Claudia with Mike, Dean, Chris © Andrea Canter

“It's a trip to sing tight arrangements with big bands, and satisfying on a certain level, but I'm more drawn to the improv situation. It's like the difference between gardening and foraging.” –Claudia Schmidt

How did venerable folkie Claudia Schmidt end up on the Dakota stage making a live jazz recording? “I have always been a musical sponge, so my first opportunity to hear jazz (as an older teen) really sparked something,” says the veteran of Prairie Home Companion. That first opportunity was a live performance by Ella Fitzgerald. Then, “an older friend who was a sort of genius dragged me to hear McCoy Tyner and Sam Rivers. I had no idea what was going on with some of that, coming from my choir/folky place, but I loved it.” It took a couple decades for Claudia to come to terms with her jazz aspirations and start recording some of the tunes of the Great American Songbook. Finally last May, with the inspiration of the Dean Magraw Quintet, Claudia Schmidt recorded Live at the Dakota, and the Great American Songbook was left on the shelf. With a diverse repertoire of original tunes and lyrics, as well as seldom-sung gems from Ornette Coleman, Joe Henderson, Horace Silver, and Sergio Mendes, this recording was recently celebrated in Minneapolis with a reprise of Live at the Dakota.

Claudia Schmidt

Claudia Schmidt © Andrea Canter

A native of Michigan (currently residing in Traverse City), Claudia Schmidt has been singing since age four when she gave her neighbors a rendition of “Tammy.” Over her three-decade plus professional career, Claudia has been best known as a singer/songwriter of folk and blues, an accomplished performer on 12-string guitar and mountain dulcimer, and a regular during the early years of Prairie Home Companion. Describing herself as a “creative noisemaker,” Schmidt has released more than a dozen recordings and has appeared on the stages of concert halls, small clubs, and folk festivals. Along the way she also found time to operate an inn and restaurant on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.

And all experiences have been fuel for her creative fire, her songs and lyrics typically reflecting the tales and challenges of modern life. Always eclectic in style and material, one reviewer described Schmidt’s approach to music as combining “the vocal purity of Joni Mitchell with the wry observational humor of Lily Tomlin and dollops of philosophical poetry” (Derek Richardson, San Francisco Gate). After a series of primarily folk recordings for Flying Fish and Red House Records through the mid 90s,Claudia joined forces with the Michigan-based New Reformation Jazz Band, first releasing a gospel jazz project, then a tribute to Duke Ellington and George Gershwin. Forming her own jazz quintet, Claudia Schmidt and the Jump Boys released two CDs on the Independent Records label in 2001, Live at the Old Rectory Pub (her Beaver Island inn) and I Thought About You, a collection of jazz classics. A spoken word project (Roads) followed in 2003. Still exploring her folk roots, Claudia released the all-folk Spinning earlier this year.

Jazz Singer

As for her apparent turn to jazz, Claudia notes that she has always incorporated jazz elements in her music. As far back as 1983, her recording Out of the Dark included classic jazz tunes, Hoagy Carmichael's “Skylark” and Duke Ellington’s “I'm Beginning to See the Light.” “Even my early songwriting had a lot of modal ambiguous chord structure, not your basic hootenanny stuff. So it was just a matter of catching up to it over the years.” But refining her jazz chops and establishing credibility as a jazz singer have presented challenges. “There are a couple of challenging things, and they have little to do with the music itself. The first is to be recognized as a musician when I come as a ‘singer.’ … There is a schism between players of other instruments who have a hard time taking a singer seriously. Hence, sometimes I feel like I have to waste a lot of time 'proving' myself instead of just getting to the music-making. Such a waste! The other thing is my ability (and desire) to move through different musical worlds confuses people and makes them suspicious of my sincerity/ability in their chosen genre. Hence, the folkies are afraid of me now because I'm doing more jazz, and the jazzies assume I can't sing jazz because I've been a folksinger for years.”

