Jazz Festivals don’t just fund themselves! This week the Ottawa Jazz Festival is holding their annual fundraiser to help them pull together the resources they need to put on a great show next summer. This year’s event features Jill Barber, an Ottawa Jazz Festival veteran and lover of the capital. I spoke with Ms. Barber for a story before her show at the Jazz Fest last year and we thought it appropriate to reprint that story to get you in the mood for this week’s fundraiser.
The show starts with appetizers at 6:30 at the Library and Archives. There will be live auction, followed by the performance Tickets are $50 with a $30 tax receipt. Tickets and details are both available online here.
Jill Barber has some great friends in Ottawa [originally published June 2011]
I first saw Jill Barber at the the Grad Club at Queen’s University in 2006 for the launch of her second album, Oh Heart. Her show was an intimate folk set that highlighted the dynamics of love, loss and relationships. A lot has changed for Barber since, however.
“That was the beginning of me trying on different musical hats, figuring out what I wanted to do and what kind of performer I wanted to be – and what it meant to perform” says Barber, whom I spoke with recently in the lead-up to the Ottawa Jazz Festival, where she’ll be playing this evening. Since those early days, she’s added another five band members, embraced showmanship on stage, and clarified her sound. She’s also been playing bigger venues – including Massey Hall this year. Her 2008 record, Chances, was the start of a departure from the folk sound for which Barber was known.
“That was the record that marked a turning point for me” says Barber. “I spent a lot of time thinking about where to go from the Chances record.” And all that thinking produced Mischievous Moon, her latest release, which came out this past April.
Mischievous Moon represents a “natural evolution,” Barber says, of what listeners were responding to on the Chances album. The album embodies a desire to build on something she knew was working: “I found a space I was comfortable in and was uniquely me,” she says. It’s a smooth and sultry combination of stunning strings, orchestral arrangements, inspired and confident lyrics, and the occasional bossanova beat. There’s something about Mischievous Moon, in fact, that feels almost vintage. Barber’s self-described musical inspiration comes from Ella Fitzgerald and Edith Piaf – and this is evidenced in the mature and precise vocals.
Ottawans will get to experience Barber’s sound first-hand tonight at Jazzfest, where she and her band will take to the stage at Confederation Park as part of the OLG Late Night Series. Even the venue for this show is emblematic of Barber’s sonic evolution. “Two to three years ago it was strictly folk festivals [I was playing],” she says. “This summer, I’m not playing any. They are all jazz Festivals.”
Audiences can expect more from Barber and her band on stage during this summer festival circuit. “It’s nice to be playing festivals like the Ottawa Jazz Festival and the Montreal Jazz Festival and to be doing shows with bigger stages that allow me to build a bigger show” says Barber, who is obviously embracing these opportunities for growth. Where she once was playing secondary stages at festivals, she says she’s enjoying getting headliner opportunities.
“The jazz community has really come on board and has embraced me and my music” says Barber. Her record, by the way, is currently the number one selling jazz record in Canada.
It’s interesting to think of Barber as an example of how to succeed in Canada’s booming indie music scene. Her first record was recorded and funded by the CBC and she says she’s benefited from the ability to cross from CBC Radio One, Two and Three – building an audience that is perhaps as unique as her sound. She credits her motivation to get out and play as much as possible with helping her develop a relationship with her audience.
And Barber is also no stranger to Ottawa. She described the honour of getting to open for Kathleen Edwards for three shows at the Blacksheep Inn, as well as being part of a true Ottawa experience when Jim Bryson invited her to open a show at Barrymore’s that also featured The Acorn. “It felt like I was part of something very very Ottawa” she says. She’s also friends with local CBC All In A Day host Alan Neal and was last here in Ottawa for his nuptials.
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