So, what do you do after graduating from law school and passing the California Bar Exam? If you’re Jenny Maybee, a very talented vocalist, songwriter and piano player, you practice law AND pursue your passion for music.
I caught up with Jenny recently at the California Audio Show and asked her how she juggles a law career with recording and performing. “People often have the reaction, ‘Oh, those are completely opposite,’ but I can see the whole spider web that connects it all together, and being a lawyer helps me as an independent artist understand all of the rights and the licensing. Navigating all of that stuff just doesn’t scare me.”
“I always want to be enjoying and reaching for something new and pushing myself into new skills and new ways of thinking, and that goes into the music, to being a jazz person.” Jenny added. “I enjoy firing on all cylinders all the time. Having those multiple things gives me the chance to feel that way. “
Musical Influences
Music has always been an important part of Jenny’s life. She says she was the little kid who pulled the pots and pans out in the kitchen floor to bang on them with a spoon. By the age of 4, she was studying classical piano, she was writing music in elementary school and putting bands together in high school to play jazz.
Growing up in a musical family in Bakersfield, CA, Jenny says she was always playing and listening and learning. “My grandmother played the piano, and I grew up listening a lot with my grandparents. They were into the old show tunes and jazz, so I got exposed to that more, while my peers didn’t hear that kind of music.”
About the Album
Jenny’s album, HAIKU, recorded in 2016 appeared on the national charts where it was described in the press as “a thrilling, intimate, very delicate dialogue…close to perfection.” Jenny’s composition, “Winter Butterflies,” from this album was selected as one of the Top 10 New Songs of 2016.
When I looked at the title, I asked, “What is HAIKU?” You might have the same question, so here’s the answer. You can read more in Wikipedia, but in essence a HAIKU is a Japanese poem meant to convey meaning about a specific image or moment in time. For this album, the moment in time is an inspired partnership between Maybee and veteran jazz record producer/trumpet player/songwriter/arranger Nick Phillips. The two met at the 2014 West Coast Songwriters conference, which is also where Jenny met Cookie Marenco of Blue Coast Music who recorded, mixed and mastered the album.
The album with reimagined improvisations of “Autumn Moon” and “The Meaning of the Blues” combined with refreshing, original compositions from Maybee and Phillips creates a special magic. Essentially it’s an old-school jazz trio with Jenny (piano, vocals), Nick Phillips (trumpet) and Paul Eastburn (acoustic bass) getting together for an afternoon of jamming. The end result is a soul-satisfying mix of vocal and instrumental jazz numbers that are brought to life with risk-taking, live-in-the-studio performances.
And, they didn’t let fancy technology get in their way. There were no headphones, no isolation between musicians, no overdubs and no Auto-Tune. Using Marenco’s proprietary Extended Sound Environment (E.S.E.) recording technique and state-of-the-art, ultra-high-resolution audio technology, Quad-rate DSD, also known as DSD256, records at a sampling frequency that’s 256 times that of a CD and creates sonic quality that brought both warmth and detail to the final product. In fact, depending on your audio system, you can close your eyes and listen and almost believe you’re in the room with a live jazz trio.
Additional Information
HAIKU is the first album where Jenny and Nick Phillips have worked together, and the collaboration seems to be a very good match indeed. It’s also Jenny’s debut as a jazz vocalist. For both, it’s their first full album with Cookie Marenco and Blue Coast Music, however, Jenny’s song, “Interstellar,” was included on the 2016 Newport Blue Coast Sampler 1 released by Blue Coast Records. You can find more background information on the album, listen to tracks, and purchase it here.
So what’s next for this multi-talented jazz vocalist? She says, “As an independent artist, my life doesn’t fit into a mold. It’s more about letting the feeling of the music lead and being open to what’s going to come.” Jenny, I’m hoping this means another stellar album is on the way.