Janet Evra — Finding Jazz Through Bossa Nova, Bass, and the Blues

On this episode of Meet Me in Music, host Neil Salsich sits down with award-winning jazz vocalist, bassist, bandleader, and composer Janet Evra for a conversation about immigration, discovery, the St. Louis jazz scene, and building an international career from the Midwest.

Janet shares how a gap year that brought her from Gloucester, England to Principia College in 2006 evolved into a lifelong home in St. Louis. What started as a singer-songwriter path inspired by Joni Mitchell turned toward jazz almost by accident — first through a life-changing encounter with a Getz/Gilberto bossa nova record as a teenager, then through her husband Will, when the two of them decided, early in their marriage, to simply start playing the jazz songs they both loved. That decision led Janet to buy a bass off Craigslist and teach herself an instrument that's now central to her sound.

The conversation explores place, community, and the tension between staying rooted and reaching beyond it. Janet discusses her forthcoming album of Burt Bacharach music, recorded at Midtown Sound House in Grand Center and set for release ahead of a September 25th show at City Winery, as well as her online video series St. Louis Music Box, which has connected her with Grammy-winning collaborators far beyond St. Louis.

Neil and Janet also dive into the global life of jazz — from Django Reinhardt and Édith Piaf's wartime Paris to bossa nova's journey from Brazil back into American pop — the realities of touring internationally as a St. Louis-based artist, and why building bridges beyond your hometown scene matters as much as being rooted in it. Along the way, they talk singing craft, scat, and the bass players and vocalists who shaped Janet's ear.

More than anything, this episode is about welcome — finding a hometown 5,000 miles from where you started, discovering an art form later in life than you'd expect, and using music as a bridge between St. Louis and the wider world.

They discuss:

• Leaving Gloucester, England for a gap year at Principia College in 2006
• Falling into jazz almost by accident, through her husband Will
• Buying a bass on Craigslist and teaching herself to play
• Growing up in a "hi-fi" household with her dad's records — Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, and more
• What's good (and not-so-good) about the St. Louis jazz scene in 2026 — Blue Strawberry, Pepper, Webster University's jazz program
• Why St. Louis musicians struggle to break out and tour nationally and internationally
• Singing in French, Portuguese, and Spanish, and building a genre-hopping international sound
• Her bossa nova album Love in Rio and the forthcoming Burt Bacharach record
• St. Louis Music Box, her online collaboration series with Grammy-winning guests
• The vocalists and bass players — from Ella Fitzgerald to Esperanza Spalding — who shaped her musical ear
• What she misses (and doesn't) about England, and what St. Louis vs. Europe taught her about pace of life

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Transcript

Intro

SPEAKER_03 0:00

We said to each other, you know, how about we try jazz? Like we both love these songs. Let's just play them. And then that is when I got into the bass as well, and just got myself a bass on Craigslist and just, you know, wow. Saw if I liked it. And I did.

unknown 0:14

One, two, three, four.

Meet Janet Evra

SPEAKER_06 0:21

All right, St. Louis and Beyond. Welcome back to Meet Me in Music. I am your host, Neil Salzik. Today I'm so, so excited and pleased to welcome award-winning, critically acclaimed jazz vocalist, jazz bassist, jazz band leader, jazz composer, and St. Louis and via England, Janet Evra.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Hi, Neil. Welcome. So happy to be here.

SPEAKER_06 0:47

Oh my gosh. Okay. This is an exciting one for me and I and hopefully my guests, because it's the first time in the first uh couple of weeks and months of tapings that I have had a guest in who I've never really met. Although we you did tell me we technically met uh one time.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

Briefly, but yes, I know. I sort of want to interview you back, honestly. So we'll see how this goes.

SPEAKER_06 1:08

Well, you actually feel free to do that, by the way, today.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:11

Uh, because this is one of the concepts of this podcast, too, is that it's not really, it's not as much of an interview. It's really a conversation, you know, where we because I like to get in the mix too, you know, and I'm I'm not just gonna be giving you all these questions that you need to fill out, you know. We're gonna we're gonna talk about um about jazz. And I have so many questions and thoughts on that. We're gonna talk about music and the life of an artist and a creative in 2026. And as I mentioned earlier, I really want to know uh how you got to St. Louis and what you think of this crazy, strange, beautiful city that you seem to enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

I certainly do.

SPEAKER_06 1:51

Okay, so let's start there. Um for our listeners uh that are that are so graciously tuning in, uh Janet is originally born and raised in England. Right? That's right. Okay. So so so set the scene for us. Where, when, just just tell us what that was like.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Sure. So I was born uh in Bristol. This is in the West Midlands

Growing Up in England & Finding St. Louis

SPEAKER_03 2:14

of the UK, it's kind of like the Midwest of the US, but in the UK. And um, but I grew up in Gloucester, which is the city close to the West Side, close to Wales. Not a whole lot of music going on there, which is one of the reasons I felt like I wanted to get out and see more of the world. But in the UK, it's much more common to take a gap year after secondary school. So that's what I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_06 2:37

After high school. Without high school, yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

High school, yeah. So I turned 18 and I thought, you know, I'm just going to go somewhere and see what that's like before I commit to university. So I came over here to a college just on the Illinois side.

SPEAKER_06 2:51

Was where what would that be?

