Megan Jerome Together Ensemble TD Ottawa Jazz Festival Saturday June 30 @ 5:00pm / OLG Ontario Stage
Megan Jerome’s spirit-lifting, soulful songs are a sparkling blend of vintage and contemporary roots and jazz styles. From sultry cowboy-tangos to rousing gospel-tinged anthems, Megan’s work has been highlighted as one to watch by The Ottawa Citizen and CBC News. The exquisite Together Ensemble envelops Megan’s voice and 1962 Wurlitzer in a lush instrumentation of guitar (Fred Guignion), organ (Don Cummings) and drums (Mike Essoudry)
Andre Gagne: What’s your favourite thing about when festival season rolls into O-town?
Megan Jerome: For twenty years Mike and I have enjoyed totally immersing ourselves in the Jazz Festival. I just love taking it day by day, perusing the programme, seeing my friends in the park, hearing about what they've heard, being outside listening to music, eating, drinking, dancing, checking out bands I've never heard...
You’ll be playing tunes at the fest from your most recent album, ooh aah. How do you feel this release differs from your previous work?
Don Cummings, the organist in our band, recorded ooh aah at his Bungalove Studios. This was a first for us! Don's just set up his new studio and he had been experimenting with recording all of our rehearsals over the past two albums so we really wanted to continue to explore that.
Dave Bignell mixed the album and this was first time we've worked together on an album. With Dave we really went for a very layered, rich, textured sound. Rebecca Campbell sings layers of harmonies on several tracks on the album and she's exquisite! There are also wonderful harmonies by Mackenzie DiMillo and Katie Hurdon. These are all exciting departures.
Two albums ago, Megan Jerome was just me and the piano, recorded in the living room by Ross Murray. On that album often I would play just one note at a time to accompany my singing - in other words, very very very sparse arrangements.
From roots to the atmosphere!
Your spirituality is very important to you. How do you feel this weaves into your music?
My artistry, my spirituality and my whole life are all one in the same. They are a prayer of thanks, they are celebrations and expressions of joy, love, longing and fulfillment! Books like The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert really outline this kind of life.
We’ve talked a bit before about images that let you access a moment of exclamation. Can you elaborate on those things that make you ooh and aah?
I love interiors blogs! There are so many beautiful images of home that really resonate with me! I flip through images until I find myself saying something out loud by accident - an involuntary exclamation. I save the image and then later meditate on it - what is it exactly that I feel? How does it sound to be in that image? And then I listen for the music and ask how does this go? What do I want to hear next? I might improvise at the piano, brainstorm ideas, record, listen back, hone, over and over and over and then let the songs be themselves.
So, you only get to choose three jazz albums to take with you on tour. What would they be and why?
Mike Essoudry's upcoming album - he's recording next year, Don Cummings and Mike Essoudry's upcoming Bumpin Binary album, and Petr Cancura's new album. I love these people and I can't wait to hear and be moved by their new music!
You and the Together Ensemble have been performing for a while now. What keeps you all, well, together?
We love playing together. It's an incredible feeling, the musical intimacy between us. We are all always listening and responding to each other, in every moment. Everybody plays in a way that really complements and builds together. We have a special sound as a band that we all really enjoy and create together. It comes from the textures and the sounds we get from our instruments and also from the combination of improvising and structure in each song. It's just the most incredible feeling to be this connected to people, playing music in this way.
The Jazz festival, of course, brings out the musicians in Ottawa centred around that genre but I’ve found them harder to track down outside of the two weeks in the early summer. Who are some of the people you’d suggest checking out and where can we find jazz in O-town all year ‘round?
Oh my gosh there is so much live jazz going on, all year round, almost every night of the week! I couldn't possibly list it all!
Peter Hum writes about it. The jazz festival website lists it. Ottawa Jazz Scene lists it. Monday nights are a jam at Petit Chicago in Hull. Tuesday nights are a jazz jam at Irene's. I also love to go hear Beats 'n Keys at the Heart and Crown… Jeff Rogers is out of this world! Wednesdays is jazz night at Bar Robo I think? Also John Carroll is a great roots guitar player singer-songwriter who plays Wednesdays at the Laff. Thursdays nights are a jazz jam at Options. Fridays are a vocal jazz jam run by Jacquie Dixon. Roddy Elias has been playing every Friday at the Lord Elgin, fantastic duos. Gigspace often features live jazz. The Black Squirrel has jazz. Irene's has jazz! I just danced my heart out to Ed Lister's latest band there! There is so much to explore and hear, and it's a small scene - it's very easy to meet people once you start going out.
What are you biggest joys in being a performer?
Connecting with the audience! Taking that beautiful feeling of playing music together, and amplifying it with the people who've come to hear the band. There is a special connection we all get to feel through live music.
ooh aah sees you exploring some new territory, I would say. You got those cowboy-tangos, rousing gospel ditties. Did you find this broke you out of a personal song-writing comfort zone or do you always enjoy genre hoping?
I think people have always commented on the various genres that I draw from. I don't think about it and I don't set out to do it, I just improvise at the piano and let each song be what it needs to be. Around the time I was writing for the album I was also mentoring Sarah Bradley through Carleton University. This involved a lot of sharing with each other the songs we were working on. I find Sarah very inspiring and she's a very talented singer-songwriter-pianist. I am really glad to have been sharing music and ideas with her at this time.
I also taught at the Ottawa Singer-Songwriter camp over the two summers that I was writing this album as well, and completed two songs - one per week of the camp. I'm so grateful to have had that experience as well.
The band is really inspiring and encouraging as well - I can show up with ideas of ideas and they are really open, they listen and try things and the songs really take shape slowly, together over the course of a year or two through rehearsals, listening back, gigs...
You mentioned teaching. What would you say is a paramount message you share with your students?
I'm here to help each one of you on your artistic path. What's important to you? I want to integrate reading, improvising, composing, functional theory, ear training, technique – all of this, right from the very first lesson at the piano in order to let you play and express what you want to play and express! I aim to provide a foundation in music that will allow my students to enjoy playing music for life!
Any coming gigs outside of Jazz Fest you’d like to promote?
Yes! Megan Jerome Together Ensemble plays RBCBluesfest at the Barney Danson Theatre on Friday, July 6 at 6 pm. Anders Drerup will be joining us! I'll also be playing in the Girls to the Front Series with Julie Corrigan and Abigail Lapell Monday June 18 at 8pm at Irene's.
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