Jazz Police - Re-Joyce With the New Voice in Town

“It’s about the words. My voice teacher told me, 'Your job is not to be the best singer in the world—there'll always be someone better. Your job is to make people feel.' I'm here to tell a story." –Joyce Lyons

There’s a new voice in town, and the local jazz scene is all the better for it. Joyce Lyons, a native of Gaithersburg, MD who has performed from New York to Arizona to Italy to the U.S. Supreme Court, recently became a Twin Cities resident. Described by Backstage Magazine as “what cabaret is all about,” Joyce gave us a good idea of what jazz singing is all about when she made her Dakota Jazz Club debut last night in the company of the Tanner Taylor Trio. And it seemed like the beginning of a beautiful friendship, as Joyce only met Taylor, Gordy Johnson and Jay Epstein shortly before the first set got underway. Yet by the end of the evening, there was clearly something copasetic underway among the foursome.

Joyce might be in her first year as a Minnesotan, but has been on stage much of her life. After high school, she attended the Colorado Women’s College, where she studied voice (pop, musical theater and classical) and piano, and received glowing reviews from the Denver Post for her role in Cabaret. Most attracted to small stages and cabaret, she performed in productions of Godspell, Tintypes, Sophisticated Ladies and Little Shop of Horrors in New York, and released her debut CD in 2004, Sooner or Later, with Lee Musiker, Jay Leonhardt, Mark Egan, Walt Weiskopf and more. Another is in the works, recorded live at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Room.

Joyce Lyons©Andrea Canter

Joyce admits she moved to the Twin Cities “for love,” but there are other benefits. “My take on the jazz scene here is first of all, it's a warm, welcoming and extremely supportive community,” she says. “There also seems to be more places to perform here and not just in clubs.”

Of her sidemen for this gig, Joyce noted that “some folks think you can't do any better than musicians from New York, I am here to state that the Twin Cities has great players as well…”

Whether it was the quality of her band, the number of friends and family in the audience, or just the inspiration of her Dakota debut, Joyce Lyons gave ample notice that she is a jazz force, a singer with big ears, solid pitch, an improvisor’s knack for phrasing and intelligent use of tempo and dynamics. And a repertoire to keep everyone on their toes. Her second set included an easy swaying “One Note Samba,” the bluesy but seldom heard Billie Holiday “Please Don’t Do It In Here;” a subtle and sophisticated arrangement of “Round Midnight;” a bright mid-tempo reading of “But Beautiful;” a but-beautiful rendition of “The Folks Who Live on the Hill;” another infrequently heard “I Waited Too Long at the Fair;” and the Peggy Lee closer, “I Love Being Here With You,” one that everyone sings but few sing with fresh conviction. And her collaboration with Taylor, Johnson and Epstein was prescient of magic to come as the audience grows for this happy transplant.

What’s new in Twin Cities jazz? Joyce Lyons.

Check out Joyce Lyons online at www.joycelyons.net.