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Principia College. That's what I think. Yeah, yep, up on the Bluffs and the stuff. Beautiful. Oh my goodness. Gorgeous. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 2:59

So many people, I think, have made their way to St. Louis through through places like Principia, which I find very interesting. Um, I um knew a guy uh whose whose father was uh an award uh a very famous um, I think, piano player, classical piano player named Malcolm Frager. Um and his son's name is Andrew, but I always I you know he told me that they came here because of Principia. And then I'm looking up his dad. I mean, Malcolm Frager was playing at Carnegie Hall. He had all these LPs. I mean, so I just I love I love those little stories about how places like Principia can can bring St. Louis Janet Evera. It's incredible. So what did yeah, what did you think when you got over here?

SPEAKER_03 3:44

And yeah, well, you know, um, in England, everywhere is close to each other. Like we complain about driving 100 miles, you know, and over here it's like, oh, that's nothing.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

And then at home, a hundred years isn't very long. So you have an old house, and oh, that's not that old. So we say, over there, a hundred years is a short time and a hundred miles is a long time, but it's the opposite over here, you know.

SPEAKER_06 4:08

Um that sounds like a great lyric, by the way. You know.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

Yes, I didn't coin it, so I know, but no, that just gives whoever it was credit.

SPEAKER_06 4:17

Yeah, as songwriters, no, that doesn't matter if you didn't coin it. You you're the one that can capture it and put it into a song. And we'll get to that later.

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Why She Stayed in America

SPEAKER_06 4:58

So, um, what year is this? Maybe set the stage, not to reveal too much, but I'm I'm just kind of curious.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

I have a Wikipedia, you can see how old I am. But uh but no. I came over in 2006. Okay. So I've been in the States for a while, yes.

SPEAKER_06 5:16

And you have a Wikipedia page.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

I do, which is quite fun.

SPEAKER_06 5:19

I know it is.

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Sometimes I check it, I'm like, somebody updated this. Like, who did that?

SPEAKER_06 5:23

I know. I've typed in once or twice. Do I have one? I don't have one yet, but let's let this podcast kind of continue to go. Once your episode comes out, I think my star will be rising. So wow, okay. So Principia for your gap year, did it um did it grab you right away? I mean, did you go back or were you just hooked?

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Well, I started taking music classes and environmental science classes and fell in love with both of those. And neither of those was what I expected to do. Um, I had planned to do English literature and maybe be a writer. Is this back in university? Yes, I think. After the gap year? Yes, that's right. I had a place at Durham University in England. I was gonna go back after one year and study and do the whole British thing. But over here, I was just enchanted with this idea of another life, maybe. And stuck around and did the degree in environmental science and music. And then I met my now husband in senior year. We, you know, fell in love and we moved away and we did graduate school, and then we moved back to St. Louis, and here we are, and I'm stuck, you know? It's happily awesome.

SPEAKER_06 6:33

Yeah, I love that. And is so was he a St. Louis and or living in this place? No.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

He was also pulled to Principia College, but he's from Maryland. I love that.

SPEAKER_06 6:42

Wow, shout out to Principia College, by the way. I don't know, I've never even really been there, but I'm I it's got a beautiful name. I've always been always been vaguely aware of it on in Elsa as we drive that gorgeous river road. Oh my gosh, what a special, special part of the world over there. So, yeah, and then was jazz kind of in the mix during all of this, or when did that come into the fold?

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Right.

From Singer-Songwriter to Jazz Musician

SPEAKER_03 7:07

So that was late to the game in my music story. Um, yeah, during college, I was much more on the singer-songwriter train. Nice. Joni Mitchell was probably my guiding star. I just learned to play all of her songs. Well, not all. She's got thousands of songs.

SPEAKER_06 7:22

What's your what is maybe your favorite? Ugh. I mean, it I know that's hard, but you both sides now.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

Circle game, little green. Those are my top three, I think.

SPEAKER_06 7:33

Great list, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:35

Well, I somehow I kind of knew you were gonna say Joni Mitchell. I don't know how. You know, when you're talking to someone and you just kind of your mind is almost filling in the blanks a little bit. Because you kind of have like a you got a little bit aesthetically a Joni Mitchell thing going on.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

I'll take that.

SPEAKER_06 7:48

Yeah. So anyway, continue. And and as we as we know, by the way, Joni then kind of totally got into jazz. So I want to talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

So maybe I followed in her footsteps, you know, by accident. Um, but no, so it was kind of through my husband that I got more into it. I guess there are different threads to this story though. So as but going back in time, as a teenager in my room, in my little tiny bedroom in the UK growing up, I was learning to play the guitar first. That was my first instrument. And I got hold of a Bossa Nova album, the Gets Gilberto album, and started to learn some of those rhythms and some of those harmonies, and it just kind of blew my mind. So I knew some of that stuff on the guitar, but I just set it aside. You know, I was writing my own songs and doing more of, you know, maybe a folk pop singer-songwriter thing. Then I meet my husband. He was doing blues and rock and roll, and he had me sit in with his band, and we did a couple of things. And then it was only after we got married a couple of years later, that we

Learning Jazz as an Adult

SPEAKER_03 8:51

said to each other, you know, how about we try jazz? Like we both love these songs, let's just play them. And then that is when I got into the bass as well, because he already played guitar really well.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

And I thought, I need to branch out. What if I did the bass? What if I learned and just got myself a bass on Craigslist and just, you know, saw if I liked it. And I did.

