"I'm crazy about improvising." - interview with jazz singer Christine Duncan - Interview

I interviewed Vancouver jazz singer Christine Duncan in October when her eastern tour brought her to Toronto to play at area clubs.

Hal: In your bio you say that you were inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin, but I think, when listening to you sing, I hear others too, like June Christy or Anita O'Day.

Christine: Wow! Well there's such a blanket of sound that I equate with jazz singing, and all of those people are so much a part of it, woven into the fabric of that, so I don't know how I could not be influenced by all of them to some degree.

Hal: [after careful consideration as to how to phrase the question] Would you be old enough to remember some of them at all?

Christine: [also careful, declines to reveal her age] Well I've searched them out. [breaks up in uncontrollable laughter].

Hal: Well, looking at you I would say no... [but suddenly realizing I should never have asked the question].

Christine: I have searched them out as I said, and I'm so interested in the voice as an instrument, that is such a big thing for me. When I was a little girl, my mother had an album of Yma Sumac, whether you care for that or not, the thing is, it is something that was so different to anything else that was out in pop music, she had a range of something like four or five octaves - I mean, I remember listening addictively to that recording, and you know it still affects me to this day. I have a very large range myself and use it quite effectively. [Note: check this out on the tune Poor Sad Boy from her CD Different Standards] I also sing whistle tones and stuff too, which is a range above, it's like a female falsetto, and I only use that in jazz improvisation. It's like singing first trumpet with the squeal shots at the end.

Hal: Earlier in our conversation [prior to taping this interview] you said you liked Kenny Wheeler and Norma Winstone; I can see how you would be attracted to use the voice like an instrument.

Christine: Actually I work quite a lot with Hugh Fraser in different settings, sometimes with the Quintet, and also with the VEJI (Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation) band. A part of that vision has been somewhat like the Wheeler/Winstone relationship, I do horn part lines I'm just crazy about improvisation, [she pauses for reflection] some people might say I get a little over the top with it at times, but that's the essence of jazz. And for me, and also as much as improvising in the straight jazz idiom it's drawing from my other influences and making an amalgamation a melting pot of influence, because I think jazz is that kind of forward-moving music that draws from all the different kinds of influences and creates something new and fresh. It's a mixture and at the same time a unique voice.

Hal: You didn't start out as a jazz vocalist did you?

Christine: No, my roots are definitely pop and a really heavy gospel influence. Aretha Franklin and Mahalia Jackson being the inspirations from that field, and Nina Simone gets in there too. She has that gospel/blues thing going for her which I really like a lot. I actually was a gospel choir leader and began my singing career at the age of five, performing solo and harmony parts in gospel shows and stages around North America. My father is a minister, so I was involved in singing in church quite a lot. Can you imagine me singing in a totally white gospel choir, but with a black sound? But we did. [The Duncans, as a musical family travelled around the world, and recorded two albums in Nashville which featured Christine's own original compositions.]

We pause here for more coffee and a little discussion with Sam Masich, Christine's manager about her background and her connection with pianist Bob Murphy whom she met in 1992.

Christine: Bob Murphy is, in a sense, probably my musical mentor as far as jazz music goes. I've performed jazz with him more than with any other musician, and I've learned so much from him, he has a unique and distinct voice on piano, and it is something that I really resonate with on some level, his real bluesy kind of quality of his playing that I really like. [Note: as on their cd: I Have a Dream].

Christine's association with Sam Masich came about through her work with Bob Murphy, and he has given her the freedom to concentrate on her music much more than she would have if she had had to look after all the other important items pertaining to a career, ie: the bookings, interviews, recordings, etc. In discussing the problems travelling across this vast country to perform, Christine's attitude is very positive, especially in the area of media coverage.

Christine: I sound quite different from many other singers (in the Toronto area, for example); people find that very refreshing, I'm very experimental, a chance taker, not a conservative performer. I explore, because music is my pathway, and an integral part of that, for me, is the exploration and the chance taking, because I'm constantly learning on the bandstand.

