Jazz KANDACE SPRINGS Hidden Depths In the world of jazz, Kandace Springs is a rising star. Her soulful voice and unique approach to piano – blending jazz, blues and R&B elements – are bringing the genre into the modern age. More than a proponent of a new sound, Springs is both a custodian of jazz history as well as a supreme impressionist and composer, crafting songs that nod to previous decades while also being uniquely rooted in our contemporary era. The artist Prince, who was one of her mentors, advised Springs never to let studio production tamp down her fantastic voice. “I’m not paying attention to the fancy [musical] terminologies or rhythms and stuff,” laughs Springs, who says she sees notes and tones as colours in her mind’s eye. “I’m just singing from my heart [because for me] jazz is emotion set to sound. It’s saying, ‘I think this colour looks beautiful there. It sounds beautiful here.’” ILLUSTRATION EMMA KELLY 44
Before Prince came along, her late father, Scat Springs, a soul singer himself, was her number-one advocate – recording an early album with his daughter and pushing her demos into the right hands. He always encouraged her to carve out her own path, regardless of how the music industry might want to mould her. Shy by nature, she had no interest in singing at first, but it took her no time at all to find her voice. After four years of hard work – a valet parker by day, and a hotel lounge performer by evening – she developed the soulful, authentic and profound approach to her artistry for which she is known today. Her 2020 album The Women Who Raised Me pays homage to the singers that have inspired her. She covers some of the most famous tunes of the past 100 years by a roster of all-time great female vocalists – Ella Fitzgerald, Roberta Flack, Lauryn Hill, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone and Billie Holiday. “She’s raw,” Springs says of the latter. “Her voice is like nobody else’s. That’s what the world is hungry for, and I would like to bring that to this world the best I can.” This opportunity to work with, in a sense, so many of her idols gave her a chance to reflect on their legacy and on her own goals. The music is full of nuance and grace and offers a rare insight into Springs’s raw power. In contrast to how most albums are recorded, this album maintains an extra aura of authenticity with each track recorded live, allowing the listener to hear the interactions between musicians and maintaining those moments of serendipity that are usually edited out of recordings. So far, she’s on the right path – and it is only a matter of time before the next generation is saying something glowing about her. COURTESY OF Living FOR MORE INFORMATION ON LOCATIONS AND TO BOOK, SCAN THE QR CODE 45