SPEAKER_06 9:14

So that is incredibly refreshing to hear that um you that's I guess of all genres, jazz can come to someone so late in life. Cause it, and I'm no jazzer, but I I it's always perceived as the I always see it as this thing that you're sort of grandfathered into or you're kind of born into or something. And that's probably totally not right, you know, but for whatever reason, that's that's kind of the mysterious jazz in my head, you know?

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Can be, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:42

And that gives me hope because um when we record our song today at the end of this episode, it might be my my first time where I can finally show the world that there's there's a little jazz person inside of me. Yes. You know what I mean? I've always felt that. Yeah. I've always I grew up listening to a lot of jazz, although kind of tangentially or through my dad and sort of sort of easy jazz to get into. Um, but that's always it just gives me so much hope and inspiration that I can that there's still time to express that or explore that music. Because it's so and it's not as it's not as tricky as it seems, I think. I mean, to I w I'm curious your thoughts, but even as I'm learning um Girl from Ephonema, which a song I've uh heard so many times. So it's fairly quick, it's it's kind of coming to me quickly, but I'm also just kind of realizing, okay, once I once I'm making my, you know, I'm looking at the chart you sent me, I'm like, actually, this is this is super doable. You know what I mean? Like, like I start thinking about the numbers, and I'm like, oh, piece of cake. You know what I mean? So um it's it's interesting. So yeah, did you have a lot of experience with like did you did you have an awareness of jazz or a familiarity with it? And then you were learning to play it?

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Yes, yes, I

Growing Up in a Musical Family

SPEAKER_03 11:03

did. So my dad is a huge hi-fi nut. We had like a whole room dedicated to listening in my house growing up.

SPEAKER_06 11:12

Um what's his name?

SPEAKER_03 11:13

My his name is Mike.

SPEAKER_06 11:15

Mike, that is my dad's name. And my dad, I have that's exactly what you just said is like the reason my childhood too. So I think that's uncanny and I think that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Yeah. And did he play you a whole bunch of different genres and styles and like listen to this?

SPEAKER_06 11:30

Always explain. Yes, exactly. And so, and you know, and you know that that's significant because, or just kind of it wasn't even in a it wasn't in a academic way like that. It was actually in a very sweet, kind of helpful way because I would be young and he'd kind of just point out like, hey, so that's you know, that's the guy who played on that other thing. You know, just kind of connecting those dots that that is a special. So, okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Love that you were saying shout out to the mics.

SPEAKER_06 11:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

Yes. So, so yes, I heard lots of different things on on the hi-fi as a kid. Um uh yeah, a lot of it just sort of stuck with me in the back of my head, you know.

SPEAKER_06 12:06

What are those things that you're hearing?

SPEAKER_03 12:08

I'm like, Oh, well, you know, what are the things he's playing? He played some Miles Davis. I was like, oh, that's smooth, you know. Um, what else? Uh Dave Brubeck, of course. Take five, that whole album.

SPEAKER_06 12:21

Um but but and beyond jazz, too, right? I'm sure he was playing all the time.

SPEAKER_03 12:26

We also had an electronic organ, like a church organ, but miniature electronic in our house. He would wake us up with it when he was practicing in the mornings. So it was definitely a house full of music. My mom taught piano lessons as well. My sister is even more of a multi-instrumentalist than I am. She plays like five things. So we always just had music going on.

SPEAKER_06 12:48

Is she playing? Is she doing the things you're doing, or is she more of not right now?

SPEAKER_03 12:53

She's taking a step back into family life at the moment. Of course. But uh, but she's brilliant. So we did some music together growing up, me and my sister.

SPEAKER_06 13:00

So and and your family is still in England?

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 13:04

Right? So that's one of the big kind of questions I was thinking about. Yeah, I mean, do you get homesick? Do you miss them? I can imagine.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

I do. I really do. And now that I have a family of my own, I extra

Missing Home & Life Between England and St. Louis

SPEAKER_03 13:18

miss them. Like I wish that we were closer.

SPEAKER_06 13:20

Of course, of course. But you also wouldn't have this exotic story uh of being in St. Louis, right? That's such a that that's obviously a big kind of that's maybe the first thing people might be wowed by. I mean, even before they hear your music, they if they read your Bible, they go, Oh, especially St.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Louis'ans, they'll be like, wow, you know, wow, something different.

SPEAKER_06 13:43

Which, which is really special. I feel that way too. And and and that's part of um that's that's gonna be the basis of so many of my questions. I'm just gonna be like, what what do you think of this? What do you think of that? Because I find it so, so interesting that you made your way over here. Um, there's but there's a couple other um sort of British or Irish musicians here, you know. And and are you are you is there like a little scene here, a little club? Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

I if there is, I haven't found it yet. If anyone wants to start one, you know, let me know. But um, but no, I haven't met too many fellow Brits.

SPEAKER_06 14:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

I've met some Brazilians though, kind of through music that are here. Yes, I've been I've been, you know, making my way into the Ec Club because I love the Bossa Nova, which is from Brazil. Um, but uh but yeah, there's a fun, a fun expat community of different, you know, nationalities coming together here in St. Louis, which I love.

