Joan Stiles

“Professionally my first gigs were as a folk singer. I played a guitar, sang and did a singer/songwriter thing for a while.  I became very interested in Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. I researched the ballads and songs that influenced them. I learned all the words to the Bob Dylan songs, just like kids today know the words to rap music. I remember playing my first guitar until my fingers were absolutely bloody. I practiced all of the time. Within a few months, I was performing professionally. When there were high school dances, I would be the intermission act and I would perform Bob Dylan songs or ballads that I had written.” 

 You are probably thinking that the above quote could describe how a lot of musicians and singers get their start in music, and you would be right.  What is a little surprising is that the person who first performed “Revolutionary Bob’s” tunes is ensconced in a style of music very distant from anything Dylan ever thought of recording or performing. The individual quoted is jazz pianist Joan Stiles, whose debut CD, Love Call, released in 2004, was critically acclaimed and, in some circles, heralded as one of the emerging bright lights on the jazz music scene.  Love Call went on to be ranked # 9 on Jazz Week’s charts for 2004, quite an accomplishment for a then relatively unknown artist.  

Proving that there are many paths one can follow until an artist finds herself, Stiles also played and sang with a rock band. I can feel the hardcore jazz traditionalists shuddering and murmuring under their collective breaths, “How did she get in? Who let her in?” She let herself in, thank you very much. Her excellent piano chops and love for the music of Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, Thelonious Monk and Count Basie infuses her playing and has endeared her to countless fans. 

The native of Brooklyn, New York, who now lives on the Upper West Side, was also heavily influenced by her father’s musical tastes. “My father was an amateur singer, and my first musical experiences were singing with him. He was someone who loved the songs of the gay nineties. We would harmonize songs as we sat at the piano and he sang in his baritone voice. I learned a lot of the chords for the older songs. My father was a ragtime aficionado, so I have always liked the pianists who played with their left hand. I would listen to the American popular song repertoire and I would improvise,” says Stiles. 

It took awhile for those childhood impressions to resurface as Stiles was first discovered and subsequently played with and sang with a rock band, the Aluminum Dream, then turned her attention to studying classical piano before settling into a jazz groove.  

“If I am going to play a standards tune, then I personalize it. If I can’t do something with it that hasn’t been done before, then I am probably not going to choose that tune,” says Stiles in explaining her decision to record Richard Rodgers’ song, “Surrey With the Fringe On Top,” for Love Call. “I decided to do it when I heard a Mary Lou Williams’ version of it, but her version really didn’t have anything to do with mine. Suddenly a vamp appeared in my left hand, almost Thelonious Monk like. I superimposed that vamp and alternate chord changes beneath the melody. I transposed it into an unusual key (for a song imbued heavily with horns), which was G Major. Most songs that favor the horn players are in the flat keys. G Major is just so bright and positive. It is always nice to have the sherbert between the courses when you do G Major,” says Stiles.  

Hurly-Burly

Love Call was recorded in 1998, and six years passed before the album was released. That could have been the final devastating blow to the career of many artists; however Stiles persevered. Jazz fans everywhere are better for her decision to stick at her chosen profession, because Love Call is a wonderful CD with sprightly tunes, featuring outstanding musicians such as Frank Wess (tenor sax), Clark Terry (trumpet), Jerry Dodgion (alto sax), Joe Temperley (baritone sax, bass clarinet), Warren Vache (trumpet), Wayne Goodman (trombone), Benny Powell (trombone), John Webber (bass) and Gregory Hutchinson (drums).  

Stiles had never played with most of the musicians who played on Love Call and she refers to her decision to approach them as an exercise in bravado. “I just called the people up. Once I had one or two of the musicians, everybody else wanted to do it, because I would say, ‘Jerry (Dodgion) is playing on it, or Frank Wess is doing it.’ I gradually built up this ensemble. It was such a pleasure to play with these extraordinary musicians that have careers stretching across decades and the whole tradition of jazz. For them to be playing my charts, and for me to be playing with them and comping for them, is still a thrill and a highlight of my life,” she says.  

The title Love Call is derived from one of the tracks on the album, “Creol Love Call,” a Duke Ellington piece. Many of the songs that appear on this CD explore the many moods and faces of love, from the sensitively orchestrated “When I Fall In Love” to the quaint “Tea For Two,” and others such as “My Man’s Gone Now.”  
 

The title for Stiles’ current CD Hurly-Burly in part draws its inspiration from the fact that “Burley” (note the spelling difference) was Mary Lou Williams’ maiden name. Although Stiles only attended one Williams’ concert, she was captivated by the artist and her work. “I saw her perform once at the Cookery. I cannot recall what she played, but I do remember her presence and feeling that she had the most intense vibration of any person that I had ever been around. I remember that she sat at the piano with a commanding presence [and it was like] she almost didn’t have to play. It wasn’t until a later [date] when I was listening to her music that I realized there are things about her music that really resonates with me. It greatly appealed to me that she was able to play through all of the eras in jazz from ragtime to spirituals, blues, swing, bebop, bop and forms that are even more contemporary. Her compositional talents were as extraordinary as her piano talents,” says Stiles. 

“Although this is not a tribute album per se, there are associations to the life and work of Mary Lou Williams throughout it. Along with the dedicatory title track, ‘Hurly-Burly,’ there are two compositions by Williams, the bop workout ‘Knowledge’ and the zany ‘In The Land Of OO-Bla-Dee.’ I also include new arrangements for compositions by musicians with whom she had important relationships, such as ‘Fats” Waller’s (Jitterbug Waltz)’,” Stiles explains. 

Stiles contends that Williams’ influenced the careers of Thelonious Monk, Johnny Hodges, and Duke Ellington, all of whom for which she wrote charts during the 1940’s.  All three men are represented in the opening track, “The Brilliant Corners Of Thelonious’ Jumpin’ Jeep.”  On Hurly-Burly, Stiles also interprets Monk’s compositions “Pannonica” and “’Round Midnight.”  

Stiles, who also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, has an ongoing concert series titled, Mostly Mary Lou, with new arrangements by Stiles. In addition, she presents the lecture/demonstration, Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings The Band.  

If you enjoy good jazz piano that pays tribute to the traditions of jazz, and several of the genre’s greatest composers and players, then you should check out both of Joan Stiles’ CDs, Love Call and Hurly-Burly. The second album features Jeremy Pelt (trumpet, flugelhorn), Steve Wilson (alto sax), Joel Frahm (tenor sax), Peter Washington (bass) and the magnificent Lewis Nash on drums.  

For more about Joan Stiles, visit her website at http://joanstilesmusic.com/