Arts Alive San Antonio

By SUZI CASTELLAW, Contributing Writer

If you take the jazz your parents listened to, add a little Carpenters, some Patsy Cline and a pinch of Mozart, mix it all up, and then combine it with a stunningly attractive hybrid of precocious Betty Boop and soulful Etta James, throw in a trombone and you will have a singular concoction sure to entertain. That’s what Aubrey Logan offers.  She has even been known to spice things up with a cartwheel or two right on stage, before starting to sing. 

Logan, who will make her San Antonio debut this coming Wednesday at Jazz TX, describes her music as “Pop and R&B influenced by Jazz.” The San Antonio show is the first stop on her tour to promote the release of her third solo album Standard. “I’ve never set foot in San Antonio.  I can’t wait,” she gushed.

Originally from Seattle, Logan has lived in Boston and LA and now very happily resides in Austin, Texas.   In 2009 she won the Audience’s Choice Award and the Jury’s First Place Award at the prestigious Shure-Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.  That same year, Logan won a golden ticket to the finals of American Idol.

Both her parents were music teachers, and it was their musical tastes and all the music she was hearing at home that inspired her to make her own.  “They would play so many artists like Beethoven, Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, Burt Bacharach, I just thought that was normal when I was younger to hear all those different genres within the span of one hour.”

Known for her capriciously jazzy arrangements of familiar pop songs–many of which can be found on her YouTube channel – she is also a gifted songwriter and trombone player. New songs usually start with one very short idea that has a bit of a story behind it.   “The work lies in finding out what that story is and telling it in such a way that’s not too trite and also not to unrelatable,” she explains.  Within minutes the music is already written in her head.  “The music and the hook are the easy parts,” she adds.  “It’s the lyrics that require a lot of writing, and rewriting, and frustration, and time.”

Among her original works are the poppy R&B tune Pistol. (“I’m a pistol are you ready for me/ Just one wrong move and you’re history”); the smooth jazz song Airport Codes. (“At LAX, JFK, CDG, LGA, I’m on my way”); and the upbeat Pity Party, a jazz tune with an R&B intro. Logan also has a wonderful way of making cover songs her own as in the artful arrangement of the MC Hammer popular hip-hop song, U Can’t Touch This.

Logan headlines her own shows, is a featured artist for Postmodern Jukebox, and plays regularly with the Dave Koz Band.  She has worked with many iconic musicians including Quincy Jones, Josh Groban, Smokey Robinson and Pharrell Williams.  And she has performed with orchestras all over the world, Including the Geneva Camerata Orchestra and The Boston Pops.   

Logan switches from big concert halls to intimate jazz clubs with ease.

“I mean, no matter the size of the venue or the orchestration, the concert is relatively similar.” She notes. “There’s a common thread and that is the variation of tempos and styles and the arc of the show itself.  If I get 90 minutes to put on my show, I’m going to vary the styles, the tempos, the moods of the different songs to tell the story of [every side] of life.  Life is full of joy, sorrow and laughter and anger, I try to make sure that it is all touched upon in the show.”

Regarding her newest album Standard set for release May 21 she explains, “It’s the most traditional jazz album I’ve ever made.  I promise it is a jazz album and that it is full of standards.  I do not promise that it is full of jazz standards,” she says with a giggle.  “It does have some but, in my world, there are standards in lots of other genres.”  Included on the album is a little bit of everything–rock and roll, opera, jazz and, she beams, “even a couple of standards of mine I wrote in the past that some of my very dedicated fans have enjoyed.” 

Aubrey Logan will be performing with her world-class Austin based rhythm section—pianist Sean Michael Giddings, guitarist Chris McQueen, bass player Sam Pankey, and drummer Daniel Dufour.

Wonder if she still does the one-handed cartwheel?

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Wednesday, May 19 @ 7:30; Jazz, Tx, 312 Pearl Pkwy, Bldg. 6 Suite 6001,
San Antonio, TX 78215; (210) 332-9386; Tickets available @ www.jazztx.com
Kitchen and bar are fully open for dinner service, with brand new food and drink menus.

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