SPEAKER_06 14:39

When is there anything you can get here? I'm thinking of like food or something. I mean, is there anything that that is comforting to you that you can get?

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Ooh.

SPEAKER_06 14:49

You know?

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Comforting?

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Hmm.

SPEAKER_06 14:52

Like, I don't know, is there a true British pub that you just go to and there sadly is not.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Not again, not that I know of. Maybe if I was more into British football, you know, soccer, then I might, you know, go out of my way to try and find.

Why Janet Loves St. Louis

SPEAKER_03 15:06

I think somebody said there's a place where you can watch, you know, the football game. But um, no, I haven't found anything like that. I do, however, love the restaurant scene here. All the different nationalities. I would never find, you know, Vietnamese food, Balkan food, um, Ethiopian food in the UK in the same way. Like this is a really fun little spot for food.

SPEAKER_06 15:28

I love that you are passionate and positive about our city because um it's it's for whatever reasons so easy or or um popular to have I don't know, to be critical of it. And there's things to be critical of for sure. But I was listen, I had I was listening to another conversation, um, I think a radio interview as I prepped for this. And and you you genu genuinely had a a real a real brightness in your voice when talking about St. Louis. So um what what I let's unpack that. I want to know more. What what is your experience here and what does this place mean to you? You know, I know that's a big question, but let's just see where we get.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

Yes. Well, I mean, I would say St. Louis has been so welcoming to me and to my husband too, because he's not from here. We uh first started getting on the music scene, you know, around the time of my first album in 2018 and started going out to see live music, and we would like tentatively go up and talk to the band after the show and just make connections, and everyone was like, Oh, you know, welcome, you know, here's this other place you can go. Oh, you should talk to this person, let me give you their number and just this wonderful welcoming sense. It was not sort of the competitiveness that you hear about some other cities. So that was just really sweet. And also, I love the the way that you can drive around St. Louis easily. You often don't have to pay for parking, like you can get where you need to go easily. It's just, you know, it's a welcoming and easy place to live. Yeah. And a lot of hometown pride people have who are from

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SPEAKER_03 17:08

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SPEAKER_06 17:08

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Building a Jazz Career in St. Louis

SPEAKER_06 17:38

see, that's remarkable, 2018. You're it you've that's incredible. I don't want to say that you're a newcomer because it's not the truth, but I just your accolades and your your your brand and and everything I see online. I I'm shocked when you say my first album in 2018.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Oh, great. Which I think, no, I think that's incredible.

SPEAKER_06 17:56

Wow, you've done you've done so little in well, no, you've done so much in so little time, relatively. Um, but it was all percolating, right? For years. I mean, years and years. I uh uh musicians know that too. It's like nothing just happens.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

Right, right.

SPEAKER_06 18:14

No way.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 18:16

Um, so what um

Inside the St. Louis Jazz Scene

SPEAKER_06 18:20

you're you're specifically, you know, in jazz in St. Louis, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 18:26

Um actually tell me, because I I really don't quite understand the jazz scene here because I'm not I'm not participating in it actively, although, you know, the jazz, the jazzer inside of me is ready to to blossom, you know, and so I'm excited to to kind of get my feet in the door. But what is the jazz scene like right now in 2026 in St. Louis?

SPEAKER_03 18:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:48

Because I think only the jazz people know that. I think the average St. Louis and might just be like, have no idea what's going on.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Yes. Okay, I'll give you the the good and the bad. There's no ugly, but just the good and the bad. Um, the good is is really good. There are some fantastic players. They come through some schools in the Metro East and over on this side that they're coming up, they're learning. Uh, Webster University has the great jazz program here too. Like people are coming up, learning, they're going to jazz sessions here in the city. There are a couple of great locations for jazz, you know, jam sessions.

SPEAKER_06 19:25

Other than Blue Strawberry, which I've seen.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Yes, Blue Strawberry is one. Um, Thurman's, or rather, Gallery Pub, I think it's called now, has another one. Um, there's an occasional one at Jazz St. Louis as well. Not sure if that's continuing, but um yes. And then there's another one on the Metro East side. The name is escaping me, as of course it will when I'm on the podcast. Um, and there's one more, Pepper, which is North St. Louis. Yes, that's with Kendrick Smith.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

And where's that at? Or what's it called? It's called Pepper. It's actually an acronym, uh P-E-P-A-A. Cool. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 20:00

Okay. This is great.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

There's a lot of good stuff.

SPEAKER_06 20:03

I'm putting stuff on my map here. And I'm going to go back to the city. There you go. Yeah. And I had seen Kendrick at the Blue Strawberry.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:10

And I had dropped in, I had was gigging there on the Saturday before, and I had, of course, left something there, which I I no matter no how matter how hard I try, I leave something at the gig every time. So I so I was driving by on a Wednesday just to pop in, and I couldn't believe what I and I stay, I sat and stayed there for probably like an hour and nice. Just like like lurking in the background. Um, and and Kendrick really blew me away. And there was a young jazz drummer named Roman that I saw. And I don't know, I just and these guys at least they seemed fairly young, and I thought I was so um I was so refreshing to see, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:51

Um, because there's so many different St. Louis has so much going on musically, but they're they they are these kind of um scenes that don't always interact.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

You know, I do know, yes.

