Taylor, Joani

Websites:  https://joani-taylor.bandcamp.com/album/in-a-sentimental-mood, https://citizenfreak.com/titles/303438-taylor-joani-with-dave-robbins-orchestra-and-the-numerality-singers-st, https://bcentertainmenthalloffame.com/taylor-joani/, http://www.joanitaylor.com/
Origin: Vancouver, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Biography:

In the most challenging of art forms….. Joani Taylor is remarkable!

With heart stopping notes and the goose bump factor, Joani is Canada's “First Lady of the Jazz Ballad”. With Seven albums, a U.S. Award and Canadian Award nominations, she's a master both in the studio and in “live” performance. Joani Taylor is a prolific lyricist. Regardless of whose song she sings, she wraps her soul and her voice around the lyrics as if she's holding something precious, then she gives this great gift to us all.

About three years ago at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, I was standing in the back of a concert in studio B at CBC. Joani was singing a ballad to an audience of approximately three hundred people. She had the room in the palm of her hand and I was starting to get all choked up. I looked around the room and saw that I wasn't alone. There were a lot of people trying to pretend they weren't wiping away tears. Over the years, I've seen Joani do this many times. The first time was decades ago at the El Mocambo nightclub in Burnaby and I think she was only sixteen then.

I've had the honour and privilege of witnessing and playing with some wonderful artists who can do this, who can connect to something deep inside themselves and touch something deep inside us. But still and all, they are relatively rare. To be able to do this an artist has to, as well as have the skill of their craft and of their art, go deep inside themselves to go beyond style, tradition, politics and personality, plus find a connection to their own essence. Then they need the willingness to be vulnerable enough to open up and connect with the people they are playing with and for.

For me, Joani has always been a benchmark of this kind of intimacy. Every time I play with her she completely connects and any move I make moves her. When she performs for an audience, she takes them to someplace new and magical. Working on this project has been a great joy for me, especially the writing sessions with Joani and Miles. Things just seemed to fall into place naturally and the results are open and sincere.

The beautiful original music by Sharon Minemoto, Ross Taggart and Jimm Taylor was a delight to play and I think show many different sides to Joani's “Own Voice”. Her original lyrics show the same intimacy as her performances. The three non-originals take us in different soul-stirring directions again. The recording sessions with all these beautiful players were so inspiring. Every cut is first or second take. For this reason, I think the music has a fresh, raw, and honest quality that I love.

Every time I listen to these takes of Joani, Miles, Ross, Brad, Buff, Bernie and Doug, it makes me laugh and cry. I think this is a generous offering from a beautiful and continually developing, but maturing artist of great depth and breadth. I hope there is much more to come from Joani, my longtime friend, because I know she certainly has a lot more to say
-Bob Murphy

Joani is Canada's “First Lady of the Jazz Ballad”. She has legendary status in Canadian music circles and has sung on thousands of film scores, commercials and recordings…..working with a variety of luminaries from Bryan Adams and Stevie Wonder to James Galway, David Foster, Cannonball Adderley, and Miles Davis. Joani has flown worldwide to bewitch audiences in concerts and festivals. She has won nominations and awards for her work in both Canada and the U.S. She has had a hit single and recorded five albums, not including the compilations she has been featured on. Joani is releasing her explosive sixth product featuring her own profound and prolific writing, as well as her brilliant vocal performances.

Joani Taylor has been synonymous with the BC Music Industry since its inception. She grew up on the stages of Vancouver nightclubs. Singer, Jazz vocalist, lyricist, producer, teacher and mentor, she has released seven albums and performed internationally for stage, recording, film, radio and television. Joani has shared the spotlight with artists including Bryan Adams, Jon Bon vi, |Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones, Little Richard, David Foster, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Fraser MacPherson and Moe Koffman. For over 50 years, her impact on the evolution and success of the Vancouver music scene has been immeasurable. A highly accomplished session singer, Joani’s voice has graced innumerable hit records and commercials. Nationally, she is known as “the first lady of the jazz ballad”, nominated for the National Jazz Awards and The Junos. In 2018, the Vancouver Jazz Festival premiered her latest CD, “In a Sentimental Mood”, a collaboration with PJ Perry. The Globe and Mail reported “The work, the will, the passion, Joani is all the things that inspire. Part of her magic is her fine control of nuances; vocals that range from a whisper to a whip”.