Take Five with Vocalist Teodora Brody

Meet Teodora Brody

Born in Romania, and now based in Switzerland, Teodora Brody initially trained in classical jazz and rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s singing with legendary jazz pianist Johnny Raducanu .

Acclaimed for her extraordinary vocal power and creative vision, Teodora pioneered the fusion of jazz with Doina—Romania's improvisatory folk singing tradition—and is widely credited with introducing international audiences to this extraordinary, deeply emotive music.

Always searching for new musical territories to explore, Teodora has performed alongside musicians including Stanley Jordan, Theodosii Spassov, Lars Danielsson, Johnny Răducanu, Les Paul, Curtis Fuller, Eric Legnini, Philippe Duchemin, Guido Manusardi, Benny Rietveld, Daniele di Bonaventura, Ion Baciu and Al Copley. On the world stage, Teodora has regularly appeared at prestigious European jazz festivals including Montreux, Lugano and Marciac, and across the Atlantic she has performed at the US Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and at legendary clubs including Iridium New York and Blues Alley in Washington D.C.

In 2004 the American government named Teodora a Romanian Cultural Ambassador to the USA, and in both 2007 and 2008 Teodora was awarded the prize for 'Best International Jazz Contribution by a Romanian Artist' by the Romanian National Radio.

Instrument:

Vocal

Teachers and/or influences?

I've been influenced a lot by the musicians I performed with and by those that I used to listen to on my CDs. After I graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Iasi, my first "school of music" was Ella Fitzgerald—I was whispering, scatting and breathing along her on each note at the same time—she was my first idol. Afterward, I was influenced a lot by Billie Holiday, then Sarah Vaughan who came with her huge feminine power, then Miles Davis—those were the golden years. Then I began being shaped by the music of my origins like the Romanian Doina and I started mixing up jazz with the music of my roots. Then came the Klezmer music. Later on, Bach arrived in all his greatness, Beethoven, Bartok, Enescu. They totally changed my vision, my music became more and more cinematic. I was searching for a higher vibe in my music, as well as in my life. In the recent years I haven't been influenced by others as I started to be more and more in touch with my deep inner self, that's how I discovered that there, in my inner sled, there is EVERYTHING. You just need to learn how to dive deep into it.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...

It all started in my last year at the university. I was ready to become a math teacher but at the same time was playing my guitar, writing songs and lyrics without having necessarily the desire to be up there on the stage.

I knew I wanted to be a musician when I heard the first jazz song (having been born in a communist era, without musical education, I've never listened to jazz before, I didn't even know it exists since this kind of music was forbidden during those years). When I heard the first song being played by a pianist—it was "Misty"—it was love at first sight! My soul recognized it somehow, it's hard to explain. In that second all my priorities changed, from that moment I knew that I wanted to perform on a stage, I wanted to play this "strange, but so powerful JAZZ music"! I've slowly became addicted. I was a Math teacher in Bucharest for a year when the first Romanian jazz club opened in the west part of Romania, in Timisoara. I quit without a second thought, I just quit and "ran" to Timisoara to perform at that club. I was not interested in clothes, in fashion or in how much the performing fee was—sometimes I was hungry while singing, but it didn't matter, I WAS SINGING AND LIVING MY LIFE SINGING! And that was my gif

Your sound and approach to music.

As I mentioned earlier, in the beginning, I was trying so hard to sound like Ella. It was very tough, even with my huge enthusiasm, it was so difficult trying to sound like someone else. I had the great chance to be the singer of the best Romanian jazz band, Johhny Raducanu & Friends, for 10 years. During those years, I was working like a humble student, doing solfege in the morning and singing by night in the best Romanian clubs.

After 10 years I had developed my own vision, pioneering the ethno jazz in Romania. I remember being the first singer who "dared" to bring the Romanian traditional music, Doina, on a jazz stage. It was like blasphemy for the jazz purists. :-) I've lost so many of Ella's fans during those years, due to those original mixtures of styles. I believe that was the moment when my career took off, I had tours with my "Back to the Roots" project in the US, in Europe, and everywhere. My sound became richer and richer in its own way, yet totally authentic; my soul wanted more. And then, soon afterwards, I became tired. Without knowing why. I was hearing the music in my heart but couldn't physically sing it. Twelve years ago I got sick and I was thinking that maybe I wouldn't be able to sing anymore. So I stopped my concerts, I threw away my CDs, all my jazz music. My devotion to this music turned into my greatest enemy, I rebelled against JAZZ, which had ''stolen my soul and my entire being!'' "I'll never sing jazz again," I said to myself. So, during this terrible crisis, not only I stopped all the concerts and didn't even sing lullabies to my two year old son any more.