SPEAKER_06 21:04

That was part of what inspired me to start this podcast because I thought I I would meet Janet and then I'd meet someone else, and I'd realize like I they they those other two people would have no idea who the other person was.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Right. Well, that's another part of the good side of this, is the scene is so big. There are so many brilliant musicians doing things here. Like, even today, I had a coffee concert at the Sheldon and there was a bass player I'd never met before, but he was brilliant. It's like, oh, okay, great to meet you, you know.

SPEAKER_06 21:33

I agree. I'm I'm always delighted and surprised weekly at meeting someone that I that I wasn't aware of. And as it even for me as a guy that's kind of tracking a lot of stuff, I'm like, even though, even though we'd never really sat down and met, I'm like, for years, I'm seeing Janet Evra written up in in the Riverfront Times or played on on local radio or something, you know, but but yeah, there's still people. I don't go, what?

SPEAKER_03 21:58

You know, how did I not know about this person? It's

SPEAKER_06 22:00

Incredible.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Hidden gems. Yeah. Yeah. So but if I can give you the bad, just to finish that thought. So the only bad, I think, is that these amazing people often find it hard to break out of St. Louis and make connections elsewhere and elevate, you know, to a bigger career, to a touring career, to, you know, albums that have national reach. Like I've been trying, and my husband Will has been trying, you

Why Great St. Louis Musicians Struggle to Break Out

SPEAKER_03 22:24

know, to do that and to get national radio play. And we've succeeded to some extent. And we've gone on tours, you know, internationally, Finland, Romania, UK, France, all these places. But it's been through ourselves kind of pushing, you know, to do it, it's been hard to make the connections. So I love when anyone is trying to make connections to, you know, elevate what people are doing here in St. Louis because it's such good music and such good community, and it deserves to be shared.

SPEAKER_06 22:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:51

No, I think let's let's stay on that for a second. I think that's a really interesting point. Um, I've always felt that, yeah, you it's so good to be rooted here and and be immersed in in the tradition of St. Louis. I'm I'm talking just musically speaking, as an artist and and and meeting and engaging with all the stuff here. But yeah, I've always felt like a super crucial part of a well-rounded artist here is to make sure you're you're exploring beyond, you know, and getting those gigs and and those tours. And that is so much. I think if it was easy, everyone would do it. Well, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 23:28

Um, so how, and you have succeeded in that because you you do have this um not only are you international just by being um British, but you do you have an international flair to your brand. So how has that worked out for you guys?

Touring the World Through Music

SPEAKER_06 23:46

And tell let's let's tell me more about how you made that happen.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Sure. Well, so part of it comes from the fact that I've always loved languages. Like I grew up in England, but I took French classes in secondary school, a little bit of Spanish too, and then in college I took some Portuguese, but I've just always loved speaking other languages. And I've loved music too. So I've always loved singing in other languages and just kind of bringing that flavor of the language and the original language that the songs were in, and the rhythms, because the rhythms are different when you're singing different words. For example, in Bossa Nova, the Portuguese, the way that those people sang the music was so much more conversational and behind the beat and just so different, you know, to what we hear up here in the US most of the time. So I've always loved that. And then it just seemed like a natural fit to take that music and my different songs and different um genres, you know, out on the road with us. And at least here in the US, people have been just like, oh wow, I've never heard a set like that before, which is really fun for me.

SPEAKER_06 24:52

No, that's um, that's you have to have something, right? That sets you apart. Right. So what would I have never seen you perform, and I'm gonna remedy that as soon as possible. But what what is that set look like? What what what what it are the what are the ebbs and flows and different flavors?

SPEAKER_03 25:11

Sure. Well, it depends on the show. So I could do a whole French show. Sometimes I do that. I have an album actually that's all French or French related. Um, I actually just put out my Brazilian Bossa Nova album last year called Love and Rio. That's my latest release with all classic Brazilian slash Bossa Nova tunes. Love and Rio is the name of that album. Um so I can do a whole show of that. Or if I'm going to somewhere completely new and I think, why not give them a grab bag of everything? Then I do original music that I've written, uh bossa nova, French jazz, some of the Spanish sort of bolero stuff from Mexico. Um, yeah. Whatever I feel like they would like to hear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 25:54

One thought I'm curious about, and I think you'll be you'll have a unique perspective on this.

How Jazz Traveled Around the World

SPEAKER_06 26:00

Um, okay. So you're a student of jazz, and jazz is an American uh music form, but I I I find it interesting that now you're from Europe and you're and you're actually uh specializing partly in in say French jazz. So I just I think it's so cool sometimes. I think about this with the British invasion uh rock scene and and the way that they were kind of redoing the blues in their own way. So what is I'm just kind of interested in um uh in how jazz might be different, uh French jazz, for example, like because it started in the States and then it goes back over there, but you're kind of then grabbing onto it once it's you know frenchified. And what is that? Is there anything that you notice or or that makes it feel differently?

