It’s always good to try something new, like, say..for instance, jazz music! If you take earthy soul, mixed it with some groove, added some silky smoke, and blended it with cool - you have the incredible song stylings of J’ai Michel. As if on cue, her newest CD Introducing J’ai Michel... is out now, so do yourself a favor... and meet
the woman who is Sweet Baby J’ai.

YOU HAVE SUCH AN AMAZING VOICE AND EAR FOR MUSIC. HOW MUCH CONSCIOUS EFFORT GOES INTO THE BLEND AND BAND SELECTION TO GET THAT SIGNATURE SOUND?
Thank you! I’ve had many musical lives, at least nine so far, like a black cat. I started out playing violin in grade school, switched to popping notes out on bass in high school, took a very serious stab at singing traditional jazz, rock ‘n roll, avant-garde jazz, then blues and soul. What I do today is a mixture of everything I’ve done in the past…all of those styles went into creating my signature sound.
DO YOU FEEL LIKE JAZZ MUSIC IS STARTING TO GET THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES?
If you look at the history of the recording industry, jazz was the Queen Mother for three decades until 50’s rock n’ roll bumped it off the charts. Then the soul singers of the 60’s came to town and took ‘em all down. Plaid and polkadot 70’s disco was the life of the party until 80’s metal and 90’s pop soared to the top. Hip-hop, rap, and pop/soul blend, and now it’s time to start all over again. Yes, jazz is back baby, as was evidenced by jazz artist, Esperanza Spaulding winning the 2011 Grammy for Best
New Artist.
YOU’RE SO DIVERSE, BUT KNOWN MORE FOR YOUR JAZZ STYLINGS. HOW DID YOU CONNECT TO JAZZ?
I love jazz because it’s unscripted. It’s about improvisation, which adds a constant element of surprise. The reason players can play an...