JAZZ DAZE 1980: OUTSIDE THE CHANGES

Em wanted to be able to play outside the changes, but the music was becoming a mathematical jigsaw, and so the pieces she kept gave her a clue to some of the meanings she was looking for.

She was full of limitations. She witnessed several musicians who seemed to be free of the chains she wore. They were not only steeped in history but were creating it.

Their purpose was clear. They were into making music and were also big on communication and making themselves available for you to get involved at whatever level they required.

Em gravitated towards those who had a sense of humour, who made theory fun to do.

There was no wasting breath or time. The changes became a shorthand of Roman numerals, like 2, 5, 1. So you could begin to hear clearly the root movements and then get through the scales.

Playing the scales or arpeggios, jazz was a busy place to be and Em did her daily workouts diligently.

With it came loneliness.

The incisive mark Jeanne Lee had left was the opposite. It said inclusion.

She kept saying it's the way you live it but when she got with musician friends there was a language that was necessary to converse in to make it ok.

Singers worked with words and images, melodies and harmonies but – isn't that enough? She'd both heard and said.

Her voice was breathy and based on stylists like Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan, but sounded forlorn, more like Astrud Gilberto.

A languishing in the delivery, a story of unrequited love, at her core.

Em was a simple girl who'd grown complexes and suffered the slightest tease as humiliation.

Janice Slater (1980) (c) 2024

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