Denzal's vocal timbre is similar to some of the great singers. Nat King Cole, Johnny Hartman and there are even glimpses of Johnny Mathis' jazz days. However, Denzal does have what every artist strives for. After singing just a few notes you know it is him. His trademark is the joyfulness in his voice and a special approach to phrasing a lyric or pushing or laying back on a beat. He is blessed with exquisite delivery, sensitivity to melody and a lyrical imagination. For Denzal,singing is as natural as breathing.
A multiple Juno Award nominee, and recipient of the 2004 National Jazz Award for "Best Album", he has graced the stages of numerous high-profile jazz festivals, performed with symphony orchestras, and starred in his own one hour television special for BRAVO! In 2005, Denzal was inducted into the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame.
Among Denzal's admirers are Diana Krall, who was introduced to Denzal at the 1995 Jazz Winnipeg Festival and Diane Reeves, who became a fan after Denzal opened for her at the 2002 Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
He has recorded three albums for Universal Music, I Found Love(EmArcy); the self-titled, Denzal Sinclaire (Verve); and his highly anticipated new release, My One and Only Love (Verve).
DENZAL SINCLAIRE
"My One and Only Love"
"I'm getting better at letting go," Denzal Sinclaire says.
It's the sort of sentiment you sometimes hear from young artists as they get a little older. The wise ones realize they're not going to get anywhere worth going unless they graduate beyond calculation and learn to trust the materials at hand - good songs, skilled accomplices and, above all, their own resources. Mind you, Sinclaire, one of the finest jazz singers of his generation, has more resources to fall back on than most. His admirers include Diana Krall ("Denzal Sinclaire embodies the tradition of the great singers I love like Nat Cole, yet definitely has his own voice. He is one of my favorite singers...") and Dianne Reeves, as well as growing legions of jazz fans in his native Canada and abroad. From his early days as a canny interpreter of Nat 'King' Cole's mentholated crooning, he's grown into one of the most distinctive and individualistic singers anywhere.
On his third Verve CD, My One and Only Love, you can hear Sinclaire luxuriating in his own voice and the opulent accompaniments of his bandmates, an all-star mix of Sinclaire contemporaries from the New York and Vancouver jazz scenes. There is plenty of room for both the singer and his band to stretch out, because while it is entirely contemporary in its execution, in its conception this is a ballad album in the classic style.
"I think I've always been a ballads person," Sinclaire says. As a student at Montreal's McGill University he used to sit in with visiting musicians including, memorably, the great saxophonist Clifford Jordan. As often as not, he'd forego the chance to swing for the fences with some flag-waving up-tempo number and stretch out, instead, on some simple old love song. Since he moved to Vancouver a decade ago, Sinclaire has diversified his portfolio considerably, of course. But here he's back to ballads. "I think I've come full circle."
It's a circle wide enough to contain songs as varied as Stevie Wonder's 'Happier Than the Morning Sun' and the old Willie Nelson hit 'You Are Always On My Mind' as well as standards like 'My One and Only Love' - and 'Here Comes the Honey Man,' one of the least-often performed tunes from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess.
It's the sort of song list you'd choose if your only criterion were what sounds good to you. "You know, you get more comfortable in taking chances, not trying to prove so much any more," Sinclaire says. "And in particular, because I didn't write any originals, I just said, pick some tunes that are known and see what newness I can find in them -without going over the top."
He is accompanied in his search by several musicians who have long experience in the art of finding newness. They gathered several months ago at Allaire Studios, a cozy spot in New York's Catskill Mountains where Liz Wright, Norah Jones and many other stars have retreated over the years to find their muse. Two not-quite-distinct camps - New Yorkers and Vancouverites - convened. Sinclaire and trumpeter Brad Turner, who also served as the session's producer, were the ambassadors from the watery Wet Coast. ("I was thinking, wow, it'd be so nice to share with people the secret of Brad Turner," Sinclaire says of the trumpeter, who is also a fine pianist and drummer. It's probably safe to say the secret is now officially out.)
Bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, veterans from Sinclaire's eponymous Verve sophomore CD, represented the Big Apple. So did guitarist Russell Malone, who learned a thing or two about helping a singer shine during his years accompanying Diana Krall and Harry Connick, Jr. As for saxophonist Seamus Blake, Vancouver-bred and New York-based - well, he seemed to get along fine with everyone.
The pianist on the session, sensitively cushioning Sinclaire on 'You Are Always on My Mind' and 'I Can See Clearly Now,' is... Denzal Sinclaire. "That goes right back, for me, to the category of taking chances,' he says with a chuckle. But like most smart risks this one is amply rewarded, because nobody has more insight into what Sinclaire the singer needs than Sinclaire, the pianist.
Mind you, Russell Malone comes pretty close to perfection in his meditative intro and solo-guitar orchestration of Sinclaire's turn on 'Stardust.' "When Russell's playing, you just know you're safe and he's not going to get in the way," Sinclaire says.
Still, when asked to name a stand-out track from this stand-out album, Sinclaire doesn't hesitate for long. "I automatically go to 'My One and Only Love,' he says. He'd sung it before - who hasn't? - but hadn't taken it too seriously until he started shopping ideas for the new album around among friends and colleagues. "I was surprised at how many people like that song," he reflects. So he went to work on it. "It occurred to me to simplify it harmonically. Put a bit of pedal to it. Slow it down - even though it was pretty slow to begin with."
The result is like a sigh stretched out to song length. The memory of a great Verve recording artist who left us in 2005 is almost impossible to escape. "It's kind of like an homage to Shirley Horn," Sinclaire says. "A Shirley Horn approach."
It's a bittersweet thought, the kind the best love songs so often occasion: one beloved artist passes, another comes into his own. "Everything you need is in these songs," Sinclaire says simply. "You just have to go looking for it.
Paul Wells
Maclean's Magazine
