Rattray Marsh is one of Nancy Walker’s, “favourite places to walk and think and marvel,” she says in the liner notes of her new CD, which features photos by Nadia Molinari (above) taken in Rattray and Jack Darling Park.
The music inside her newest – the fifth adventurous straight-ahead swinging jazz release of the pianist’s fine career — certainly makes one think and marvel at Walker’s power to produce organic music that seems to seep into your pores.
Tuesday, Walker took a stroll on her semi-regular 50-minute walking route through the marsh and reflected on her music, her love of nature and the little hiatus that followed the release of her last album, When She Dreams.
That album, released on the major label Justin Time Records, was her reward for winning the prestigious Grand Prix de Jazz award at the Montréal Jazz Festival in 2003. It was filled with the introspective, evocative harmonic and rhythmic shifts that mark her best work.
“That came out right after my Mom passed away,” says the Montréal-born, Oakville-raised musician. “I had no burning desire at the time to write tunes or to do the leader thing.”
In September 2006, Walker was gigging around with her trio — bassist/husband Kieran Overs and dynamic young drummer Ethan Ardelli — when they decided to record some of the tunes she had written. While very happy with the classic trio sound it produced, Walker didn’t actively pursue the record until she hooked up earlier this year with the Timely Manor label, which has widespread distribution through Universal Music Canada.
“The impetus was back and I’m really glad,” says Walker. The CD is called Need Another, which seems appropriate under the circumstances.
The addition to her group of 22-year-old Ardelli, who Walker first met when he was a teen attending one of her concerts at a legion hall in his native Cape Breton, has re-energized the pianist. “He’s really mature as a person and he’s a fantastic drummer. He can do all the dynamic stuff, but he is also intuitive and sensitive and a great accompaniest.”
Of course, Kieran is still the anchor to the trio’s commanding sound. The bassist, who works regularly with Jane Bunnett and Sophie Millman among many others, is definitely more prominent in the trio setting.
As the waves roar up the shore of the beach at Jack Darling Park, Walker says she has always been inspired by natural settings but doesn’t intentionally try to replicate the sounds she hears. Nonetheless, two of the best songs on the strong lineup of Need Another are Camassia, named after a spring bulb the avid gardener is extremely fond of, and The Pine Forest.
Since she’s just moved to old Port Credit just a couple of blocks away from Lake Ontario, there could be even more of that pastoral influence in her compositions in future— once she gets her piano back from reconditioning in a couple of weeks.
Need Another also includes a tantalizing reworking of John and Michelle Phillips’ California Dreamin.’ Although the late Denny Doherty used to live around the corner from Walker and Overs in Lorne Park, the song is not a tribute.
“It’s interesting to do songs that everybody knows,” says the part-time instructor at Humber College. “I just thought it would be fun to do it in 7/8 (time.)”
Speaking of songs everyone knows, Walker was approached last year by Somerset Entertainment to do an album called Rainy Days and Mondays for the Reflections label. They make those Solitudes and nature sound recordings that are available in numerous green and department stores.
It featured jazz-tinged (Overs on bass, Rob Piltch on guitar, Davide Direnzo on drums) takes on Eric Carmen’s All By Myself, Billy Joel, Carpenters etc.
When the 2006 Juno nominations came out, there was Walker’s name in the instrumental album of the year category for Rainy Days. The nomination was based largely on sales.
All the jazz critics started calling Walker up and wondering why they didn’t know about the release.
Such is life. You slug your guts out blazing a trail through the jazz jungle and some little side path lands you at the Junos.
Walker just laughs at the irony of being a “commercial” success.
If there is any justice, she may find herself at the national music awards again, in one of the category that tends to recognize consistent, ongoing artistic excellence.