All That Jazz

In this the age of autotuning, Pokerfaces, and, Lord help us, the Brothers Jonas, it’s pretty common to find that most people have developed a very strong sense of what they consider to be good (or bad) music. Songs that fall into the latter category are often overlooked or just straight up ignored simply because they stem from a genre that has already been crossed off by listeners as dissonant noise pollution.

While it’s true that not everything the music industry pumps out onto the radio airwaves is going to be the next “Thriller”, music itself is a medium that should not be underestimated in its creative versatility. Good musicians try to offer their listeners melodies that not only captivate the attention of their audience but possibly impact their point of view as well. It is in this way that Carmel Johnsen utilizes her talents as a singer/songwriter to create a sophisticated blend of blues, R&B, pop and jazz to reconcile any prodigal jazz lovers with a new take on a classic American genre.

Anyone who has ever lived, visited or driven through East Texas knows that it’s a place where the local music scene is one that is typically dominated by twangy guitars and lyrics about pitiable cowboys. Yet, that has not stopped Johnsen from bringing her style of jazz to the public venue. “I had grown up in church,” Johnsen reminisces, “and the closest thing I had ever come into contact with music was gospel, which I loved, but just kind of hit home with me.” Born in Lubbock, Johnsen sang in her church choir before moving back to Tyler to attend junior high then high school at Robert E. Lee. Johnsen continued to sing in college at Tyler Junior College, where she was a member of the Harmony and Understanding vocal ensemble, as well as McLennan Community College in Waco before moving back to graduate from the University of Texas at Tyler. As a young musician, Johnsen first pursued a classical music track before falling in love with jazz via her husband, Kevin Johnsen, who at the time was participating in a jazz studies program at UT Tyler. “I had never done a lot of jazz prior to that,” remarks Johnsen, “but I loved it. We both felt the same way about it so we started singing at places as much as we could calling around seeing if we could sing.”

Initially, Johnsen says that she had never really been interested in jazz music, but soon found that the flexibility of its musical structure was too appealing for her to not try it herself.

“I love that you can sing something familiar that people kind of feel like they understand, then develop it, change it, and grow it.” It is exactly this quality that Johnson has experimented with in order to integrate different genres of music together with jazz. The array of styles she performs include blues intermingled with soul, classics such as Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” as well as some original compositions. “We’re a laid-back sound,” Johnsen said on her own musical style, “but we have a lot of variety as well.”

Her musical influences range from famous names like Thelonious Monk and Ella Fitzgerald, to lesser known artists such as Wendy Lewis – which in the long run has impacted her opinion of what her own jazz should sound like. According to Johnsen, “We do play our own stuff, but we also mix in early jazz standards, like some Billie Holiday type of stuff, and we mix in some Carly Simon, more current stuff, and we try to throw in some jazz in all the stuff that we do.”

Along with her solo work, her project called Nightwork Jazz, of which Carmel and Kevin are the core members, has allowed Johnsen to explore both the songwriting as well as the performing aspects of being a musician. “I’ve always written music but never written and performed music. And when we started doing jazz, it was just so natural that it progressed into that. I was finally able to write something that I actually wanted to perform, and enjoyed doing in that way.”

Johnsen’s sensitive-yet-powerful voice has brought a refreshingly mellow atmosphere to venues throughout East Texas, and she takes pride in the fact that her sound is not a simple rehashing of what many have come to expect from musicians heard on the radio. “I like hearing the top 40s.” commented Johnsen, “You know, they’re cool in their own way, but if people want to hear a song they’re familiar with, only done a little differently or something along those lines then I think they would enjoy us.” Having also performed at such local live music hot spots as Rick’s, Jake’s, and KE Cellars, both Carmel and Kevin currently play as the house band for the Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards in Pittsburg, Texas several times a month.

Although she has found success in her pursuit of becoming an acclaimed jazz musician, it seems that it is the demands of everyday life that ultimately come into conflict with Johnsen’s plans of further progressing with her music career. “My husband coaches track and teaches, so it’s been kind of crazy to book other places” Johnsen said explaining her current schedule. “We’d love to just do music. It’s what both of us love, but you know, we’ve got a large family so he has to keep a steady job for now. But if we got to where we could sell a song then we would love to move in that direction to where this is what we do full time.” Johnsen also hopes to one day have her music picked up by a producer and signed onto a soundtrack for either movies or television to proliferate her songs beyond the spectrum of the traditional live music scenes.

With the release of her album “As I Am” in 2010, Johnsen was able to further extend her influence into the world of music. Songs like “Heaven” and the title song “Promises (As I Am)” contain all the alluring vocals and instrumental complexity that could be expected from true contemporary jazz. Johnsen says this is incorporated to give the album the kind of mood she wants her listeners to experience. “I play with other guitar players, Daniel de la Rocha plays on our album, and he’s amazing. So, I just think our sound is different than anybody else around here. We’ve got a relaxing, kickback, have a glass of wine, hang-out-with-friends kind of vibe.”

But Johnsen doesn’t take all the credit for her success. Although she typically works with he husband, Johnsen performs with a number of stand-in musicians that make up the accompaniment for the two of them. According to their website, the duo are also looking to expand the number of players in Nightwork Jazz to add further depth and volume to their already talented ensemble. “When you play in the jazz band, it’s not just about the singer,” stresses Johnsen, “it’s hardly about the singer; it’s about the players. I don’t necessarily like it all being about me. It makes me feel uncomfortable. So, I like that structure. It can be about all of us and they each have solos. We play off each other, I can hear a part their playing in an instrument and copy it in vocal. I like that.”

It’s this exact sentiment that’s really the fundamental cornerstone of jazz music: a collection of musicians playing different parts that in turn play off of one another, taking one song and giving it their own unique, creative twist. The countless variations on how a single measure can be played offer an abundance of options for how a single part can influence and enrich the music of the whole. In this way, it is the symbiotic nature of jazz that accounts for its originality, because it allows each session to become as innovative as the musician’s own imagination.

Johnsen says that her perspective as a child played a key role in how she now expresses herself musically. Johnsen’s family had to move quite a bit when she was growing up, due to her father being a Baptist minister. “I never quite fit in. I was always on the outskirts, so I kinda backed away, looking in watching people being cruel to each other and the pain they caused. It’s kind of what a lot of these songs are takeoffs from. People have asked if they’re from personal experience, or stories, or whatever; but I just have this deep sense of empathy with people when I hear their story or see what they are going through. So, a lot of my songs are written in that way and have that sense of empathy and understanding with it.”

In the future, Carmel and Kevin have plans to keep seeking out places to perform; not just locally, but across the U.S. Especially now that the summer season has arrived, which inevitably opens up almost everyone’s agendas. “We’re open to playing wherever our schedule allows,” says Johnsen, “and over the summer it opens up completely. Over the summer were putting together a small little tour in California and hoping to do one up in New York.”

As a local musician, Johnsen provides a valuable service to the community through her art and should therefore be given continued support of her craft so that she can continue to bring some variety to the music venues of East Texas. So if you’re in the mood for listening to something with a little less country and a little more soul, pick up a copy of “As I Am” or go see Carmel and Kevin perform live this summer and prepare for an unforgettable intimate experience that is sure to leave listeners feeling cool, calm, reflective... and all that jazz.