John Bommarito: April Varner on 89 one WEMU on The Song Break from her new album. The album called April by April. And speaking of April, I've been including a lot of this album on the show recently, and she's joining me on the program today. Good afternoon, April, how are you?
April Varner: Good afternoon. I'm doing well. How are you?
John Bommarito: I'm doing very well. I love the concept of an album of all April songs. I'm one of those people who likes to make theme shows. And this is the theme album, and that's great. Where did they idea come from?
April Varner: So, it was funny because when I met with Ulysses, who produced the album, we were discussing what we were going to do for the concept, and at first, I just threw at him like a thousand standards that I really loved and, you know, didn't have any concept in mind. And he was like, no, no, no, we have to we have to nix all these, and we have to come up with, like you said, a theme. And so, we both just kind of had that light bulb moment at the same time where we're like, wait a minute, what about April? Because, you know, we have a few gimmes, like “I'll remember April” and “April in Paris”, but we're like, there's got to be more out there that that we could use and use in kind of a jazz context. And so, we got on Zoom like this, and we went on Spotify, and we literally just keyword searched my name. We just put in April and so many came up. For about an hour, we went through a million songs, listened to a little snippet of each one and picked and chose which ones we thought would work well together. So, we found gems like the Prince tune, of course, the Simon and Garfunkel tune. And I knew I wanted to write a few for the album. So yeah, it was it was a really fun process of picking these tunes, and I was shocked at how many songs out there include my name in there!
John Bommarito: There's a lot with John in them too. I've done an entire show of songs with John in it. It was not as easy to do with April, I wouldn't think.
April Varner: Right.
John Bommarito: I'm glad you chose the Prince one, though. That is one of my favorite non-hit singles from him. I love that song.
April Varner: Stunning song. It's so heart wrenching. It's beautiful.
John Bommarito: It is. And so that that leads me to… I kind of figured out from what you just said… how many of the songs did you not know before you started singing them? It sounds like most of them you didn't know.
April Varner: Most of them. Yeah. I mean, I really enjoy Simon and Garfunkel, of course, and Prince is timeless. So, I knew that those were right off the bat ones I wanted to do. But a friend of mine, actually a great guitarist here in New York, he, in the beginning stages when we hadn't quite picked the songs yet to finalize them, I was telling him about the concept and he was like, oh my gosh, I know two right now that you should do. And he recommended “Joy of April” by Pat Metheney, and then, “Lost April” as well, the Nat King Cole tune. So those didn't come up in our word search on Spotify. So, I quickly listened to those and fell in love with those songs and sent them to Ulysses. I was like, we have to do these. So, I credit my friend for two of them. But yeah, most of the songs I did not know, aside from, like I said, the standards, “April in Paris” and “I Remember April”. So, yeah. So, that made it more fun to get to learn all these new tunes.
John Bommarito: Sounds like a bit of a task, actually, but yeah, the results are nice! Well, I learned in my research that you grew up in a suburb of Detroit known as Toledo, Ohio. Sorry. Just kidding. It's sort of a suburb. It’s close. There a pretty strong jazz scene here in the Detroit/ Ann Arbor area. Is there a strong scene down there? Did you have to move to New York to find one?
April Varner: I mean, I wasn't really “jazz” when I was in Toledo. I was a classical vocalist for most of my life, and it wasn't until I that the end of my freshman year of college at Indiana that I decided to make the switch to jazz. So, I really didn't get a taste of what the scene is like in Toledo. Ironically enough, I recently sang with the Toledo Jazz Orchestra over Christmas. So, I got to meet a lot of those people, which was fun. But no, I haven't really explored the scene at home, oddly enough. I just wasn't a part of the jazz community growing up there unfortunately.
John Bommarito: That's not where home is these days, though. You're still in New York.
April Varner: Yes. Correct.
