An Interview w/ Phyllis Chapell
Chronicle: Phyllis, I can’t tell you how pleased The Chronicle is to have this opportunity to chat with you. I will try to make these questions pointed, but you being one of my all-time favorite musicians, and a friend, it will be difficult. Phyllis Chapell: Bernie Capodici, thank you ever so much for your friendship and for our collaborations. I'm thrilled and honored to be part of your interview series! Chronicle: For all my interviews I do a lot of research on my guests: Do you know you were named one of the top 521 jazz vocalists of all time by Scott Yanow in his 2009 book The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide? Phyllis: Yes, and I bought 2 copies of his book :-) Chronicle: You were also named “one of the top jazz vocalist of all time” in the City Suburban News. Phyllis: Those kinds of superlatives make me cringe; but I'll take it with as much graciousness (and a little grain of salt) that I can muster--there are so many great jazz vocalists! Chronicle: Last we spoke, you were in the middle of doing some videos--could you tell us about that?
Phyllis:
I've been doing videos for the past five years with the amazing videographer / producer Rodney Whittenberg (www.melodyvision.com). The first ones were part of a grant from our funding organization (now defunct) Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour. But after my partner Dan Kleiman died in 2010, I decided to do a 3-part video: a documentary about water, a tribute to Dan, and an actual music video of the song that Dan wrote "A-E-I-O-U Water." Then there was one more video of a song taken from Psalm 34 performed at the Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philadelphia. Four of the audio portions of my videos will be part of the new CD that I'm working on right now.
Chronicle: Do you feel the videos help get new fans? And how do you use them? Phyllis: I'll be doing a bunch of promotion on these videos after my newest project. Then I'll tell you how good these videos are for getting new fans :-) But I will tell you that I did do some promotion on the Water Song I mentioned earlier, and, with the help of 2 great ladies, Sharla Feldscher (publicist) and Karen Young (Director of the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center in Philadelphia), the video was installed at the Water Works as part of their ongoing educational programming. Chronicle: For those who don’t know it’s purported that Phyllis sings in thirteen languages. Is that true? Phyllis: Well, technically yes, but some of those thirteen languages are just maybe one or two songs in that language. It's really all about the song. Whenever, wherever I find a song that inspires me for some reason, then I learn it--in whatever language it's expressed! The main body of international material is in English (of course), Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Hebrew, Yiddish. Chronicle: There are very few singers who can pick up a guitar and go out and do solo work. This says a lot about your musicianship. Tell us about how you learned to play guitar. Phyllis: I learned to play guitar as a teenager, playing folk music mostly. Then a hiatus for a few years -- but back to it, eventually learning jazz, some pop, and international songs. And I also compose songs on the guitar. The guitar gives me so much freedom and flexibility and strength. I'm so glad I was encouraged (even when I didn't really want to put in the work!) to learn to play! Right now, a lot of my performances are solo (vocals and guitar). Chronicle: Do you play any other instruments? Phyllis: I learned music on the piano as a child, which gave me a good foundation.
Chronicle: You are so amazingly versatile and your styles go from religious and Israeli songs in Hebrew, to American folk, pop, and Jazz. In what genre do you feel most comfortable? Phyllis: It's so hard to answer that question, Bernie. I really choose songs that I love, and they transcend different styles. I love to play a pop tune on acoustic guitar--it surprises people to hear a pared-down version of something they've heard in a more elaborate setting, like for example, I love to play "Can't Take My Eyes off of You" (yes, Frankie Valli, that one!!). Then there's a beautiful Spanish song that's the title track from my CD "The Other Side of the River" -- it's called "Al Otro Lado del Rio" by Jorge Drexler. And then I love to sing "Songbird" by Christine McVie, and then "The Very Thought of You"-- then Stevie Wonder-- and on and on. I love diversity! Chronicle: How does social media fit into your marketing? Phyllis: Social media is vital to marketing - that's mostly what there is these days. I don't do nearly as much as other musicians. I use Facebook. And I use a newsletter through a site called ReverbNation. But I will be doing much more promotion from many varied angles on this next project... Chronicle: What’s new on Phyllis Chappell’s horizon? Any projects we should know about? Phyllis:
I've been working for the past year on a new CD project with Rodney Whittenberg (I mentioned him above). Not sure yet, but I believe I'm calling the CD "Naked World” because it does put my "voice" out there in a poignant and naked way, although there are some elaborate arrangements and the contribution of some of my favorite musicians, including cellists Udi Bar David (Philadelphia Orchestra) and Michael Ronstadt; Joseph Tayoun, Francois Zayas, Alex Shaw (percussion); Rob Swanson, Kevin MacConnell, Dave Brodie (bass); Matt Cappy (trumpet); Dave Posmontier (piano); Paul Jost (vocals); Tony Miceli on vibes; guitarist extraordinaire Barry Wahrhaftig, and also a great sitar and guitar player Steve Jewett. Rodney Whittenberg plays many instruments throughout this CD, as well. He's my utility player/producer/arranger/ composer/consultant! I'm so excited about all these amazing musicians gracing my CD! The music includes some Great American Songbook, a Joni Mitchell tune, some originals, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew. I’ve also sung on a new CD by the Hot Club of Philadelphia (awesome gypsy jazz ensemble led by Barry Wahrhaftig) soon to be released—very excited about that project as well!
Chronicle: Well there’s no doubt in my mind about the impact you have had on the Philly Jazz scene. What advice would you give young jazz artists? Phyllis: The best advice I guess would be to work at your art, your craft, always, and be persistent--don't give up. What can be better than working at something you love?! But also remember that the promotion of your music is almost as important as the music itself, if you want to be gigging and/or selling your music. You have to pay alot of attention to the business part. Keep your eyes and your heart open and listen to criticism (but pick and choose your sources of criticism!). What else? Maybe a small fortune would help :-) Again, Bernie, thanks so much for the opportunity to "talk" to you! Chronicle: And thank you Phyllis for taking the time to talk to us. It goes without saying we love working with you and we hope you have every success possible. Hope we can do more music in the future.
