Coastal Jazz and Blues Society was founded in 1985 and became a not-for-profit, charitable arts organization in Vancouver, BC. In anticipation of the upcoming Vancouver International Jazz Festival, which will be kicking off this summer and celebrating their 40th year anniversary, we sat down with the amazing local soul and jazz singer, Dawn Pemberton, to find out more about this award-winning Canadian musician.

OCT: We feel very fortunate to be here at the Armoury Studios in Vancouver. It is such a beautiful space and a perfect place to sit down and talk with this incredible artist. Leading up to this year’s jazz festival, which takes place from June 20 to July 1, we have the privilege of meeting some of the talent that will be performing. Our guest is Dawn Pemberton, who is well known for her powerful voice not only singing soul and jazz, but also gospel, funk and world music. Dawn, you have been involved with this festival in some capacity for a very long time. Tell us a bit more about that experience.

DP: I am a lover of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and I remember going to this event as a teenager and checking out this great live music, which was free. There were the downtown stages, which I think is really incredible to see as a young person. In fact, there weren’t very many places where you could go and hear live jazz for fans 19 and older. That was like my first magical experience that was happening in this city for me. As I got more interested in music, I became a performer and a professional musician and I remember performing at the jazz festival and that was really special. It was incredible to be invited, and it felt like recognition from the music community and the city. It was like a positive affirmation that I was on the right path for me. So, you can understand why this festival is so very special for me.

OCT: You’ve done very well in the music industry, including accolades of Canada‘s “queen of soul”. We want to talk about your award-winning record but first let’s mention the multiple Juno award nominations and being the recipient of significant music grants. Let’s talk about the album Say Somethin and all the different influences we can hear in your song choices.

DP: For many years I worked with other people and their bands on their projects. I had all these songs and all of these ideas that I wanted to share with the world. And yes, I have a lot of musical influences because I love jazz, and I studied jazz music. But I also love gospel, the blues, R&B, and I even love “yacht rock”. To be honest, I wanted to showcase all the things that I love, and I remember people thought that was an interesting concept with comments like “it’s a bit jazzy” or “it’s a bit soulful”. I stuck to it because these are the sounds that I love and that’s how it came out in that album. I’m currently working on some new music for a new album called Supernova. Of course I’m very excited about that too.

OCT: If you could choose one genre to describe your style, what would you say?

DP: Yes, I definitely should, but I’m not sure if I can.

OCT: You are also a teacher, a pianist, a choir director… tell us a little bit about your women’s choir.

DP: The Roots ‘N’ Wings women’s choir is a choir that I started about 11 years ago. It is a wonderful community of singers who have a wide variety of musical experiences to share. I really wanted to create a community for women’s voices that was a little bit different than some of the traditional choirs that are around right now. I feel like the repertoire for women’s choirs is very focussed on a few things like love, or we sing about springtime in nature, and I wanted to show that women’s choirs can sing about other things. This choir consists of a wonderful group of people and God bless them for trusting me to lead them down a very interesting and creative path and we have a lot of fun together.

OCT: We always like to ask our guests who are in the creative fields like actors, writers, musicians, artists about a particular question—what made them choose to do what they do. Singers like Roberta Flack, Evelyn Champagne King, and Anita Baker have been mentioned as some of your influences, but who did you hear for the first time or see for the first time that made you think I want to do that? Was there a music influence that really set you on this path?

DP: For me it was Mahalia Jackson. I grew up in a very musical family, and my parents were always listening to music. I have a lot of siblings who are also musicians and so they were listening to tons of music. I remember inheriting this old stereo component, and I got to put it in my bedroom which was very special at the time and the thing about this stereo was that it had an eight-track deck. I didn’t know what that was, but I found all these eight tracks cartridges in my parents’ basement. I remember lying in my room, listening to this big, beautiful voice (Mahalia Jackson) and I was really moved. I didn’t know why or what it was, but there was something that kept me curious about her. And this was a beautiful introduction to singing, gospel music, and just music in general.

OCT: That would have been a great introduction experience to beautiful music. And Dawn, to let our viewers know, you will be performing at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival on Sunday, June 22 on the downtown Georgia Street stage which is a great location. We don’t want to miss that performance. 

To find out more about Dawn Pemberton you can go to her website dawnpemberton.ca and to check out all of the great events happening this year coastaljazz.ca