Podcast for Singers 
Overcoming Fear to
LIVE LARGE - Unapologetically!

Transcript 

Mel Lathouras 0:01
G'day, it's Mel Lathouras with another episode of Fearless Singer, we are at episode 31. And today I'll be talking about jazz my story of how I got into jazz singing. And yeah, I'm not filming it today, normally I do for YouTube. But I just had a big day of filming myself. I think you get to a point where you're just done looking at yourself and talking to yourself, not that I don't get me wrong a lot. I love myself. But there's something a little bit strange about, about that, that process and it went on for quite a while. So I'm just giving myself the grace of not not filming this episode. Anyhow, let's talk about my jazz story and how jazz singing may change your life. It changed mine. Welcome to the feeler singer podcast. This podcast is about empowering and elevating singers, and helping them to undo those fear based narratives holding them back from living the life of their dreams. I'm your host militaris. I'm a singer live biz vocal coach, and I'm so bloody glad to hear. I'm back with my story about how I got into jazz singing. But like a lot of these stories, they're not particularly linear. And, you know, we tend to get little signs at different intervals of our life. To suggest that, you know, maybe we will be at some stage spending some time with a certain genre or, you know, find ourselves in a particular career. And I think I first got that sign. Well, I know first got that sign. When I was seven years old. My dad bought me a Nina Simone cassette tape from a petrol station. And we pretty much bled it from the car stereo all the way home and have to paint the scene because my dad had this beautiful maroon Pontiac. It just heard and it was actually it's so funny at the time. I thought it was really embarrassing. But now as a 40 year old will soon to be 40 year old. I just look back and think oh my gosh, it was just like the setting for an idyllic childhood driving around Bundaberg boys blaring music quite loud whether it was Jimi Hendrix, or who else did we play loud? Chad Morgan, that was quite frequently listened to and in the Pontiac. But yeah, we did the same thing for Nina Simone. And at that time, I was only really accustomed to listening to you know, rock music and and, you know, a lot of classical music. And it was probably my first introduction to jazz. And I knew I was like, oh my goodness, this is a style that I felt really strongly connected to. And I guess it was also Nina Simone's magical voice. And, you know, her soul as well. I think I was really connected to her. But I knew that there was there was something to this, this genre. And I knew that I wanted some part of it. And then, you know, we skip forward quite a few years and I'm working in a music shop. Actually, it was called the music shop. There was one in Queen Street in the Queen Street Mall, here in Brisbane and one in the belly. And I worked between both. But this this time it was yeah, in the valley. And a jazz singer who had been travelling around France actually came in I can't remember her name. And yeah, I was really intrigued. And she, you know, she said, Debbie, listen too much, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. And even though I had heard lrn, Sarah, and, you know, I was an avid listener. At that time, I was just a dead set punk. I loved punk and rock and roll. And I was in the warm guns. It was a rock band. I was in with Kelly Lloyd from screen feeder and my best friend, Amy's Ufa, and our mate Marie. And so it was very much about that. So I kind of like pretended that I knew a lot about jazz, but, you know, when it does prompt you to go, I might just go and explore this a little bit further. And I did and then you know, fast forward. I'm in London. Um, this is after working in the public service for a few years, I decided to run away to London thinking I was going to just fully submerge myself into the music scene, become a musician and just give away, you know, the corporate world, which I didn't I just completely transplant in my life. Here in Brisbane, I've just transplanted it over there. And so I was still working in the corporate world, but doing the rock and roll on the weekends. But it was at that stage, I was playing keyboard. And I had played the keyboard and the warm guns, but I just, I wasn't very good at it. But I was very good at pretending that I was good at it. It was very much an acting job. And I thought, You know what, I am going to get jazz piano lessons. Which I did, because at the time, I was really into Miles Davis. In fact, Miles Davis, the working album, got me through my homesickness, um, you know, just with sometimes just are attracted to certain music, and at that time, it was that album. And in particular, it never entered my mind. It was literally for me, it was like eating chocolate. I got the same dopamine hit from listening to that song. And it Yeah, it saved me from being severely sad on many occasion. And, yeah, so I thought, Okay, I'm going to get some jazz piano lessons, and I did from a guy called Gabrielle lachin, you should check him out. He's an amazing jazz pianist. And he's online. He's has music on Spotify. And, yeah, I went to chyzyk to this beautiful house to get these lessons from him. And I was kind of a little bit terrible, I've since become a lot better. But at the time, you know, I just, I wasn't really fully invested in it. And he actually said to me, You know what? You've got a good voice, you've got a really good voice. Why don't you? Why don't you try singing some of the repertoire? And I said, Oh, actually, I know a song. And I sang for him Misty? And he's like, Yeah, I think you should really explore more of the singing, and which is really nice, little prompt. I never advise people just to give up on a skill just because they're not good at it. That's, you know, what I essentially did. And I haven't given up that was at the time I did. I'm still working my way through the piano. And as many of you know, I've accomplished a couple of feats. I played the piano at the Brisbane jazz club and the last gig, it wasn't jazz, but you know, I'm getting there. And yeah, so this is what spurred me on and catapulted me into the jazz singing world. So I finished up in the UK, I went to Japan, Japan, oh, my goodness, China for a few months, and Shanghai, in particular. And I came home and I thought to myself, Okay, I've got a bit of a choice here, I can keep going down this corporate route, I can go and get a job in corporate communications, because that's what I was doing. Or, you know, I'm 27 I don't have any kids, I don't have a mortgage, I could just go and study music properly. And my mom, thank goodness, because my mom is pretty much she still is just a bit of a

