It will be a night of stunning music at Strand’s Old House Restaurant in Invermere when Vancouver based, B.C. born and raised Jaclyn Guillou come to town for a live show on April 8.
Guillou is an award winning jazz vocalist who performs original music and jazz standards.
She is on the road as part of the promotion for her debut album To The City. The album features seven original songs performed with her quintet and special guest artists Denzal Sinclaire, Bruno Hubert, Evan Arntzen, Rod Murray and Chris Davis.
The CD has a sound that is most comparable with crossover artists and female jazz singer-songwriters such as Melody Gardot and Madeleine Peyroux.
Guillou uses her compositional skills that lead to interesting and unusual arrangements.
She has been influenced in her music by a wide range of great artists such as Dinah Washington, Diane Reeves, Martin Sexton and Elis Regina along with her own personal experiences.
“Life around me. People, culture and environment. I’m really fascinated by languages and I used to travel a lot to understand dialects and musical genres. I’ve been to Brazil, India, Argentina, Thailand and Europe. I kept travelling around to connect with people who inspired me. The way that they feel, think and react to society inspires me to write stories. I’ve written a song called “You Are” on my new album that is dedicated to the people I’ve met in my travels.”
This young twenty-something artist strives to merge the sound of deep jazz roots and hip modern sounds to appeal to music lovers of all sorts.
She has already been the recipient of a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award from the 2009 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, was chosen as top 10 on the Province Playlist during the Olympics, was a feature act in the 2009/2010 Best of BC music series, and has toured in B.C.’s most recognized jazz clubs and festivals with sold out shows at Cellar Jazz Club, Hermann’s Jazz Club, Vernon Jazz Club, Jazz Vespers Vancouver and the 25th Anniversary 2010 Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
As a vocalist, composer and bandleader Guillou brings a unique style of songwriting to jazz.
“I think of myself as a writer first and foremost. I really enjoy interpreting other peoples songs but I prefer to sing my own stories. The first song I wrote was called ‘The Pink Flamingo” when I was seven years old and I haven’t stopped writing since then.”