New album from vocalist Patrice Jegou

PATRICE JÉGOU (pronounced Zhay-goo) is a singer's singer. Her sumptuous, velvety, and technically flawless voice embraces you like a warm blanket on a cold night. Her new CD, IF IT AIN'T LOVE, is a musically diverse album of jazz and pop tunes that encompasses big band and huge orchestral arrangements, power ballads, and a cappella adaptations. 

IF IT AIN'T LOVE is an ambitious project that opens with an electrifying a cappella version of "Lover Come Back to Me." In this high-energy track, Jégou is backed by Take 6 members ALVIN CHEA and MARK KIBBLE. In recording this record, Jégou has pulled off a major coup. She recruited some of the world's top arrangers: JORGE CALANDRELLI (arranger for Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett), JOHN CLAYTON, and MARK KIBBLE of TAKE 6. To round it out, she enlisted heavyweights DAVID PAICH of Toto (writer of such hits as "Rosanna" and "Africa," and son of legendary arranger Marty Paich), and celebrated L.A. studio pianist MIKE LANG.

Patrice is backed by A-list musicians including THE CLAYTON-HAMILTON JAZZ ORCHESTRA, 10-time Grammy winning vocal group TAKE 6, and several of L.A.'s top recording musicians. IF IT AIN'T LOVE was recorded and mixed at the legendary Capitol and United Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Despite the impressive cast, Jégou shines through as an exceptional singer.

Born in St. John's, Newfoundland, and raised in Red Deer, Alberta - both in Canada -- Jégou initially looked poised to pursue a career in sports. Although she comes from a family of amateur musicians and was enrolled in music lessons as a child, her first love wasn't music, it was figure skating. She began skating when she was seven years old and turned pro when she was 18. She worked as a coach in New Zealand, and later skated in an ice show that was part of a touring circus in Mexico.

While performing in Mexico, her fate changed as a result of a casual remark by a fellow skater. Patrice tells the story: "One day I was just singing to myself backstage during intermission, and my friend and skating partner said, 'Patrice I think you have a lovely voice. When you go back to Canada, you really ought to look into taking voice lessons.'" Patrice took his advice and went on to study music and classical voice. Her academic and performing trajectory included earning three music degrees, culminating in a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in classical vocal performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She also went on to represent Canada in a vocal competition in Orvieto, Italy, and won a prestigious international vocal competition in Peru. For a while, it seemed that classical music and opera were Patrice's destiny. But that, too, was about to change.

 

While studying at Rutgers, Jégou met her husband-to-be, physician/musician YINKA OYELESE. Oyelese came from a musical family in Nigeria, where as a teen, he sang in nationally acclaimed a cappella groups, and recorded and produced albums. Patrice remarks: "I can't get away with anything vocally with Yinka. He has incredible ears, and an amazing musical gift. It also helps that he has a vast depth of knowledge about the 'ins and outs' of the recording process." It was Oyelese who encouraged Patrice to broaden her vocal horizons, and to venture beyond her classical training.

"When I sing Debussy or Mozart or Beethoven, I have to sing it exactly as it was written," says Jégou.  "Singing jazz is far more spontaneous. You're free to re-interpret the music. It's very liberating and creative."

Jégou took to jazz singing like a fish to water. She and Oyelese, executive producer for the album, spent hour upon hour delving into the jazz repertoire, listening to as many different versions of songs as they could find. For example, Jégou estimates that they studied more than 45 different renditions of "Lover Come Back To Me." Although they were listening to and learning from the masters, she knew she had to develop her own style. She quips: "Nothing sounds worse than a classically trained singer trying to navigate jazz or pop tunes without shedding old musical ideas and changing their technique."

Jégou can really swing, as she so clearly demonstrates on her collaborations with the inimitable CLAYTON-HAMILTON JAZZ ORCHESTRA. The famed big band provides their instantly identifiable sound on "Jersey Bounce," "If It Ain't Love," "Just Squeeze Me," and "Please Send Me Someone to Love."

On tunes like "Waltz for Debby" and "Estate," both of which were arranged by Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated Calandrelli, Jégou takes a thoughtful and sensitive approach to the lyrics. But she can also get her groove on, and we hear that in the funky Allen Toussaint tune "Yes We Can, Can." In this track, arranged by Paich, Jégou sings a duet with gospel diva TÀTA VEGA. But whether she's swinging, feeling the groove, or interpreting an intimate ballad like "It Might Be You," she clearly captures the heart and soul of a song, no matter the genre.

When asked about recording in L.A., Patrice comments: "For this album, only the best would do. Yinka and I were committed to making a world-class record. Being an independent artist isn't easy, but we believed we could do something that generally only big-time artists are doing these days." With a grand vision in mind, Patrice chose to record and mix IF IT AIN'T LOVE at the famed Capitol Studios and United Recording, in Los Angeles. She was elated when two titans of the music industry agreed to come on board: legendary recording engineers DON MURRAY and AL SCHMITT.

And the results are impressive. IF IT AIN'T LOVE is a stunning showcase for this artist's wide-ranging talents.  

IF IT AIN'T LOVE will be available in stores and online everywhere on March 22, 2019. 

 

Online:

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