Hal: I think you are a lot like Karen Young (a wonderful vocalist from Montreal) in that respect, you both like to walk on a tightrope.

Christine: If I'm working with my own group there will be a lot of original compositions, but if, when travelling I work with someone who does not know my music, then there will be a number of standard tunes.

Hal: Do you go on stage with a prepared set?

Christine: On tour, yes, at home in Vancouver I'm a bit more slack about the set, because the musicians know me and are ready for whatever I call for.

Hal: It must be very difficult travelling and not having your own group to back you up.

Christine: Even if you just travel with your own piano player or guitarist [chordal instrument] who is very familiar with you, it breaks down so many barriers and creates a real magic carpet ride for you as a performer. I'm of course taking the hard route [laughing out loud] as I generally seem to do, working with all brand new players every time I go out on the road...that is also a financial consideration you must understand. But again it also has to do with my vision of exploration and experimentation, performing with new players. Every time I work with new players, I find myself going to new places and I take that experience home. Or the regular players I perform with, and we then end up going to new places too. The open dialogue with other players creates a whole other territory.

Hal: How then do you choose your chordal instrument when you travel to another city?

Christine: Sometimes it's completely by chance; it could be on the recommendation of someone who I trust. For example on a recent Toronto gig pianist Mark Eisenman helped me a lot, how could I go wrong with bass player Duncan Hopkins, and this new young piano player Gordon Webster and drummers like Norm Marshall Villeneuve, John Sumner and Archie Alleyne?

Hal: Tell me about the West Coast scene.

Christine: Well, it's really in transition I think right now. Some of the long standing jazz dubs have closed down, places like the Elm Street Cafe, which was around for years, has gone. The others have become Mexican restaurants. A real listening room called The Glass Slipper was burned down, and funds have not been available to rebuild. There is not one club that has been in operation for more than a year. It's sad, that's why I say things are in transition. So, for me it's been mostly concerts. There are some new places opening up though, and I hope to be singing in those. I broaden my scope somewhat by appearing in other settings, singing R&B, Gospel, Blues, Alternative Pop and New Music. I sang lead in a New Music Opera called The Gang in Vancouver in June (1997). They auditioned for this, and I got the job. It really helps when you can read [music].

Hal: What do you do in your spare time, in another city or at home?

Christine: I'm not big on television, I love to go and listen to music, and take a lot of martial arts workshops, practice Tai Chi. The principals of this physical discipline just line up right down the line with jazz, there's the improvisational quality, the listening. It's listening in your body in a whole other way of course, and there are other exercises too that have that interaction just the same as jazz music.

Hal: Do you have any particular goals for the future?

Christine: I have a few goals, I really would like to reach the plateau of being internationally known, that's for different reasons, mostly to facilitate the kind of creative work and documentation of what it is I'm wanting to do. I want to be involved in as many different kinds of musical experiences as I possibly can, and continue to expand without spreading myself too thin.

Hal: I have some concern about the latter remark. When a person goes this far to experiment with their talent, do they lose a certain audience, and are they going to be knowledgeable enough, if they are going to explore another area are they going to give it everything it needs, because it takes a long, long time to develop one particular facet of your being. Whether it's playing tenor sax, or trumpet, or singing, it takes so long to develop skills for that instrument and style. So if you plan on popping off and doing a Yma Sumac here, somebody else over there, are you going to do it well, to the fullest extent, or are you going to do it because you just want to? And Christine, the last word is yours [much laughter from Christine and Sam].

Christine: I definitely have priorities, and my basic priority musically is jazz, some of the things I do recreationally because I can and it's easy for me, other things I explore because I have a real interest in them, but I always come back to my basic priority, and that gives me roots. You see there is also an economic reason too. But I still enjoy doing it regardless, and think of what I can bring back from these excursions to jazz: Improvisation!

Hal Hill is a Toronto broadcaster and host of the Jazz Canadiana Website. You can E-mail him at: bebop@istar.ca or visit the Website at: http://www.idbt.com/jazzcdn

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