the voice of reason. But also, if I've got my mum's approval, I know you shouldn't seek external approval or validation. But you know, mum still is that that character for me? And but at the time, she was really supportive, and which was really encouraging. And so I auditioned for the Jazz Music Institute, and I really wanted to go to the Jazz Music Institute, because I saw it as Oh, just a little bit more embracing of mature age students. There seem to be like a mixed bag. There's a lot of young people but yeah, you know, all different ages, which appealed to me. Plus, what appealed to me to was that some of the, you know, heavyweights in Australian jazz were working there. And, you know, one in particular, one teach that I wanted to work with, was there she actually lived, and then I got to work with the amazing Shani Russell. So that was a massive blessing and And yeah, and the rest is history. So that's kind of my, how I got into jazz and jazz singing. But I guess what's more important is what made me stay. Because you know, a lot of us have studied music in the past or, you know, we've we've studied a particular style, but we've moved on. And of course, I have explored other genres and I do perform other genres I perform, you know, a lot of pop soul rock, blues, straight blues. But what keeps me coming back to jazz, and how has it changed my life? And how will it change yours? You've probably listening going Yeah, jazz has already changed my life. So in that case, I really want to hear from you. How has jazz changed your life please DM me, I'm at Mel Lathouras on Instagram, militarism, Facebook, or fill us in on YouTube or leave a comment wherever you are listening. And yeah, I really want to hear your your jazz story and how it shaped you so I'm actually going to stop this episode. I'm I'm trying a new thing with the solo episodes. I'm just, you know, trying to keep them fairly short. So next week, I'll talk about how jazz has changed my life. Why keep coming back for more and how it can change yours. And I have some listening recommendations. So please check out miles Davis's it never entered my mind. Listen to it a few times. Actually. It's with with your headphones on. And also check out Julie London's version of it never entered my mind. With bony castles. It's beautiful. And listen to Nina Simone. My favourite Nina Simone standard is or the standard that she sings is. I love you Porgy. And also check out Carmen McRae's version of exactly like you. I just love the way she phrases it's so hip. So cool. And if you have any jazz listening recommendations, please also DM me. Honestly, I really love hearing from you. If anything has stood out in this episode again, please let me know. And I look forward to talking to you more next week. Lots of love. G'day mate. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. And also if you were to give me a five star review. on Apple podcasts or Spotify it means that other Fearless Singer can find the Fearless Singer Podcast. Thanks in advance

Transcribed by https://otter.ai