LAYLA VINSON
Staff Writer
Acclaimed jazz vocalist, 2004 winner of the Billie Holiday Vocal Competition and semi-finalist in the American Traditions Competition Sara Jones still recalls the first time she passed through the gates of Chautauqua Institution.
Jones has visited the Institution six times as a performer with The U.S. Army Field Band Soldiers’ Chorus.
“When you pull up, it’s like a picturesque paradise,” Jones said. “You’re like, ‘Oh, am I working here? Wait a second, am I on vacation?’”
Now returning to that “paradise” in partnership with the African American Heritage House, Jones will showcase about 75 minutes of jazz standards from renowned composers such as Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and Harold Arlen at 3 p.m. Sunday in the
Amphitheater.
“It’s a very American Songbook-heavy program, and then some other quirky, fun things that people might not know or they have a peripheral knowledge of, and then we’ll bring it in and say, ‘Oh, here’s something that’s adjacent,’” Jones said. “… I just want to tell people about songs and have them like songs. And then sometimes I do some very recognizable things because everybody likes to do something they already know.”
Accustomed to a large repertoire of genres and professional roles, Jones received a Master of Music in piano accompanying at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music before choosing to pursue a professional vocal career with the Soldiers’ Chorus.
“You’re in the army, and you have to do whatever somebody tells you to do,” Jones laughed, offering a stark contrast to her current independent work. “ … But when you’re freelancing, that was a really big change because then you have to go and sort of find your own work.”
With an active performing schedule and reputable presence as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Jones has navigated the increasing demand for flexibility in the industry while also finding her own specialty as a singer.
“We have to be able to do all of these things. And there’s some truth to that, being flexible, I think being flexible is really important as a musician. But also really figuring out, ‘What am I the best at?’ ” Jones asked.
As a former professor at Towson University, she said she often encouraged her students to focus on finding their niche. “Figuring out what you shine in is so important. And it’s fun when you figure it out,” she said.
Stylistically, Jones praised the attributes and distinctive qualities of artists such as Billie Holiday, who are not attempting to emulate a noise that is not their own.
“When you listen to her, you don’t say, ‘Oh, it sounds like this, it sounds like that — she just sounds like herself,’” Jones said. “ … In terms of storytelling, [she] was very sincere but also pretty simple. She wasn’t trying to do a lot of things. She was just like, ‘I’m going to just sing this song, but also as if I was speaking it to you like you would speak to a friend.’”
The honest storytelling and rich history of jazz music, alongside Jones’ partnership with the AAHH, are deeply significant to Jones as she continues to bring life to the art form and those behind it.
“Keeping jazz alive, keeping those composers alive, keeping the performers alive with an acknowledgment and a place that reminds you the people that put this music out, especially Black artists, had a lot more to deal with,” Jones said.
Jones said her mindfulness of this shapes how she approaches music and celebrates the history and legacy of jazz music.“… We want to remember the good parts, but we have to remember the bad parts. Some people don’t want to talk about it, and I understand it because they just want to have fun, but other times you have to be like, ‘No, actually, this was really hard for this person to navigate this and to go get their work out there.’ ”
