Jazz to commemorate Anzac Day

This year, jazz will play a prominent role in strengthening ties between Australia and Turkey, as both nations get ready to commemorate Anzac Day on Apr. 25 She walked out of the elevator, smiling Michelle Nicolle, also known as Australia's First Lady of Jazz, met with the Turkish Daily News before her concert at Istanbul's Babylon performance club on Apr. 19.

The Michelle Nicolle Quartet, comprising Michelle Nicolle herself for vocals, guitarist Carl Dewhurst, drummer Ronny Ferella, and bassist Tom Lee, was in Turkey as part of the Anzac day commemorations and will be performing in Estonia, Finland, and Singapore afterwards. They have already held successful concerts at the Swissotel and the Australian Ambassador's residence, both in Ankara as part of their visit to Turkey, sponsored by the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australian Turkish Business and Industry Group. They have been planning for a European tour, explained Henk van Leeuwen, the quartet's manager.

And the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Cultural Branch was looking for a jazz group to come to Turkey for Anzac day. So we combined it with the trip to Scandinavia, he said. Though it was her first time in Turkey, Michelle Nicolle is no stranger to Turkish ways as she lives in a neighborhood with a strong Turkish presence, from Turkish food to Turkish music.

She described the Turkish audience as nice and warm, saying there is spontaneity as western jazz is still fresh and young in Turkey, where there exists a strong presence of folkloric, traditional, and classical Turkish music. Nicolle had bright eyes and a warm smile. She was wearing casual, comfortable clothes (always something purple, said Leeuwen, explaining that this was her favorite color) and, not surprisingly, streaks of purple in her long brown hair.

She looked young, though her resume full of achievements and awards suggested she must be older than it seemed. I am 38, said Nicolle, I have been involved in jazz for the past 19 years. I started with playing the violin, she said, explaining that she later played the piano and the trumpet.

But once in college, she was introduced to the great instrument: the human voice. She started singing and rather enjoying it: I thought Wow, that's amazing.' I loved it so much that I wanted to sing more and more.

Voice is the instrument that I feel is more natural. It is the only choice for me really. Putting music [you feel] through an instrument is different.

With voice, it is much more natural, explained Nicolle, her brown eyes gleaming with excitement. But playing other instruments, especially the violin, the closest music instrument to the human voice, has helped her as a musician, as it helped her picture the music on cords. Michelle Nicolle has been hailed by music critics as having exceptional technique, a beautiful voice, and a clear tone and impressive breath control.

When asked how she sees her voice, she said it was difficult to explain as it was much like describing yourself. To me, I always sound young. But I always wanted to sound old.

I am a soprano, but as I get older, I explore more of my lower range, she explained. She thought of herself as a trumpet and that when she sang, she imagined she was playing a trumpet, added Nicolle. As far as her style is concerned, I am mainstream going contemporary, said the singer.

She writes her own lyrics, does her own arrangements, and compositions. Nicolle is also known for being a great improviser. This depends on the audience you play for, she explained, But it is not only the audience but we are interactive in the band as well, we improvise together.

In a sense, we are bouncing off each other. But of course, the feeling we receive from the audience affects the band, she said. Leeuwen added with a smile: She is a very strong leader.

She influences the other musicians in the band, giving them the right cues. It is so nice to see The past and today How about the recording process? It is nothing romantic, conveyed Nicolle, You just set out to do a record.

Something you have written, something you have been playing You just put them together. She said that though the recording process is good for every jazz musician, it was lot's of hard work and was difficult to finance. It does not pay much, added Michelle Nicolle, who has been financing her albums herself, save for one, The Crying Game, which was commissioned by ABC.

But the hardworking and productive singer has produced all her other four albums herself. Then how does she make money? Mostly through gigs and festivals And I teach at two different universities, explained the musician, who teaches vocal studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, Monash University and Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium.

She used to perform for advertisements too, but I do not do much of them anymore, said the amicable singer, who also performed backup vocals when she was younger. But she does not do backup vocals anymore. Actually now, she has her own backup vocalists and we call them Nicollettes', joked Leeuwen.

Another activity she still participates in is singing in a classical choir, the Melbourne Chorale. Michelle Nicolle clearly admires Ella Fitzgerald, after whom she has named her 16-month-old baby, Ella-Lucia, as well as Sarah Voughn. Every single thing you hear builds on you as a musician, she stated.

Members of the Michelle Nicolle Quartet have been working together for a while. We have been playing together with the drummer for the past 15 years. And the others I think we have been together with them for five or six years, she said.

Henk van Leeuwen let us in on a little gossip; The drummer is also her husband. They are a great team. And with the baby, now Michelle's mother has also come with them.

We are to solidify the Australian Turkish jazz connection, emphasized Leeuwen of their goal, adding, We already have a strong war commemoration connection. It is time we establish a jazz connection too. Anzac Day commemorates the day that Anzac soldiers, which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was composed of soldiers from these two countries, landed in Gallipoli in the Dardanelle on Apr.

25, 1915, to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. Every year, Apr. 25 is commemorated as the Anzac Day and remembered with services in Australia, New Zealand, and Gallipoli.