St. Albert jazz singer releases debut album

St. Albert jazz singer Chandelle Rimmer is the complete package – beautiful, talented and accomplished.

She has a lush voice, is unafraid of taking risks and when she scats, there’s a freedom of expression that is impossible to duplicate.

Perhaps the best way to describe Rimmer is a comment she made of a favourite singer, Brazilian jazz-fusion vocalist Flora Purim.

“She’s innovative. She treats her instrument like a horn. She’s experimental. She’s expressive. She’s got this immense six-octave range. She’s like me – she doesn’t lose touch with what’s going on. She doesn’t need lyrics to portray music. She’s multi-dimensional,” says Rimmer.

Rimmer may lack a six-octave range, but her vocal intricacies have taken years to develop.

As section head of voice at MacEwan University’s music department, Rimmer is the featured star of the second annual Faculty Concert on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at the John L. Haar Theatre in MacEwan’s Centre for the Arts and Communications.

She releases her eclectic debut album Perspect-ism, a 10-track of material that weaves a sophisticated blend of traditional and modern.

“The album draws from different roles to the different aspects the voice plays in jazz,” says Rimmer.

Born and raised in Westlock, Rimmer was rarely exposed to jazz until attending MacEwan College. But later training at Boston’s Berklee College of Music fired up her passion for jazz and made it her life’s calling.

“I like its complexity. I like the challenges. It’s intelligent yet spontaneous and creative. It’s full of all the things I want to do as a musician.”

Perspect-ism was a long-time in coming, but the result is an intelligent, impassioned undertaking that manipulates the voice in a creative, rhythmic and free way.

For instance, the title track Perspect-ism, a composition devoid of words, was dedicated to her son Brennan, 11. He has autism and Rimmer wanted to compose a song written from the perspective of his world.

“I wrote it from the point of view of his world and how he sees it. There are areas of intensity and calm. It can be fast moving and unpredictable. It has highs and lows much like the highs and lows he has on any given day. I didn’t write lyrics because he doesn’t speak. It’s me interacting with horns and me working in harmony with horns.”

In a different style of modern jazz, Finding My Way adopts a vocal drumming oriented groove similar to Bobby McFerrin’s percussive effects. McFerrin, a 10-time Grammy winner, is best known for his 1988 hit Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Rimmer also recorded a couple of golden standards – Like Someone in Love and Billie Holiday’s Don’t Explain with the simple accompaniment of Tommy Banks on piano.

And she’s given a different twist to Midnight Blue, the theme song from the 1978 movie Ice Castles. Originally, it was recorded as Melissa Manchester pop-folk song.

“When I heard it as a teenager, I knew it would have a presence in what I did. I remade it into a modern-contemporary sound similar to Gretchen Parlato. I did it in an odd 7/4 metre. Not the traditional 4/4. I did a unique arrangement and it’s very haunting.”

At the concert, Rimmer is receiving backup support from other faculty musicians including St. Albert’ John Taylor (bass), Sandro Dominelli (drums) and Chris Andrew (piano).

Rimmer is also introducing new material such as Flight. It was borrowed from a free verse poem her daughter Jolie wrote two years ago for a Grade 7 assignment.

“She is an avid aviation and aeronautics lover. She wrote about a plane and I was interested in the poem’s sense of flight. I kept the jazz at 6/8. It has a natural lilt to it. It’s upbeat and it creates a sense of movement.”

Of the concert, Rimmer encourages jazz aficionados to attend because of the repertoire’s diversity.

“It’s educational without being too outside the box. There are a lot of innovative things going on. There’s a broad range of jazz and there’s not a lot of musicians who do what I do. If you want to hear vocal improvisation, you should come. And I have stellar musicians playing with me – the best in Canada.”