Claudia Schmidt and Cris Bates © Andrea Canter

Above all, Claudia Schmidt remains open to a wide realm of musical possibilities: “I've always been happiest doing as many different things as time will allow. One thing feeds another. I love the interplay of a band, but then it's a pleasure to go back to my solo thing where I am totally free to go any direction at any moment, then I get lonely for a band again…and so it goes. I would like to do some work with symphonies at some point [her local symphony has performed several of her compositions]. I am most interested in continuing to learn and discover. So far, the [vocal] chords are holding up beautifully. I've never felt stronger or more limber vocally…so as long as I hold up and hold on, I am open to just about anything.”

Live at the Dakota

Claudia first performed at the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis in spring 2005, but her connection to Dean Magraw dates back to her days on Prairie Home Companion and several folk projects, including a Red House recording with Magraw and mandolinist Peter Ostrushko (Wings of Wonder, 2000). “His guitar becomes a blank canvas before every song and you never know what will come out,” she says. “He's a musical miracle.” She had also performed locally with Chris (bass) and JT (drums) Bates, but until the day of the live session at the Dakota, she had never met pianist Bryan Nichols or saxman Michael Lewis. “We had one 2-hour rehearsal and the rest was catch-as-catch-can. You can hear some rough spots here and there on the recording, but being a process-oriented gal, I can live with that, because it's how you get to the next place that makes it all so interesting and exciting. That's why I gravitate toward small lose combos.”

Live at the Dakota is billed as “Claudia Schmidt With the Dean Magraw Quintet” but it might more aptly be described as the “Claudia Schmidt/Dean Magraw Sextet.” This is a collaborative ensemble effort where the vocalist is truly an instrument and, as often as not, the focus is on one or more of the other “voices.” For a vocal production, the tracks are generally long (four exceed 8 minutes), and this reflects the importance of the instrumental explorations. Further, Schmidt uses her voice as another horn (or at times, guitar), frequently blowing in tandem or in vocalese solo.

Claudia with Mike, Dean, Chris © Andrea Canter

There are no songbook classics here. The covers are unusual sources for vocal presentation save the Sonny Burke/Lionel Hampton/Johnny Mercer hit, “Midnight Sun”—Joe Henderson’s “Recordame,” Ornette Coleman’s “Turn Around,” Sergio Mendes’ “So Many Stars,” and Horace Silver’s “Peace,” as well as Sheldon Posen’s “Having a Drink With Jane.” Schmidt provides lyrics for “Turn Around” and four original compositions, a bold move away from her first jazz recordings of familiar fare. And it was inevitable that Claudia Schmidt would turn to her own creative resources as she became more and more immersed in the language of jazz: “The artistic challenge for me is to find the more obscure songs, especially tunes that are played instrumentally quite often but don't get sung —it delights people to find there are lyrics for these familiar tunes,” notes Claudia. “Also, as a writer, it just feels natural to introduce my original work into the jazz setting as I become more proficient in the style and language. It's a carryover from my work in the folk genre. I've always been more fascinated in finding the out-of-the-way things, and then matching them up with my stuff and each other.”

Starting off with “Recordame,” it is immediately apparent that her instrumentalists are more than a supporting cast, as the opening track showcases the band more than Claudia herself. Michael Lewis, better known locally for his avant garde work with Happy Apple and Fat Kid Wednesdays, offers up a spiraling solo, and the Henderson tune presents a fine introduction to one of the newer young keyboard monsters, Bryan Nichols. Dean Magraw shows his mastery of guitar lines and harmonies, and a winding bass solo from Chris Bates adds further interest. Here Claudia shows her range, especially in her upper register, evoking something of a higher pitched Patricia Barber feel to some of the lines and phrasing, but it flows into a more conventional sound. Often it seems that she serves as soprano sax partner to Lewis’ tenor.

Ornette Coleman’s “Turn Around” is given new life from Schmidt’s lyrics. Magraw answers her with an appropriately whiney improvisation, while Lewis’ fusiony passages offer more accessibility than did Coleman himself; Chris Bates takes a wonderfully kinky solo.

