Think Tom Waits meets Portishead meets Sarah Vaughan and you’ll get somewhat of an idea of the unique sound that Andrea Superstein will bring to the Vernon Jazz Club stage Saturday night.
A nominee for the Galaxie award for emerging talent, Superstein returns to the Vernon Jazz Club after a 2012 visit and this time will be joined by Jonny Tobin on piano, Joe Poole on drums and her longtime bassist Rene Worst.
The band will play songs from Superstein’s new album, What Goes On, including pop covers of Venus (Bananarama) and Karma Police (Radiohead), as well as an original song, Just One Time, about Superstein’s awkward first date with her now-husband.
Superstein will also give Vernon a sneak peek from her newest record, which is set to be released at the beginning of November.
Born in Montreal and now living in Vancouver, Superstein has had a love for music since she was a child.
“I was in a lot of musicals as a child and got into folk music as a teen,” she said. “I was always interested in African music and explored some musicology classes when I was in college and university. I grew up going to the jazz fest in Montreal but I didn’t really explore the genre as a vocalist until I went to the B.C. Swing Camp in Sorrento about seven years ago.”
Since then Superstein has studied jazz vocals with two of Vancouver’s finest, Jennifer Scott and Kate Hammett-Vaughan.
She recently teamed up with Juno award winning producer Les Cooper (Jill Barber) on her new FACTOR funded EP, Stars, which was engineered by Grammy nominee Jeremy Darby.
Her sound can be heard both on the international and national airwaves and she has been a special guest on CBC Radio’s Hot Air with Margaret Gallagher.
Superstein has been praised for her sound. Guy Zinger from Adore Jazz said, “Vocal jazz delight: oozing of swing, laid back, dark, emotional; just super.”
Vancouver’s news and entertainment weekly, The Georgia Straight, has said, “The jazz standard song book is in good hands as long as committed young singers like Andrea Superstein come along.”
With her latest full length album, What Goes On, Superstein wanted to meld a variety of her favourite styles together.
“When making this record, I was really looking for a way to blend my jazz sensibilities with other music that I love to listen to and perform. That’s definitely where the jazz and indie music meet,” she said. “I also wanted to find a way to make the music fresh, contemporary, and with a killer groove. I listened to a lot of trip hop back in the day and when we were arranging for the new record, it just kind of came out in one of the sessions and it just made sense.”
Tobin is an in demand piano player living in Vancouver. He can be heard playing with the new R&B group SWEETZ, and Aaron Andrada and Friends.
Recently he played improvised piano for Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s silent film, La langosta azul.
He has received awards from the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Envision Jazz Festival, and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. In November, Tobin will be heading overseas for 10 months to perform on a cruise ship and in a hotel in Asia.
Worst has been a professional bassist since 1971 and has played with an impressive list of musicians including Chet Baker, David Bowie, Alice Stuart, Poison, Aerosmith, Rita MacNeil, and Freddie Hubbard.
He was voted Bassist of the Year by the B.C. CARAS Tribute to West Coast Music for the four years that the award was given. Not only is he an internationally known bass player, but he is also a highly respected producer.
Poole has studied with the legendary Oscar Peterson and has performed with Curtis Fuller, Marcus Belgrave, and Ernestine Anderson.
He has appeared on recordings by Phil Dwyer, James Danderfer, Dee Daniels, and Cory Weeds to name just a few.
Superstein and her band hit the stage at the Vernon Jazz Club (3000-31st St.) Saturday, Oct. 3. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are $20 at the Bean Scene, Bean to Cup, and at www.vernonjazz.ca, with a $5 rebate at the door for members. Cash only bar.
