunting as she’s someone I’ve long admired. I’m really fortunate to have such a fantastic band with Mike Gorman (piano), Tom Barlow (bass) and Seb Rochford (drums). They are all very talented musicians and have really been supportive to my ideas. They’ve also really grasped the essence of my music while at the same time bringing to it their own creativity and dynamic expression.

The Teggiano Jazz Festival in Italy was also a great experience. I performed with an excellent Italian trio in the ampitheatre of a medieval castle – the backdrop to the stage being a beautiful sunset. The gig went really well and I’ve been invited back to do a string of dates in Italy at the end of the year.

JV: And your hopes and plans for the future? Will we get chance to hear you perform throughout the rest of the UK?

JK: I’m really looking forward to supporting the legendary Ron Carter at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 29th September. And following that we’ll be doing a mini tour in October and November including dates at the Hi Fi Club in Leeds (26 Oct), the Lescar Hotel in Sheffield (22 Oct) and the Pizza on the Park in London (2 Nov).

My wish list would include getting more work in Europe and possibly going to the US sometime next year. It would also be great to have a manager/agent to help with the bookings and publicity. And I suppose those millions would be nice after all…