Lorraine Feather - Jazz Vocalist and Lyricist

"The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree."

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Lorraine Feather, one of the leading vocalists and lyricists in jazz today. Although Lorraine has been working as a singer and lyricist for decades, she has really come to prominence through her last four releases, which have featured a combination of classic jazz instrumentals with her lyrics, as well as all-new songs in a classic jazz vein.

As a lyricist, Lorraine has had seven Emmy nominations, and her feature film credits include Disney’s The Jungle Book 2 and The Princess Diaries 2. She also wrote the songs for the recent DVD release My Little Pony — A Very Minty Christmas with Mark Watters, which was a best-selling children’s video, and a top video title overall in Billboard last month. Lorraine is the daughter of the late Leonard Feather, the leading jazz writer of his time and a very successful songwriter in his own right.

What jazz projects are you currently working on? Are you touring? Recording in the studio?

I did more touring this year than ever before. I’ve started working on the songs for a new CD. This one will most likely be all with the music of living writers, and feature a rhythm section rather than a big band or small big band. So far I have tunes in progress with Shelly Berg and Russell Ferrante, and plan to get together soon with the other Dooji Wooji composers, Eddie Arkin and Bill Elliott. Besides, I’ve been working on a cool project with a wonderful New York composer named Stefania de Kenessey.

How does your work as a lyricist for film, TV, etc. complement your career as a jazz singer?

To a large degree, it finances it! Also, I like going back and forth between writing lyrics for others and for myself. Singing is a lot harder for me than writing, though I’ve become fairly addicted to the whole writing/recording process involved in making an album.

As far as touring goes, there’s considerable work and stress involved in getting ready to sing for an hour. Vocalizing, warming up, practicing your patter is only part of it. Music has to be gotten in order and often copied and sent ahead, musicians hired, CDs sold and accounted for. You need to make a concerted effort to stay healthy on the road, which is hard with people hacking and coughing on the plane and possibly a funky air-conditioning or heating situation at the hotel. That being said, there’s nothing like the rush of doing a live show when it all works.

Writing is, of course, more of a purely mental pursuit. I don’t have a strict schedule, but I usually start writing by noon at the latest, then work in spurts on and off until I’m done, thinking about the song in the back of my mind no matter what I’m doing, often waking up during the night. A lot of the gaps tend to get filled in when I’m walking the dogs or gardening or something. The stress is more along the lines of possibly having a client hate what you’ve done, but when you’re working for someone you have to be prepared to rewrite. Mark Watters and I have had to go back to the drawing board many times during the process of working on My Little Pony, and so has my other Pony co-writer Terry Sampson.

You grew up in a jazz household, your father Leonard Feather was a successful musician and the most famous jazz writer of his time. What was it like growing up in a household surrounded by great music and musicians?

I had no idea how unusual it was. I was fuzzy about what my dad did for a living and remember my mom explaining it to me so that I could tell my little friends. “Jazz Critic” was not anything that most people would think of as a profession. He actually made more of a living as a songwriter than as a columnist, and produced countless records.

Jazz musicians were in and out of our New York apartment all the time. Dizzy Gillespie and his wife Lorraine were close friends of my mom and dad’s, as were the Ellingtons. Peggy Lee was my mom’s ex-roommate when they were young singers in the Midwest; Billie Holiday was my godmother. My given name is Billie Jane Lee Lorraine, for Billie Holiday, my mom Jane, Peggy Lee and the song “Sweet Lorraine.”

We moved to L.A. when I was 12, and by the time I graduated Hollywood High I was yet another fledgling actress. I started singing as a way to make a few bucks when I moved back to New York on my own, having gotten fired as a waitress a couple of times. It wasn’t 'till I began writing lyrics to jazz compositions that I realized how much I’d picked up through osmosis by hearing jazz constantly through my childhood.

Did your father encourage you to pursue singing? Do you feel his influence on the music you write and perform today?

I never sang while growing up, aside from a deathless rendition of “Tenderly” that my folks recorded when I was around four, and my father didn’t push me one way or the other. When I did start singing and writing, though, he was so proud. He used to come to all my gigs; after a few years when I was beginning to find my niche and do my own songs, nothing made him happier than having someone come up to him in some club and go “Well, Leonard, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

I feel his influence constantly. Most of the work I feel best about has been done since the passing of both my parents, which makes me a little sad.

What other jazz musicians, past and present, do you listen to? Who do you really admire?

I like old jazz, meaning pre-bop. I’m crazy about early Ellington and I really enjoy stride piano — Fats Waller and James P. Johnson. Of course I adored Billie Holiday, and my strongest influence was definitely Annie Ross. As far as contemporary jazz singers go, I admire Kurt Elling and Tierney Sutton greatly. There are loads of female singers out there, as we know. I tend to be most impressed by the ones who are proficient on an instrument too, like Diana Krall and Karrin Allyson, because I don’t play. Drummer Gregg Field was describing to me how Karrin can play shaker (a percussion instrument) as well as any percussionist, in perfect time while singing and laying back on the beat.

I love that. I don’t listen only to jazz. I like singer-songwriters of all kinds. When Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark came out I’d sing along with the entire album at least twice a day. A couple of my other perennial favorites are Joe Jackson’s Big World, Steely Dan’s Gaucho and Suzanne Vega’s Solitude Standing. I also have a penchant for dance music, and sort of loved the disco era, though I kept it to myself.

What advice do you have for young people who are interested in pursuing a career as a jazz musician?

It’s always hard for me to answer that question, because I think it’s great for people to study, but I’m not academically trained. I’d say, get out there and have a lot of musical experiences as soon as possible; get your feet wet. If you’re a writer, find any possible outlet to write: ask other talented people in your circle to collaborate. Submit your material to anyone who’s looking for songs.

There are two basic pieces of advice I’d offer to anyone finding his or her way in the arts. The first is to pursue that particular thing that really get you excited, and just do it to death. The second is not to give up or let others discourage you if you feel in your heart that you have something to give. I know we hear such advice a lot, but I mean ever, and at any age.

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