Besides being the birth of Christ, which is most important, it was also about my grandmother's sweet potato pies and pineapple coconut cake. Christmas was just the ultimate time of the year growing up as a child in my home. Thimes: For some reason Christmas music puts everybody in such a wonderful mood. Goodwin: What’s the appeal to you of Christmas music? And so I convey the message that the lyrics are saying. And sometimes I’m in the moment of the lyrics and I’m not thinking about anybody in particular. If I’m singing something like “I’ll Be Seeing You,” I’m thinking of my daddy. I’m thinking of my babies when I sing that song. But whenever I would sing that song on tour, I could barely get through it. Of course, they were in great hands with their grandmothers and aunties and everything. I did a tour some while back, and my son Jabril was a toddler and my daughter Simone was a newborn, and I had to leave every weekend and leave them for three days. Sometimes when I do “What a Wonderful World," I think of my children. Goodwin: When you’re up there onstage and you’re really in it, what are you thinking about? Most songs, I can’t sing it unless I’m telling you the story. You are a gifted singer, and people want to hear those chops, but if it’s not in service of a real connection to the song, it won’t hit the listener the same way, right? It’s not the vocal pyrotechnics and whatnot. Goodwin: Something I’ve heard from jazz singers in particular is that the important thing is the storytelling. But if you’re doing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” I don’t want to do anything with that but sing it just the way it is. But you can kind of do something with “Jingle Bells,” because it’s just one of those songs you can do something with. “The Christmas Song” is a song that you say, "I don’t want to mess with this." Because it’s just all right, right where it is. Between just intellectually knowing, intuitively knowing and musically knowing. Louis, you know that even in the jazz world there are certain songs you just don’t mess with. Thimes: When you have the opportunity to be mentored by someone like Clark Terry and the late Jeanne Trevo, and at this point in my career to walk with Wynton Marsalis when he comes to St. Goodwin: So how do you know when it’s time to improvise and put those curlicues in there, and when you need to leave it alone? Sing that song just how it is written.ĭenise Thimes Denise Thimes said a skilled performer knows when to leave a great song alone and when to transform it. Don't put any curlicues as I call it, in it with the vocals. Some songs, like “The Christmas Song,” you leave it just the way it is, the way that Mel Tormé wrote it. I try to do that with most of the songs that I sing. That was one of the songs that I took on my album and made it mine. people don’t hear the bluesy version that Denise gives. How do you take an old song and make it sound new?ĭenise Thimes: On one of my CDs I did a version of “Silver Bells,” and I did it in a bluesy kind of feel. They may have favorite versions and arrangements. Goodwin: Christmas songs, like any standards, are songs that your audiences already know well. Goodwin spoke with Thimes about her different approaches to songs in her repertoire. Pianist Adaron “Pops” Jackson will join on Wednesday, and Richard Johnson will fill that seat on Thursday. She’ll be backed both nights by bassist John King, drummer Demarius Hicks and guitarist Henry Johnson. Thimes featured Christmas songs on her 2007 album, “Moments, Magic and Memories.” She’ll mix holiday favorites and other standards when she performs at Jazz St. “You’re going to hear me put Denise on it, and what I’m feeling, through the words in that song,” she said. The key for a performer, Times said, is to put the song first but be sure to make a personal connection to the composition. But when an accomplished jazz singer like Denise Thimes interprets holiday classics, they can spark thoughts of loved ones and warm memories. Christmas music can be so familiar that it’s easy to ignore.
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