Live Jazz Sessions at Chianti Jazz Lounge

By David Masters

The North Shore Jazz Project will be spotlighting local musical talent with its “Live Jazz Sessions” series, beginning on November 6 with an afternoon show from 3-6 headlined by the Project’s own local musical talent, songstress Barbara Alex. She will be backed by Matthew Dorko on guitar, Mike Connors on drums, and John Funkhouser on keys and bass. A collaboration between The North Shore Jazz Project and Chianti Jazz Lounge in Beverly, the first “Jazz Sessions Series” will run for four months until February, 2012. For more information go to www.livejazzsessions.org and www.northshorejazzproject.org Come sit in, come play. Bring your “axe”, charts, and /or vocal chords. All are welcome. The sessions are open to both professional and non-professional musicians. Not to mention music lovers in the audience.

I asked Barbara to elaborate on what we might expect in the coming months.

Where do you see these sessions going down the road?

“My hope is that the sessions will be enormously successful and that they will continue. I hope to build a musical community; that would be sweet! Then we’ll reassess after February.”

Barbara’s “day job”, as musicians put it (sometimes unenthusiastically), is in her case as interesting as her a vocational one: she is a psychotherapist in a local private practice. So we wondered how she got into music, and whether she also played an instrument (since she was hesitant to share any insights into my childhood just yet):

“My first instrument was a steel drum. I was born in Trinidad and one of the local men made a steel drum and gave it to my dad; I loved to bang on that drum! I do play the guitar and I’d love to learn the bass; also the saxophone intrigues me.”

Also intriguing is Trinidad!

“My dad was in the Air Force/Navy and he was stationed in Trinidad; my mom wanted to go with him. I was born on the military base so I’m an American citizen. My parents came back to this country prior to my going to school. Life there was idyllic: we had a housekeeper and a nanny, with citrus trees growing in the backyard, and my parents were newlyweds. It was a great start for them, and I benefited from that.”

“The first conscious memories I have of singing were songs like ‘Love and Marriage’, which was written in the fifties I think, by Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics). I think the song was rerecorded in 2010 by a ska/punk group called ‘Less Than Jake’. A little music trivia there, but it speaks to the point that ‘a good song is a good song is a good song’. I also liked doing ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’” when I was a kid.

“I had a crazy aunt who would take to what is now The Anchor in Beverly. It was a local bar back then, called The Silver Anchor. I would drop money into the jukebox and sing along and dance. After I finished my song, folks in the bar would give me more money and I would put it back in the jukebox and sing and dance the entire time I was there. I had a blast!”

How about your influences?

“I have far too many singers that I admire, and from all types of genres: classical, rock, jazz, American, world, hip hop, funk, soul, reggae…. the list goes on and on. Music is the universal language, I think. I like to reinvent songs, turn them on their heads, present the unexpected, whether they are standards or more contemporary. I’m working on writing my own songs; that for me would be the biggest thrill of all!”

Rate your excitement level for the Chianti’s gig on a scale of 1-10.

“Chianti is my first residency, and I’m thrilled. I greatly appreciate the North Shore Jazz Project supporting this endeavor, specifically Caroline Forrester and Henry Ferrini of the Jazz Project. Not to mention Rich Marino, the owner of Chianti’s Jazz Lounge, for his generous support and this amazing opportunity.

“The most exciting part about having the jazz sessions is the exchange between the players and the audience; this creates an environment of vitality. I hope that these sessions will help create a musical community right here on the North Shore, where musicians can come to play, as well as to grow, experiment, learn, and network with one another. Of course, most importantly, to have fun.”

No doubt we all will!

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