I tried to dig deep inside myself to understand and to heal. Almost a year later, I met an amazing canto teacher, Mr. Dan Priscornic, who taught me the Cantorian Monks singing technique. So I started studying with him this vocal technique based on pranayama and inner alchemy. I am still working on it, improving it day by day. My music is going together with my spiritual practice. I can say that singing is my spiritual practice, spending countless hours perfecting my sound. Shortly I started composing music, my music, my vision. I've started more and more to be me—and my soul was very happy. I was healing! It is a long story. Later on, I entered the classical field. Now my sound is able to do whatever I want with my voice. It is very close to my heart, I am happy and ready to fly through my sound. And now, with my newest project, IMPROMPTU, with which you will hear me in November at Carnegie Hall, together with Stanley Jordan, I discover that it is enough to be deeply connected with your deepest root and with your inner emotional world to be able to compose and create directly on stage. Just by following the sound.

Now I feel freedom in my life and in my music. My journey continues like a one way ticket—with many changes, many discoveries. I'm following it without questions, amazed, and excited.

Your teaching approach

I believe that we all carry a big bird inside of us. This bird MUST FLY!! We need to help her fly! If she wants to fly through our voice, we should follow her.

If you can make her fly by raising your children or by writing poems or working the land, that's amazing!! Whatever you and her choose, just follow it! When I talk with the young generations, I am talking first about a new dimension of the artistic consciousness in us. Our music is not for the ego or for looking great or for getting rich. If we make music, we should feed this amazing bird with our sound. This is why we make music, to let our bird fly and also to inspire others to learn to fly.

In the past, musicians were also preachers and healers. "Are you ready to become a priest and a healer through your music?" I ask them. I believe that Beauty can lead us from pain to wisdom. However, we need dedication, love and a true and authentic life, sometimes an ascetic life. Sometimes you need to sacrifice other dreams and follow this one. This is what I believe is crucial. Then, of course, you need to develop your art with love, with your precious time and dedication. And you need to work like crazy and to sharpen your sword, because you want more and more and you want to give the best version of yourself, just like in a deep love affair. You need to strive to be perfect day by day. And on the stage, you need to look for a connection with yourself, with the other musicians and with God. This is the way I approach music.

Your dream band

I was lucky to meet great musicians and to play in so many different bands, from duos to great symphonic orchestras. I fulfilled many many of my dreams!!! But now that you ask, I have to share that I am dreaming to sing the Romanian Rhapsodies by George Enescu (my original vocal versions) with Mr. Marsalis and his Orchestra at the Lincoln Center! I know he loves Enescu so much and I've recently created the first vocal versions to the Romanian Rhapsodies by George Enescu in a very original version.

Road story: Your best or worst experience

I remember when I did my first tour in the US with my project "Back to my Roots," I was in New York and my dream was to go to Harlem in a real jazz club and sing there.

My colleagues were tired from touring, so I went alone to a jazz club in Harlem where an amazing pianist, Mr. Lafayette Harris, was putting on a great performance with his trio. Finally, I was listening to a REAL jazz band! Wow, what a gift! With tears in my eyes, I was listening to them... I had very short hair, was dressed like a teenager. During the break I felt the urge to sing with them... wow, my dream to play with a real jazz band! So I went to Lafayette and I told him that I would love to sing with them. He looked at me in a strange way, did not answer, and went for a coffee... I followed him without saying anything... only my eyes showed what my soul wanted. He looked again at me and went to the stage.

So I followed him again and he started to laugh and said: ''ok, what do you want to play?'' I said, "All of Me" (my teacher taught me that this is the American jazz hymn, so anybody should know it). So, I said ''All of Me'' and I took the mike.

The bassist started the intro, I felt my heart jumping to the clouds, so I started with all my joy, I sang like it was my last concert in this life.

At the end there was a huge applause, Mr. Harris smiled at me and said: "let's play more," so we did a Charlie Parker, then a ballad, then some blues. At the end, nobody knew my name, so he said: "What's your name?," I answered with happy eyes.

And somebody from the audience asked ''Where are you from?''

I said shyly: From Romania

Silence.

And then someone else said: ''Well, nobody's perfect'!' A few months later, on my second tour in the US, I invited Mr. Harris for some concerts together.

Favorite venue

I love big stages but I remember with nostalgia those small and intimate jazz clubs. I also love to sing in the forest.

This June I played at the Kennedy Center and I was amazed by the professionalism, the atmosphere, the sound, the technical equipment and staff, everything was perfect. It was like going to sing in a church.

