Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz alum returns to Crescent City

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

“I would not be who I am were it not for having lived in New Orleans,” says vocalist Johnaye Kendrick, who arrived in the city in 2007 as one of the hand-selected students to attend the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Kendrick, who performs at Snug Harbor on Saturday, October 8 and now lives in Seattle, Washington, only spent several years here though she says the city’s influence has been indelible.

“I was in New Orleans three years but it feels like a lifetime,” Kendrick offers. “It feels like I’m from there – that’s my home. Once you’re there it’s a part of you forever.”

Kendrick, who will be backed by her former New Orleans bandmates, bassist David Pulphus and drummer Geoff Clapp, will be playing with the very versatile and talented pianist Kyle Roussel for the first time. “Kyle’s going to get a flood of MP3s and PDFs so he’ll be checking out some stuff,” the vocalist explains and then laughs. “I’m going to dig up some old goodies that I used to play with my band. My favorite closer was “I Wish You Love,” and “It Could Happen to You” is another favorite of mine.”

Naturally, some of the material will come from Kendrick’s 2014 fine debut album, Here, that she produced and is full of self-penned tunes. The most prominent aspect of the recording as well as her live shows is the pureness of every note she sings and her genuine musicality.

Soft balladry and romance that often create a certain haunting ambiance envelop a number of her melodically rich performance and compositional style. She says, however, that she has added some new dimensions to her repertoire.

“I’m kind of embracing some R&B influences that I have because I came up listening to that kind of music,” Kendrick notes. “Jazz is a newer found love so I’m trying to circle back to the influences that were part of my childhood and upbringing.”

Kendrick graduated from the Monk Institute and received her Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from Loyola University and then was immediately hired by Grammy-winning New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton and traveled with his sextet. She promises to perform a tune arranged by Payton that mixes Stevie Wonder’s “Happier Than the Morning Sun” with the standard “You Are My Sunshine.” “It’s really fun because it feels like you are second lining down the street,” Kendrick enthusiastically explains.

When Kendrick attended the Thelonious Monk Institute in 2007 it had just moved from the University of Southern California to be housed at Loyola University in New Orleans, much at the urging of the institute’s artistic director, trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
“Working with Ellis Marsalis and Nicholas Payton were two important experiences for me as a musician and as a vocalist,” she proclaims while also mentioning the knowledge she gained as the music director for the group Jesse McBride & the Next Generation. “Those things opened so many doors and got me thinking in unique ways. Those are some of the things that makes my music what it is. I’m better for having been in New Orleans as a person and a musician.

“I’m so happy to be coming back,” exclaims the vocalist who hasn’t been in New Orleans since 2013. She’s also an Associate Professor of Jazz Voice at Cornish College of the Arts.

Johnaye Kendrick, a hugely talented artist, would have found success in music even if she never stepped a foot in New Orleans. However, as she points out, she wouldn’t sound the same without experiencing the richness of the city.

“I hope that every time I’m performing there’s a lot of soul in the music,” she says. “I didn’t have that before living in New Orleans. I was almost afraid of giving too much emotion and now I’m as exposed as possible. In New Orleans, I learned to let the harsh realities of life affect and influence the music.”

This article originally published in the October 3, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.