Claudia’s “Everyone’s Blues” is a standout tracks, and the longest at over 9 ½ minutes. Her voice blending well with Magraw and Chirs Bates, here she conjures another set of strings, modulating her vocalizations like a reverberating guitar. Lewis adds a mournful horn, but the instrumental force is Magraw, sliding down the strings with an eerie, deep Delta blues tone, creating a swampy darkness that envelopes the ensemble. Another Schmidt original, “I Dreamed My Baby Wanted Me Tonight,” starts with a spoken introduction leading into classic Claudia lyrics. Lewis adds a twisting boppish solo—it’s fun to hear him in this more straight-ahead context. Magraw cuts loose with some major snarls and squeaks, while Claudia scats with the guys like another guitar on the loose; it all ends in a marvelous cacophony.

Bryan Nichols and Michael Lewis © Andrea Canter

Sergio Mendes’ “So Many Stars” is usually heard as a beautiful instrumental ballad. Schmidt carries the the melody while Nichols provides rather abstract comping. Lewis joins in, again sounding more like an early bop man; Chris Bates pushes ahead with a longing, dark-toned line while brother JT propels with a clicky vamp from the trapset. As on the first track, this is more of an instrumental showcase, with Magraw adding an other-worldly overtone midway that slides around the chords like a slinky; Nichols has one of his best opportunities to show his lyrical facility. The relatively short track, “Having a Drink With Jane,” is a slow swing with a catchy tune and gliding lyrics til Magraw takes it apart. “Midnight Sun” opens with Schmidt singing over just a vibrating bassline, the vibrato enhanced by Magraw, while again Michael Lewis takes a shining solo.

The original, “Your Love,” reflects Schmidt’s trademark humor in the sassy lyric. Magraw, Leiws and Nichols each swing on their own while the Bates brothers keep the pulse steady and brisk. Claudia’s vocalese on the later choruses whines and bounces, again a great fit as a collaborating instrument. Offering a different perspective on a similar theme, Claudia’s funky “Another Love Gone Bad” begins as a conversation with Mike Lewis, vocalese versus sax, before she launches into the original lyrics. A great storyteller is at work, and Schmidt is at her best with her own material, whether using her voice as the sixth instrument or playing raconteur. It’s a party for the band, with great twanging tones from Magraw and Chris Bates, buzzy phrases from Lewis, and a tribal beat from JT, all bubbling up from an aural swamp. Claudia sings it out with a riff from “If I Only Had a Brain” to everyone’s delight.

Claudia Schmidt © Andrea Canter

Horace Silver’s “Peace” is familiar as an instrumental and as such includes an extended ensemble interlude. Lewis starts off with a sultry chorus, while Magraw executes a wonderfully sinewy solo with a delectable whine. Lewis then takes off on a more abstract mission over Chris Bates’ countering and equally abstract line; Nichols adds his thoughts while JT pushes it ahead with his brushes before Nichols takes the lead. You seldom get this level of improvisation on a vocal recording! As for Schmidt, her voice is at its most elastic here, particularly in her high-end explorations. A final short track of applause and thanks sends everyone home with a sonic farewell.

My only quibble with this otherwise delightful recording is that the sound, particularly as it comes through the vocalist’s mic, has too much of a fusiony distancing, a slight echo, not the usual intimate warmth from the Dakota stage. There are moments when this works to everyone’s advantage, particularly in the context of some of Dean Magraw’s bluesy whine. But I heard this live when it was recorded last spring, and the mix at times seems a little dark and hollow in translation.

My concerns about the sound quality are trivial relative to the overall impact of this recording. Whether you’ve enjoyed Claudia Schmidt, folksinger/songwriter, over the past three decades, or if you are late in discovering her many charms and talents, now you will find yourself surrounded by a uniquely gifted, definitely jazz artist.

“The choice to include original work in the recording is my way of saying, Hello, I am coming into this thing with a lot of different dimensions, so please check it out and don't just dismiss me as 'yet another female jazz vocalist'!” –Claudia Schmidt

Live at the Dakota can be ordered through Claudia's website at www.homestead.com/claudiasings.