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?

When it comes to listening to my own CDs, I am a perfectionist.

I did not like to listen to them in the beginning (musicians understand this feeling). But then, after I started to putting my vision into them and refining my sound, things changed.

I can say that my favorite one is Unifying Worlds and then Rhapsody. Both of them contain this mixture of classical with jazz and the music of my roots. The first one is recorded with my own quartet and second with this force of nature, the London Symphony Orchestra.

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically?

My way was not an easy one because I've changed direction many times, looking always for something new, not defined yet.

It was difficult to follow my vision and to be focused on it. When I look back, especially to the Romanian stage, where I had the longest impact, I see the new generations embracing those changes: bringing the music of their roots or symphonic big orchestras onto the jazz stages or doing impromptu concerts, leaving aside all the patterns and mental knowledge. This makes me so happy. But I do not stop here, I am happy, curious, and ready to discover—the next station. If we are authentic as artists that means we follow our deepest inspiration, we are rooted in our inner self. In that space, it is impossible not to be original.

Did you know...

I do not like to talk about my private life, I am trying to protect my family, my children, my husband, therefore I never post photos with them or talk about them. They are my holiest secret and it should remain like that.

The first jazz album I bought was:

Of course Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie Orchestra

Music you are listening to now:

Andreas Scholl: est of Andrea Scholl (DECCA) Cecile McLorin Salvant: Ghost Song (Nonesuch Records) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Premium edition) (Cascade Medien Production) Renaissance: Turn of the cards (BTM Records) Pat Metheny: Side Eye (Metheny Group Production)

Desert Island picks:

When you are on a desert island, it is time to learn that the truest music is not on a recording, but the music of the stars, the sound of the earth, of the rain and dust and in the end, SILENCE is the real music.

How would you describe the state of jazz today?

I know some great jazz musicians who play amazing music, they are real artists and serve this Earth with their arts. However, there is another side of jazz, a dark side for me, where the musicians are trying to be perfect robots, missing and skipping the deeper values. You can learn everything nowadays, from breathing to patterns, to how to communicate with your husband and how to give birth. This world has become very technical and that makes it a bit difficult for me. I was from the beginning sensitive, hungry to be in contact with musicians and to share this immaterial world of sound instead of being preoccupied with the results.

This was difficult, many times I suffered instead of tasting the promising joy of jazz. But now I am in balance and I understand that the most important thing is to be connected with my center. That brings me joy and makes it easier to become connected with the others.

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?

We need to go back to the origins and understand how Jazz was born, and understand the circumstances. What was the reason that this amazing music arose? And only after understanding this, we need to go back in schools with a new consciousness, this way we keep the love in our hearts as a sacred space—only from there we should perform.

What is in the near future?

After my IMPROMPTU concert with Stanley at the Carnegie Hall, I will sing together with the London Symphony Orchestra in London, where we promote our Rhapsody album.

Then I'm going to the studio with the second session of UNIFYING WORLDS, bringing vocal original versions to some new classical opuses.

And, very dear to my heart, I will continue my Impromptu series with musicians from all over the world who wish to connect with our deepest ONE common root through the sound.

What is your greatest fear when you perform?

In the beginning my greatest fear was that I won't remember my lyrics. And if I remembered them, my fear was not to have a bad (English) accent. Now I am not using words anymore because I believe that each song has its own story in that moment and if we label it by putting words and defining it strictly by the words, we lose the power of being emotionally spontaneous. And I am free to explore all my inner emotional world by also being spontaneous... That is an amazing taste of freedom.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

First thought? "Honeysuckle Rose."

What is your favorite song to whistle or sing in the shower?

Today Bach Aria on a G string

By Day:

When I decided to quit my job as a Math teacher, I did not have a house to live in, sometimes I was hungry while singing, I did not have outfits for my concerts but I could not be in duality. So I was able to resist without a daily job, thank God!

If I weren't a jazz musician, I would be a:

A shaman

If I could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be and why?

With Constantin Brancusi, the Romanian sculptor, to discuss his vision and his birds.

If I could go back in time and relive an experience, what would it be?

I would go back in time when I started my jazz career and I chose to be an artist. I did not have any help, no money, no house and could not live with my daughter for three years. I would take her in my arms and sing with her and fight for her.

What's the song or piece of music you wish you could hear again for the first time?

I would like to listen again to "Misty," in the same circumstances, but with my mind of today to see what was Teodora feeling then. And to see her eyes, to hear her voice.

What is the name of your cat?

Blue.

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