Out with the old. In with the new.
Last April while most of us were dusting out winter closets for an annual spring cleaning, CHICKAdivas opted to reform themselves into La Vocabella, a sleek, urbane clone of their past self.
Rising from the ashes of the now defunct CHICKAdivas are the old voices of Dena Epp, Regina Landeck, Rebecca Patterson and St. Albert’s Bartha Stehlin. New to the quintet is mezzo-soprano Matricia Brown, an Edson-based music teacher.
Originally the chicks had wanted to amp up their bookings and contacted former St. Albert music teacher David Garber to act as their agent.
“When he heard us, he said we didn’t sound like sophisticated women with powerful voices. He said our name made us sound like little girls,” explains Stehlin.
And in a competitive music industry where there are only a limited number of live gigs at any given time, people sometimes scratched their heads when the chicks’ name came up.
“No one could catalogue us. We had problems being hired.”
The group revamped their musical repertoire emphasizing jazz, modern pop and musical theatre. While the fivesome enjoy dishing out the humour, they opted to delete the silly jokes not in keeping with the new upbeat, smooth and sassy image.
The new and improved La Vocabella will be strutting their stuff at a St. Albert debut at Bacchus Café and Wine Bar this coming Saturday, Nov. 12.
With the addition of Brown, a First Nations descendant of the Cree culture, the quintet plans to write more original material emphasizing native culture complete with drum accompaniment.
But that project is slated for later in the season. At Bacchus, the harmony-heavy quintet will spotlight a combination of group and solo numbers.
Stehlin for instance flies solo with numbers such as Your Song, Just the Way You Are, Someone Like You and Where Are You Christmas?
“We’re doing it this way to show we’re not just five singers. We can also stand on our own and that is why we are so powerful.”
Each member brings a special textured strand to La Vocabella. Epp is an alto with a deep resonance that grounds the group. As well as having dramatic vocals, Landeck is the main songwriter. And Patterson has perfect pitch.
“Rebecca has an uncanny perfect ear that keeps us on track, and she has a bell-like soprano voice.”
As for Stehlin, well she has one of those rare three and one-half octave ranges.
“Of all, I have the most theatrical background. I got them away from the microphone stand. I’ve got them coming out of their skin and acting more like me.”
Bacchus is the perfect intimate avenue to deliver a liberal dose of jazz, a set of animal songs and a few charts from the musical Wicked.
The gig starts at 7 p.m. Bacchus is located at 21 Perron St. No admission charge.
