Jazz singer-guitarist Jocelyn Gould makes her northern debut this week in the Yukon
I Sure Hope I See Northern Lights.
Jocelyn Gould
Jocelyn Gould doesn’t let much grass grow under her feet. Oh, sure, she has a home base: in Winnipeg, the place where she was born, and which she calls a “really, really vibrant” music city.
“It has real history, and a lot of art happening here for the size of the city. As far as jazz goes, it’s a smaller scene, but there are still great musicians here.
But don’t expect to catch the Juno Award winner onstage at a local club just any old weekend.
“I play here about once a year, so I’m not here that often.”
For almost 10 months a year, she’s on the road. It’s a lifestyle that suits her just fine.
“I just love seeing the world and getting to meet as many people as I can. I love making new friends and just having adventures,” Gould says. “I love to tour and play music for people. That’s really my passion.”
No matter how many air miles she has already racked up, there are still several destinations she wants to explore… especially Japan and Germany, both of which she plans to visit for the first time next year. Then, someday, South America, she vows… especially Brazil, which has contributed so much memorable guitar music to the world.
Before that, though, she’s up for a cool-climate new adventure, when she brings a largely Winnipeg-based quintet to play at the Marsh Lake Community Centre and the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) this week.
It will be her first time in any of Canada’s territories, and she can’t keep the excitement from her voice when she talks about it.
“I sure hope I see Northern Lights. That’s one of my goals for the trip, actually.”
Gould’s musical journey has been a lifelong thing, starting as a child who “loved music and singing before I could talk.” As a teen, she picked up guitar, mainly to accompany her own voice singing.
“It was in my teenage years that guitar really started to take off for me, and I ended up following that passion. I didn’t actually do high school band. Guitar players tend to be a little bit different. They tend to pick up the guitar on their own, in garage bands, or in their own bedrooms.
“That’s what happened to me. I was self-taught until I started taking my first lessons much later, when I was in university. But I was completely self-taught for years.”
Gould never belonged to a high school music program, either. Unlike some of the well-noted Winnipeg schools that nurtured the likes of Neil Young, Randy Bachan, and Burton Cummings, her school doesn’t enjoy such recognition.
“I think I’m probably the only jazz musician to come out of Fort Richmond,” she laughs.
Most of Gould’s initial self-instruction on the guitar came via a nylon-stringed Yamaha Classical that had belonged to her mother.
“It was just a really crap instrument that she had had since she was young. She really loved it, and she still gets on my case about how I used to treat it in high school.”
When she was 20, enrolled in a science program at the University of Manitoba, Gould took the plunge and bought her first serious (and first electric) guitar, a Gibson ES-359.
“I wanted to audition for the jazz program at the University of Manitoba. I wanted to switch over to music, and I knew I’d need a decent instrument, so I went to Long and McQuade and bought myself a Gibson.”
From Winnipeg, Gould went on to study in Michigan before spending time in New York City, Winnipeg, and Toronto. In 2019, she became head of the guitar department at Toronto’s Humber College, leaving that position about a year ago to tour full time.
After growing up admiring the work of fellow Canadians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, Gould says she got into blues music when she was 18 or so.
“I got into B.B. King, Albert King, T-Bone Walker… the great blues guitarists… From there, I started getting into Wes Montgomery and some of the great jazz guitarists who are also so entrenched in the blues, so it really was not a huge jump for me.”
In her current programs, she offers a combination of standards and original tunes.
“I like to write melodies that are singable. I want to write something that is able to be sung by someone else, and melodies that will resonate, because I’m very melody-focused, even with my instrumental compositions.
“That’s always the centre of it. Does this melody feel good? Is this melody going to tough people in some type of emotional way?”
How does the Winnipegger describe her own vocal style?
“I have been singing my full voice, but I only sing on maybe half, or even less, on my show. So it is primarily guitar. But my singing … I would describe my voice as sincere, and unaffected, I guess.”
Intimate?
“Yeah. Yes, absolutely!”
In 2021, Gould’s first album as a leader, Elegant Traveler, took jazz album of the year (solo) honours at the Juno Awards. A more recent work, Sonic Bouquet, is currently nominated for the same award for 2024.
Her fourth album, a quintet, came out in October, and a quartet assemblage is due for release early next year. Meanwhile, her first solo guitar album is in the planning for release in January.
The Jocelyn Gould Quintet will play at the Marsh Lake Community Centre on Saturday, November 9 at 7 p.m., as part of Jazz Yukon’s Jazz on the Road initiative. They will be at the Yukon Arts Centre the following night for Jazz on the Wing, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Besides Gould, the highly-rated personnel include bassist Julian Bradford, pianist Will Bonness, and drummer Fabio Ragnelli–all now based in Winnipeg.
The fifth member is trumpeter Anthony Stanco, who hails from Detroit, Michigan. Gould says this will be his first experience in Canada beyond Windsor, Ont.
Who knows? If he can find a suitable parka for the visit, Gould and her group may get to see those Northern Lights after all.
