Sunny evening of music

When the Beatles first released Here Comes the Sun, they were probably thinking of a St. Albert spring. Okay, maybe that’s stretching it a little.

However, La Vocabella has borrowed that cover as the kick-off song to their spring concert, May Fever, on tonight at Westwood Unitarian Congregation.

Navigating a pathway between jazz standards such as Java Jive, pop hits like Heart of Glass and a series of original compositions, the fivesome cleverly weaves a dash of freshness into old favourites.

La Vocabella is an offshoot of the award-winning Chickadivas, an a cappella group that released two CDs. But while the Chicks incorporated fun silliness into their act, La Vocabella has focused their efforts on sass and sophistication.

“We’re not just a group that sings together. Individually we have strong voices and we like to showcase them as well as pulling together as a group,” says St. Albert alto Bartha Hartman.

Joining Hartman on this musical journey are mezzo-soprano Matricia Brown, alto Dena Epp, mezzo-soprano Regina Landeck and soprano Rebecca Patterson.

Landeck and Patterson are the ensemble’s primary composer/arrangers and they’ve written a song for Hartman titled Not My Day. Landeck was originally set to sing this song where everything goes wrong,

“But when I told her my woes, she thought I should sing it,” Hartman chuckles.

At the time Hartman was run off her feet preparing taxes, teaching voice, doing freelance booking and dabbling in car sales.

“She (Landeck) crafts songs with a singer in mind. Since I come from the world of jazz, I’ll be scatting too.”

Epp, the group’s foremost cook, brings to the table True Desire while Brown, a First Nations educator introduces the stark Medicine Woman Blues.

“Matricia sings it a cappella and it’s accompanied by her drum.”

Landeck just discovered Poisoning Pigeons in the Park and will give audiences a taste of this dark comedy.

“It’s one of those funky songs that’s never played on mainstream radio. You’d probably hear it on Dr. Demento (a radio show of mad music and crazy comedy).”

And Patterson takes us back to Sesame Street with Kermit’s ode It’s Not Easy Being Green.

Throughout the one-hour concert La Vocabella is stepping it up a notch with a blend of instruments including a beatbox, guitar, xylophone, glockenspiel and guitalele, a hybrid guitar-ukulele.

“We just want to show off and get excited about spring. It’s May and hopefully that means the end of the snow.”