SPEAKER_03 26:56

Oh, that's a that's a really good question. I mean, the history of jazz is so interesting when you look at it globally, because it's an American art form. It started here, like you know, generally New Orleans, and then moved up the river here to St. Louis, like a classic progression. But from here, of course, it spread down to Brazil, and then they created music that incorporated it and brought it back up, and then like Bossa Nova, for example, took over the world. But even thinking back, your question made me think back to like Edith Piaf. So she's doing jazz in World War II, you know, France, and she's got these French musicians that have learned jazz, and she's got Django Reinhardt.

SPEAKER_06 27:36

Yeah, I'm starting to go. And and it's and then Django Reinhardt changes the way that most Americans play guitar.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Right, right. It's a give and take.

SPEAKER_06 27:45

And Bossa Nova from Brazil changes pop music in America ultimately, and it's forever, probably.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Forever.

SPEAKER_06 27:53

Oh, so I th I I think that stuff is so heady in a cool way. I just it blows my mind, you know. But keep going with this. I want to know about just like, yeah, what what is is is there something about French jazz that that is that Americans would never create on their own?

SPEAKER_00 28:11

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 28:11

Like like the British invasion was special because it just that that Beatles, that stones, whatever, that stuff had to happen over there because and it's just because of geography and because of the whole thing just makes my head spin in the best way. Right. It's fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

I know, I know. I want to like dive into all the history books and everything. But I mean, I think each country brought their own unique culture and history of instrumentation to it. I mean, jazz manouche came out of France, right? Gypsy jazz.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

And that influenced over here as well. And now there's no world without some of that in jazz. And was and Louie Armstrong was like listening to Django, I think, right?

SPEAKER_06 28:50

I mean, yes, the more I learn about, and I hear that early Django stuff, and it's like it's wicked. I just I I can't even believe it's basically like before the electric guitar. I don't know. I'm this is my this is my sort of late night musical research that's that I'm trying to like regurgitate. Yeah, there's a lot of liner notes on my LPs late at night or or on YouTube or whatever. Um, and like wasn't Django was sitting in at Minton's Playhouse with Charlie Christian one night, I think. I mean, this is all before they even had abilities to record this stuff, but I the whole thing is the the the the sort of global uh nature of of jazz or just pop music in general, rock and roll, and the way that it started here and then goes there and comes back, it gets bounced back, right? Looks totally different, right? And then it's just wow, that's so so neat. Yeah, so neat. Yeah. Well, you didn't realize you were gonna we were gonna do music critical. No, I don't know. This is the stuff I love to talk about. Looking for a yoga studio that actually meets you where you are? Check out Brick City Yoga,

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Janet's Biggest Musical Influences

SPEAKER_06 30:26

Is it fair to say that you're you're a singer first? That's is I don't what do you think?

SPEAKER_03 30:32

Yes, I would I would say that. That was my very first instrument. Yes, great.

SPEAKER_06 30:36

Because that was that was what I would think, you know, and and and that's how I describe myself. Kind of singer first. There's other parts of me. So um what you know, who are the vocalists, I guess besides Joni Mitchell, and you could even say from a pop sense, but maybe specifically jazz, yeah, what are the what's in what's in your what programmed you?

SPEAKER_03 30:56

That's a great question. Well, let's see. I would say contemporary singers, Melody Gardot, Cyril MA, she's a French singer who's amazing at scat singing. Um, Madeleine Peru, brilliant, brilliant singer. Um, and then going back in time, Julie London. I'm not as familiar.

SPEAKER_06 31:18

I knew those three names you had mentioned. I don't know if I've heard that name before, Julie London.

SPEAKER_03 31:23

She was prolific in the 60s. Okay. And and beyond. Um, but she had this very smooth voice, very sultry. She sang jazz. I think she was even an actor before getting into singing, but then her singing career took off. Um, same with Peggy Lee. She was of the same time period. Okay, that one's familiar. You have to do some crate digging. Well, there you go. And then, of course, from the straight up jazz, I mean Billy Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan. I love listening to them for inspiration on, oh my goodness, they've attacked these phrases in just a completely different way. That's part of what I love about jazz singing, is there's so much improvisation. And you can tell they know the music, they know the keys and the chords, and they can just play around with I'm gonna enter this phrase right here and then do a little scoop from a note that you would not expect. That's you know, they just play with it. It's so playful and fun and fresh every time. So I try I try to emulate some of that in what I do as well. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 32:25

Um, was is singing something obviously, you could naturally do it, right?

Learning to Sing Jazz & Scat

SPEAKER_03 32:31

I mean to some degree.

SPEAKER_06 32:33

Yeah, but but to what degree do you or don't you work on it? I'm just curious. This is like a singer talk segment, yeah, which is really my favorite thing to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

I love that. Well, here's where I get to confess that I don't work on it as much as I should anymore. Because again, I have kids. It's it's a lot, it's a lot, but um, but yeah, I do love to listen primarily to work on my singing craft. I listen to what other people have done, and if something grabs my ear, I spend some time on that. Like a friend of a friend was telling my husband the other day, like, well, scat singing, that's that's not real, right? And Will was like, no, no, you could you can learn a scat solo. Like it's it's a defined, you know, set of notes, and the person's making it up, but it's within a scale and it's very hard to do. And he was like, No, that's just they're going scoop ba-doo-ba-doo, right? It was so funny. We just laughed about that.

SPEAKER_06 33:30

Let's see that guy try to do it.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Well, that's right.

