Photo by Andrea Canter

Last winter, area vocalist Carole Martin released her first recording in 30 years. Thankfully, Vicky Mountain only waited a decade. Don’t Go to Strangers, released in early 2005, came eleven years after Birds of a Feather. Noted Vicky, “I wanted this CD to be as eclectic as my performing career; the happy swing and scat, the beautiful ballads, the avant-garde, and a taste of the soulful R&B.” This diverse description aptly reflects the content of Don’t Go to Strangers, and the wide ranging talent of Vicky Mountain.

About Vicky Mountain

Vicky Mountain indeed has had a wide-ranging career as a performer and educator. Raised in the Red River Valley of North Dakota among a family devoted to music, Vicky remembers hearing her mother singing around the house—she “would make up her own melodies – even sing the grocery list.” And among her ten siblings, all five sisters are singers. Vicky’s early music influences were quite diverse, from Gregorian Chants to the pop hits of the day—the Beatles, Led Zepplin, the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell and Janis Joplin, to such soul stars as the Temptations and Smokey Robinson. But then she discovered jazz when she moved to the Twin Cities in the early 70s—Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Parker, Davis, Coltrane, and most importantly, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Rosemary Clooney, Betty Carter, and the other top vocalists.

Vicky came to the Twin Cities in the ‘70s to act in the Minneapolis Ensemble Theater, but soon was forming bands and working with experimental jazz projects. In 1987 she won the West Bank School of Music Jazz Composers Series award, and as her reputation grew, so did her repertoire. In 1990 she toured South American with the Lakewood Jazz Ensemble and appears on two of the group’s recordings. Over the past decade, Vicky has worked not only as a performer but as a lyricist and educator. “I’m always thrilled when the composer likes my lyrics. The melodies that capture and inspire me create the pictures that become my words,” she says. Vicky initially taught at the West Bank School of Music and has been on the faculty of the McPhail Center for the Arts since 1986, specializing in jazz improvisation technique, vocal performance, theory, and private voice instruction.

Don’t Go to Strangers

The play list for Vicky Mountain’s second recording is both comfortable and novel, eclectic and sophisticated. Although she does include some standards, they are complemented by seldom-heard and original tunes. From her tour of South America with the Lakewood Jazz Ensemble, she seems to have brought back some Brazilian influences. Across the diverse tracks, Vicky’s theatrical background shines through as well as her ability to twist a lyric to tell a story in character. Overall, this is not the Great American Songbook but a set of more contemporary, yet accessible, arrangements. Throughout, Vicky’s contralto caresses your ears with a warm familiarity that belies the creative muse at work on every song.

Photo by Andrea Canter

In assembling the cast of musicians for her new recording, Vicky did not go to strangers but to the cream of the crop of Twin Cities’ musicians (pianists Chris Lomheim and Laura Caviani; drummers Jay Epstein, Michael Pilhofer, and Greg Schutte; bassists Gordy Johnson and Michael O’Brien; percussionist (co-producer) Tony Axtel; saxophonists Greg Keel and Pete Whitman; trumpeter/arranger Kelly Rossum. Notes Vicky, “They all have such great ideas and energy. I love their playing – such great support and inspiration for a singer… It’s amazing to hear all the ‘moments’ at once – really an alchemy of skills and spirit. I so much appreciate all their hard work and lifetime of dedication to the art of jazz.”