John Bommarito: Very good. I was having a discussion with somebody recently at a jazz festival around here about the age of the audience at that festival, which made us both a little concerned about the future of jazz, because it leaned on the older edge. It’s not really a younger person's game. But I'm glad there's an exception. Like you, Samara Joy. What made you gravitate to jazz over what most of your peers are probably listening to?
April Varner: Yeah. So, it was funny. Whenever I tell this story, I don't really have a reason why, but I hated jazz growing up. I really didn't ever give it a chance. My family's not super musical. The only musical person in my family was my nonny, who was classical pianist. So classical music was more of a central foundation for me growing up. And, you know, my parents would play Frank Sinatra and people like that, but we never really, like, listened to jazz. Or maybe they did when I was really young, and I just paid no mind. I again, I have no reason why I hated it, but I just thought it was really boring. And I would do all state and all national choir and high school, and they would have the jazz band right after the choir. And I never wanted to stay to listen to it. Again, I don't know why.
John Bommarito: Rude!
April Varner Yeah, I know it is rude and I didn't, I didn't. I don't know why. To this day I don't know why, but I just never gave it a chance. So, when I was in Indiana, I was a part of a show choir, called The Singing Hoosiers. And I was a part of it all five years of college. And within the group, they had a small vocal jazz ensemble. And I think it was my freshman year that I got put into this group. Not by choice, obviously. And, the director of the group said, you have a great voice for jazz. And I remember laughing at him like, yeah, right. That's funny. No, never. But as time went on, as these things happened, I just didn't love the classical music anymore. I didn't see myself pursuing it as a long-term career anymore. I just pretty much just fell out of love with it. So, I was like, what am I going to do? So, the more I was in this vocal jazz ensemble I decided to give myself more of an open mind. And lo and behold, I fell in love with the style and the freedom that jazz offers compared to opera. And I just made the decision towards the end of my freshman year that I need to change up, I need to this is what I should be doing and changed my major going into my sophomore year. And fast forward to now and you know, it was the best, hands down, the best decision I could have made. So yeah.
John Bommarito: But clearly your influence, your current influences are some of the jazz greats. What are the things you listen to that aren't jazz when you're enjoying like non jazz music. What's your favorites in that genre?
April Varner: Well, I love I got to say, I love country music. Growing up in the Midwest, you know, I, there's some mixed feelings about country music, but I love it. And, when I was thinking about going to grad school, I did toy with maybe moving to Nashville or going to school in Nashville and pursuing country music, but I did not. But maybe someday in the future, if I decide to do a side project of some random kind that I'll just do country, I don't know. I love country music. I love folk music. I love singer/songwriter music. There's this great young singer songwriter named Lizzy McAlpine who I adore. She went to Berklee for a few years and is now like a big star, and her songs are just so relatable and so inspiring in terms of songwriting. So, I love her. I listen to pop music if I'm at the gym, of course, but you know, so I like to listen to all kinds of music. I don't limit myself to just listening to jazz, of course. Because I think that there's so much inspiration to be taken from all these different styles of music.
John Bommarito: If Beyoncé can do a country album, you can listen to whatever you want.
April Varner: Exactly. Yeah.
John Bommarito: We're here with April Varner who is coming to the Blue LLama August 21st, and she's joining me on The Song Break today on 89 one WEMU. I have seen some videos of you vocalizing trumpet solos. How hard is that to learn?!
April Varner: Oh yeah. So, that's one of my guilty pleasures is learning these ridiculous solos because I try to not only improve my own improvisation, but I try to see how fast I can scat these solos. So, it's turned into a little fun little thing that I've been doing for the past few months.
John Bommarito: It’s Impressive.
April Varner: Yeah. It's been a good time.
John Bommarito: Did they teach you that at the Manhattan School of Music?
April Varner: No. So, we had improv classes, but, you know, we never really did stuff like that. So, this is kind of just like a side thing for me to do. I just wanted to study these solos and see if I could do it and improve my chops. And so yeah, it's been it's been really fun, and it's been very helpful to me as well. So, no downside.