SPEAKER_06 33:32

Yeah, like roll the tape, and uh we'll get a few beats and into that tune, and he'll probably nose dive. So yeah, that's um, I've never really learned a scat solo, but um, I'm I'm I think one day I'll get into it and I'm excited for that um that ear training. Because it is even, gosh, when I hear it, it does even as a even as a singer myself who has lots of chops, I'm tempted to feel like, oh yeah, that I could I could do that, but but when I do Well, you probably could. Well, but not right away, is all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

But yes, it takes work.

SPEAKER_06 34:08

Like because of the um one thing I I I I'm appreciating more about jazz singing the more I listen to it is um there's such a precision that that doesn't seem very uh it it doesn't come across as very hard to do. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 34:28

It's right, it's like the duck, you know, looking all calm on the top and paddling under the surface. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:33

Exactly. And sometimes I'll I'll uh I'll hear Ella go off and it's just like she she's not just she is riffing, but she's not really um and she's it's funny, she is riffing, she's improving, she's making it up, but she's completely in control and aware. And those intervals, that's what I love. I think that's what's the most impressive, and and that'll be my like big project or what my my next singing project is to like work on some of that because when they're when they're jumping, you know, whole octaves or fifths or whatever. I mean, that's it's easy to sing notes right next to each other as fast as you can go up and down and up and down. But you know, when you're when you're jumping around and you have to land it, right? You know, that's so exciting to me to hear. Um so but and then the bass is such like uh such a big part of it too, you know. So and and you said you had done that be, you know, kind of isn't that isn't that funny? That's the way so many bass players end up playing bass.

Bass Playing & Musical Heroes

SPEAKER_06 35:36

It's like there's already a better guitar.

SPEAKER_03 35:37

You need a bass player, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:39

But it's usually not an upright bass, right? You know. Um and and you know, is who are you who are your who are your bass heroes? Do you even have any? I mean, or does the bass just kind of serve your whole singing thing?

SPEAKER_03 35:53

Yeah, well, it's it's primarily that, but no, I there are bass players I love to listen to, and I wish I had more. I wish I had twice the hours in a day and you know, to devote to just the bass because it's such a gorgeous craft and a rich history. I see. My favorites to listen to Esperanza Spaulding, sing a bass player, you know, extraordinary. Kind of broke the mold. Yeah, yeah. Yep. I listened to her in concert during college and it just kind of blew my mind, like, whoa, that's cool. You know, I don't think I could ever do that, but that's cool, you know. Um, and then there are the greats, you know, Ron Carter. And I want to give a shout out to Bob Deboo here in St. Louis. Yes, I love listening to Bob. I love what he does to build community here too, but his bass chops are ridiculous.

SPEAKER_06 36:39

He's just incredible, brilliant. He's uh he's a he's a he's a fabulous guy and a great guy that I've enjoyed playing with, and he's my doppelganger, some people tell me. So, you know.

SPEAKER_03 36:49

Now that you say that, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:51

Which most of the time when I have a doppelganger, I'm like, you know, like, but but Bob, uh, the minute I met him, I was just just overwhelmed with his not only his beautiful personality and friendship, but his and talent. You know, it's just okay, buddy. You're I'm I'm his doppelganger. Yeah, he's not mine, you know what I mean? Wow. Um what I do want to leave with, I I still want, I still let's let's mine a little bit more about St. Louis and about I think it's so unique. Not

A British Musician's Perspective on St. Louis

SPEAKER_06 37:21

only are you a transplant, but most people are moving here from just somewhere in the States, but you're from, you know, across the world, which is so special and cool. And um what are some of the things you notice um about our our being here? I don't know, our our way of life. You said we're we're very um welcoming, definitely. Right, which I love hearing and we're we're we have a lot of pride, but in and also the good and the bad and maybe the ugly about this too, if there's anything that comes to mind.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

Yeah, well, I mean I it's it's a difficult question partly because you know I've lived here so long now, I'm fully, I'm fully St. Louis now, you know.

SPEAKER_06 38:07

That's a good that's that's true.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

So I sort of feel like this is this is my place too. But I do remember coming here at the beginning of my time in the States and thinking, oh my goodness, there's so much urban sprawl in general, and just where is the green space? And are there parks for people to go and relax? And is there any public transit, you know, besides the odd bus and things like that? So this is not just St. Louis, but America in general. Yeah. Like I would I would like for people to have space that's community space, maybe more than there is. And now there are some lovely neighborhoods that have these things here, but I just wish there were more of them. I go to a lot of places where you know, sometimes where I'm just performing and it's like the one cultural center in town, and I just yeah, I don't know. I I feel like I hope that there is a good quality of life, you know, more broadly with with green space and places to relax,

What America Can Learn from Europe

SPEAKER_03 39:10

and it's not just work, work, work. Yeah, yeah, that's definitely an American thing to be always working.

SPEAKER_06 39:15

It's it's I had a truly a mind-blowing uh experience. I went to Portugal for the first time um last year.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Nice.

