I was enjoying a leisurely cup of green tea after a festive lunch (Africa meets haute cuisine) at Manyata in Yorkville with friends. Figuring I had plenty of time before I was needed, I started on some other business, returning calls, making appointments and got a bit carried away.
I was in a busy coffee shop (with horrendous music) took a look at the clock and discovered I barely had ten minutes to pack up my makeshift office and run down Bay Street like a madman to meet an amazing artist.
Got to the studio, turns out she was late too. I waited in the corridor wondering is she was not stuck in that antique manually operated elevator I had just come up in. Felt sorry for the guy who emerges dutifully from the basement to operate that contraption every time someone rings the bell.
I was about to reach for my mobile to call the person who schedules these interviews and sure enough there walked in a beaming Jill Barber, winner of the FACTOR Recording of the Year and Female Artist of the Year at the 2007 East Coast Music Awards.
She is charming, beautiful and very down to earth. We instantly hit it off, musician to musician. I found her refreshing and very easy to talk to.
Before we recorded our chat, I did some fact checking and shared a few jokes. I discovered that she is a devoted fan of her brother’s music (singer/songwriter Mathew Barber). She even got us to play one of his songs. With a sister like that, who needs an agent?
During the interview she gave us a sneak peak into her creative process (yes, she does on occasions compose music in her bathroom, the acoustic are good there). Most of her songs come from personal experience, she told us, and they are a form of emotional catharsis for her.
I asked her about the title track of her latest CD For All Time (Described as “modest but powerful” by Now Magazine). Jill Barber has a very rich tone and her sound-world straddles jazz, folk and country. She is a very personal songwriter; her music is achingly honest and etched with personal experience. For All Time, she told us, was her way of moving on from a failed relationship and the ephemeral nature of young love.
I did ask something quite ungentlemanly –how old she was. I was prompted to ask this by the emotional depth and maturity of her music in contrast to her youthful radiance. You will have to tune in to the pod cast for an answer to that question.
She tours extensively and has just comeback from a major tour with the legendary Ron Sexsmith.
As an artist, she cares deeply about the state of the world today and thinks that music is a common language for all humanity, a bridge builder that can help us communicate beyond the barriers of spoken language. She has released three albums, each one marking a key phase in her artistic evolution and maturity.
FOR THE LATEST INFO ON JILL BARBER: visit her superb website (with video content, music, tour dates and a teeny tiny bio) at http://www.jillbarber.com/
I was in a busy coffee shop (with horrendous music) took a look at the clock and discovered I barely had ten minutes to pack up my makeshift office and run down Bay Street like a madman to meet an amazing artist.
Got to the studio, turns out she was late too. I waited in the corridor wondering is she was not stuck in that antique manually operated elevator I had just come up in. Felt sorry for the guy who emerges dutifully from the basement to operate that contraption every time someone rings the bell.
I was about to reach for my mobile to call the person who schedules these interviews and sure enough there walked in a beaming Jill Barber, winner of the FACTOR Recording of the Year and Female Artist of the Year at the 2007 East Coast Music Awards.
She is charming, beautiful and very down to earth. We instantly hit it off, musician to musician. I found her refreshing and very easy to talk to.
Before we recorded our chat, I did some fact checking and shared a few jokes. I discovered that she is a devoted fan of her brother’s music (singer/songwriter Mathew Barber). She even got us to play one of his songs. With a sister like that, who needs an agent?
During the interview she gave us a sneak peak into her creative process (yes, she does on occasions compose music in her bathroom, the acoustic are good there). Most of her songs come from personal experience, she told us, and they are a form of emotional catharsis for her.
I asked her about the title track of her latest CD For All Time (Described as “modest but powerful” by Now Magazine). Jill Barber has a very rich tone and her sound-world straddles jazz, folk and country. She is a very personal songwriter; her music is achingly honest and etched with personal experience. For All Time, she told us, was her way of moving on from a failed relationship and the ephemeral nature of young love.
I did ask something quite ungentlemanly –how old she was. I was prompted to ask this by the emotional depth and maturity of her music in contrast to her youthful radiance. You will have to tune in to the pod cast for an answer to that question.
She tours extensively and has just comeback from a major tour with the legendary Ron Sexsmith.
As an artist, she cares deeply about the state of the world today and thinks that music is a common language for all humanity, a bridge builder that can help us communicate beyond the barriers of spoken language. She has released three albums, each one marking a key phase in her artistic evolution and maturity.
FOR THE LATEST INFO ON JILL BARBER: visit her superb website (with video content, music, tour dates and a teeny tiny bio) at http://www.jillbarber.com/
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