John Bommarito: No. Well, you sent me your bio and it has a multitude of impressive accomplishments on it. Other than the fact that you're pretty damn good at what you do, what do you think has led to some of the opportunities that have come your way? Because things are going pretty well for you. This your first full length album, right?
April Varner: Yes, it is.
John Bommarito: From my perspective, looking online, it looks like you're doing very well for yourself.
April Varner: Thank you. Yeah, I would say that the mentors that I've had have contributed so much to my success so far. I credit firstly, one of my first mentors, great mentors at IU when I was first starting jazz was, Tierney Sutton, who I adore. She's a phenomenal vocalist, one of my favorites and so inspiring. And her arranging skills and everything in between. We still stay in touch, and I tell her about what's going on and keep her updated and stuff. So, she really taught me a lot about my stage presence and how to perform. And with the technique that I had and then when I had Sachal Vasandani for most of my IU time, he was an invaluable mentor because he saw me really start from the ground up to where I am now, and he gave me the foundation to where I am now in terms of technique, how to sing jazz, how to understand what I'm singing, how to convey what I'm singing. And so, he offered that tough love to because it was no easy game of playing catch up from opera to learning what jazz is from absolutely zero knowledge going into it. So, he was so patient with me, but also kicked my butt in a really good way. And so, I really credit him to giving me the building blocks of confidence I needed to move to New York, which I knew was always the goal. But he made that transition a lot easier. So, when I got here to New York, one of the best mentors I've ever had for sure is Theo Bleckmann who was my teacher at my time during MSM, and I still go to him for life advice, personal advice, music advice. Like everything in between, he's been a mentor in every facet of my life, and I really am so grateful to him for kind of finishing me in a way like molding me into the artist that I am. He was the one that introduced me to Ulysses. He was the one that advised me on what I should do in terms of when I should do an album, and just how I should go about songwriting. And he taught me other ways to use my voice, since his bag is obviously the super avant-garde, ECM, layered vocals, all that cool stuff that I never had experienced before with the teacher. So, he opened my mind to that. He just he has been invaluable, like I said, and I really think that these mentors, as well as Ulysses too, he's pointed me in so many different directions since working with him in terms of, new contacts, new venues, new opportunities, helping me with starting new opportunities. I really think that the people you surround yourself with, really contribute a lot to an artist's success. Because, you know, they always say it's all about who you know, and that holds true. I think 100%, because without these mentors and these people that I've met through these mentors, I would not be where I am now. And I've only been in New York for, I guess, now four years. So, there's still a long way to go. And I think that they've pointed me in the direction that I need to be in and will continue to do so.
John Bommarito: More good fortune.
April Varner: That was a long-winded answer, but yeah.
John Bommarito: Yeah, that's good, but more good fortune for you. Ulysses Owens Jr and Benny Benack III, both Grammy winners. And on your first album working with Grammy winners? I mean again, that's just like you got pretty lucky. Talent is part of that. People wouldn't work with you if you weren't talented, but that's a great start. So, I'm hoping that there's a long career ahead for you and you make it to that household name status like a Diana Krall has done.
April Varner: That's what we hope for.
John Bommarito: Fingers crossed for you. August 21st, Blue LLama Jazz Club in Ann Arbor is a spot you can see April Varner. I think it's your first appearance in Michigan. Is that not true?
April Varner: It is. Yeah! I'm super, super pumped to come to Blue LLama. I've heard great things about the club and excited to be there.
John Bommarito: Yeah, Tierney was there not too terribly long ago. You can ask her.
April Varner: Amazing. I'll have to talk to her about it.
John Bommarito: The new album is called April by April. We're going to hear another track from that next. April, thanks for taking time out to visit with me on The Song Break today. It's a pleasure to meet you.
April Varner: Thank you. Pleasure to meet you as well.
John Bommarito: I will do my best to make it to the show. It's in my plans of things to do. August 21st.
April Varner: Yay! Amazing.
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