SPEAKER_06 39:23

And I hadn't been to Europe as really an adult. I had gone as a teenager, but you don't really appreciate it then. You're not noticing, right? So I went and that whole you think it's like a cliche or a or a fake stereotype, but I was over there and I was there was something about their lack of and a beautiful lack of worriedness or urgency or whatever. And there was and and the parks, I mean the parks were packed, people hanging out, eating. There's like oh it it it's still I'm still trying to process that and and kind of like sort that out, and it's it's kind of throwing me for a loop because it's true though. There there's a things are more relaxed over there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:07

I do know, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:08

I find that so interesting. Um, and sometimes I'll be um I'll be in Tower Grove Park on a gorgeous day. And I even hate to even say this because it's almost it makes me feel embarrassed sometimes that there's like I'm like, where is everybody?

SPEAKER_03 40:24

I know, you know, everybody's inside.

SPEAKER_06 40:26

Yeah, no, the funny thing is I like that I'm alone there. It like it's a weird, it's a weird paradox. You can't, it's like, what do you want, dude? You can't have it all, you know. But so so it's nice and there, there's like no one around, and that's cool. But but as a as a St. Louis and I'm or as even as American, I'm like, guys, it's like hello, it's like Friday at three o'clock. Like, where's the where's the right in in um in Porto? There was there was the bottles of wine being popped, and people had their their dinner from the market, they were bringing. I mean, it was just an incredible vibe, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Love that.

SPEAKER_06 41:03

Wow. Um, is it is it nice? Is part of your touring angle, like you can be like, oh, I get to go back.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_06 41:11

You know, but it's like on the gig dime, you know.

SPEAKER_03 41:15

Right, right. Yes. So my dream is so right now I'm in the young family stage and it's hard to go anywhere. But my dream is when the kids are older, we can all go on the road as a family and like play festivals and do a tour of Europe and have, you know, shows and vacation and get paid and just live live the dream, you know.

SPEAKER_06 41:38

It is the dream.

SPEAKER_03 41:38

It doesn't have to be abroad, it can be here, but yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:41

Oh, that's a beautiful dream.

SPEAKER_03 41:42

It's a beautiful dream. We'll see if it works works out.

SPEAKER_06 41:45

So the last thing I'll leave our guests with this episode, you know, will take some some months before we're talking now, but maybe broader picture, 2026. Um, what what's sort of in in the cooking in the kitchen with with creatively and and uh career-wise with you?

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Sure. Okay,

New Music, Albums & What's Next

SPEAKER_03 42:02

I do have a lot going on. So while I'm not touring, I am recording a whole bunch. So I just was in the studio last week recording my new album of Bert Baccarac music with a stellar band here in St. Louis.

SPEAKER_06 42:16

At a studio in St. Louis?

SPEAKER_03 42:17

At Midtown Soundhouse in Grand Center. Yes, yes, they are excellent there. Um, so that is gonna come out in September. I'm having an album release show at City Winery on September 25th, which is very exciting.

SPEAKER_06 42:32

Okay, well, this will be out before then. So that's good.

SPEAKER_03 42:34

This will be out shortly before then, yes, yes. So um, so that's the next big thing.

SPEAKER_06 42:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 42:39

Then I'm also working on new episodes of St. Louis Music Box, which is my online video collab series where we've had several special guests from, you know, Marcus Miller, Roy Wooten, Randy Breckett, Taylor Egstey, Sarah Gazarek, lots of like Grammy. We've had seven Grammy winners do it virtually. And this is all part of my plan, tying it back to break out of St. Louis a little bit because we've connected with these people and now like we have some invitations to go play with them at festivals. They've recorded on some of my songs that have been on my previous album. Yeah, it's just a really fun way to do that. So we've got some more episodes in the pipeline for St. Louis music box as well.

SPEAKER_06 43:21

I cannot wait to see them.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

Yeah, thank you. And then I also have some original music cooking for my next original music album after the Baccarak one, um, which will be a lot more in the sort of jazz bossa style, a little bit noir on some of the songs as well. But yeah, we're in songwriting phase finish.

SPEAKER_06 43:40

Whoa. Yeah. Musically speaking, uh, you've wedded my appetite. I'm so good. Yeah, I'm so excited to hear all this and so fascinated. And I'm I'm you've you've just you're you're hitting the nail on the head on so many cool things, especially the um reaching out, you know, being rooted here is great, but but yeah, connecting and exploring. And putting yourself out there beyond is super crucial, I think. And I praise you for that, Janet. And I thank you for being here today. It was a delight to get to know you.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

Well, likewise. And I would love to hear your story sometime too. We'll have to do that one of these times. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 44:19

Amazing. Thank you, Janet. What do you say we play a song?

SPEAKER_03 44:22

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_06 44:23

All right.

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SPEAKER_06 44:24

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Live Performance: "The Girl from Ipanema"

SPEAKER_05 45:17

But name I goes walking and when she passes, each one she passes goes Ah And when she walks she is like a samba that swings so cool and sway so gently And when she passes each one she passes goes Ah Oh but he watches so sadly How can he tell that he loves her Yes he would give his heart gladly But each day when she walks to the sea She looks straight ahead not at he Tall and tan and young and lovely The girl from Lamphan goes walking And when she passes each one she passes goes I think that Oh but he watches so sadly Kitri Shell Can you tell her he loves her Yes she would give his heart gladly But each day when she walks to the sea he looks straight ahead Not at he a tall and tall and young and lovely The girl from Anthony Most walking And when she passes each one she passes goes ha And he doesn't see No he doesn't see No he doesn't see No he doesn't see