Swing Time, folks
Amandah, thanks!
for that
Swing
Just Jazz/Ravi V. Chhabra
Its getting better each
time at Shangri-La's Island Bar. A hard-core
professional and a voice to match the true sound
of Swing, charming Amandah Jantzen plays 6 pm
onwards to Jazz aficionados, who love to walk up
to her and make requests for songs. She usually
obliges, unless the notes arent' there in her
song-book.
Equally adept at the
piano, Amanda loves Bill Evans and Keith Jarret,
the magniloquent lady in black has jazz in her
veins. Speaking with fnbworld's
managing editor Ravi V.Chhabra, Amanda explained
that she has been touring South East Asia since
last 3-years and has performed in Singapore for
15-months. She has 4-CDs to her credit and
countless gigs in America, Hong Kong, Bali, Canada
and Mexico. What started as a thing for fun, piano
is now a part of her musical style.
She has
opened concerts for Charlie Bird and Mc Coy Tyner.
This is her first visit to India and she says with
a grin, I" am excited but having a 6-days week
schedule, I haven't yet been able to visit much,
even in Delhi. She enjoys Indian music buy says
she can't mention any titles so far. Her fetish
for Indian food consists of chicken tikka-masaala
and baingan-ka-bharta and she surely managed
to pronounce the north Indian delicacy without the
many pauses one would expect of a foreigner!
She was born and raised in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Amandah was drawn to music
from the age of 5-years. Although she occasionally
performed at jam sessions and in piano bars, she
primarily worked outside of music until 1986. By
then, having discovered in turn Al Jarreau, Linda
Ronstadt, Nelson Riddle recordings, Nancy Wilson
and Sarah Vaughan, Amandah knew that she simply
had to sing jazz. She relocated to Portland,
Oregon five years later and became active locally,
performing in jazz clubs and at concerts.
She was particularly inspired by bassist Leroy
Vinnegar and guitarist Charlie Byrd, evolving into
the warm and highly suave singer. Byrd convinced
Amandah that she should accompany herself on
piano, a move which has added to her musical tour
de force. Amandah Jantzen's singing is well
showcased on her three recordings, Some Other
Time, Devil May Care and My Secret Love. She is
also featured on a third of the songs on the Ellen
Vanderslice compilation.
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