JazzNation Talks With: Brigitte Escobar
5.6.2001
JN: How long have you been singing?
BE: I started playing in bands when I was 15. But I started off playing electric guitar in a Rock and Roll band. The reason I started singing as the main thing was that the female singer in the band got pregnant and became too busy so we lost the singer. All the guys in the band were fairly shy, so they said 'you're a girl, you sing'. So I started singing.
JN: So you sing mostly Jazz and Latin music now?
BE: At the moment, yeah.
JN: Is that because you enjoy it?
BE: Yeah, I do enjoy it. I love it. When I was living in Denmark people knew me as a Soul singer. After I came here I started working with Jazz musicians. I always loved Jazz anyway.
JN: What do you consider the best moments of your career so far?
BE: Best moments are yet to come. That's tricky. The best moment is when you feel - it's a specific feeling, it's like music's just flowing through you. That for me is the greatest moment. But it's not necessarily about playing to 20 thousand people. It can happen playing with some mates. Some of the big moments last year, we were supporting the Bueno Vista Social Club, Afro-Cuban All Stars. This year we're gonna support Celia Cruz which I'm quite excited about. I did Expo '92 which I found very exciting. Roskilde Festival which is a huge festival in Denamrk, it's like Glastobury here.
JN: Whereabouts do you enjoy performing most?
BE: I enjoy performing most where people are getting into it the most. Where people are there for the music. It could be anywhere, but if there's interaction between the audience and myself, if they are receptive.
JN: Is there any one venue where you can always rely on a good response?
BE: Jazz venues. People go there for jazz, they don't go there to get drunk. They go there because they love Jazz music.
JN: Who are your major influences?
BE: There's so many. It's impossible to narrow down. The reason I got into music in the first place was not actually jazz, it was the Beatles. It hit me when I was eleven, and I just became totally absorbed and that was it. Then I started listening to Billie Holiday. Stevie Wonder I just totally adore. Too many people. At the moment I'm listening mainly to Flamenco music, World music.
JN: What was the last album you bought?
BE: The last album I bought was Sheila Chandra, 'A Bone Crone Drone'. Drones music.
JN: What's that?
BE: Drone singing? You keep one tone stable all the way through the tune and then you sort of improvise. She (Chandra) does all the vocal percussion. Things like that I'm getting quite excited about. And also, I've got a compilation album with Flamenco which is what I'm listening to at the moment.
JN: How do you think British Jazz music is perceived abroad?
BE: I think there's a bit of a myth, or a way of thinking that I might not agree with, that if you play Jazz you have to be American. I think there's a lot of that. And I think maybe English people themselves have a lot of that on them which, hopefully, we can cast aside because there's no reason to think that way at all.
JN: Why do you choose to stay in Manchester not London?
BE: Well, I came to Manchester for about 5 days just to see what the place was like and I went to a club, which doesn't do Jazz anymore, and I heard 4 guys playing, and I just thought 'okay, that's it. I'm staying here.' After a couple of years those people became the regular people in my band. Everybody talks about London. I haven't lived there. I'd be curious to find out. I must admit that I really love the Manchester way of being. Everybody seems to be so incredibly down to earth and friendly. It feels like being in a village, really.
JN: Do you still visit Denmark much?
BE: I do for Christmas. Even though I'm half Danish, I was born in Spain, so I have roots in 3 different countries. My mother is from Peru, my father is Danish, and I was born in Spain. So until the age of 8 I was living in Spain. Both Spain and Denmark have occupied special places in my heart.
JN: You've appeared in a number of movies. How did this come about?
BE: I did a bit of extra work when I was in Denmark, nothing major. When I came here I got involved in a drama group and we did a few performances here and there. A producer, now a friend of mine, saw us and wanted us for the cast in a movie that came out last autumn.
JN: Is it something you'd like to get into more?
BE: I love it, yeah, I must admit. It's fascinating, because I find it (acting) very similar to singing. It's all about expressing anyway. Especially for singers, the way you feel will very much affect your voice and also the way you sing, and I found that related well with the acting. You have to sort of integrate a feeling, 'be' the feeling, and whatever comes out, just trust that will be right.
JN: What's the next step for your career?
BE: The latest thing I've been doing and playing with is music for meditation. I've just finished doing a bit of a CD, and it's just only voice. Minimalistic. A bit of Indian influence, a bit of Jazz, but it's all very minimalistic. I'm quite excited about that.
JN: Who do you enjoy playing with most?
BE: I have my standard people that I draw on. People who I respect and admire musicly. What is important for me is working with people who love what they do, it always shows in the way they play, if their hearts are in it it's usually good. I look for musicians I click with, it's about being on the same wavelengh, then music becomes almost a telepathic experience. I love that. I must say that people who play chord instruments are the most important people for me, because the way they voice chords and the extensions they use will inspire me. I give and take a lot from the chord player, whether it be guitar or piano. At the moment I'm writing some songs with guitarist Stuart McCallum, we're working on an album.
JN: Where can we see you perform next?
BE: The 30th of June, I'll be singing with Nylon Jungle at the end of the Manchester Jazz Festival at Dukes92.
-JN-
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