José James
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José James

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“I think it was that voice, she’s so singular and iconic,” says James. “She really represents, more than any other singer except for Louis Armstrong, that kind of American, independent, ‘I am who I am,’ you know? It’s in her style, it’s in the way she dressed, in the flower in her hair and the way that she was an amazing feminist. She was just super badarse. There’s really nobody in jazz like her.”
A music fan since childhood, the music of Billie Holiday was planted in James’ life at a very young age and has been apparent ever since. “She was my first memory when I was like three-years-old,” he says. “Finding her LP in my mum’s record collection and looking at a picture of her, which was black and white with the flower, I was just fascinated by it. Later in high school I was listening to a lot of hip hop and grunge and she really cut through all that stuff with this deep understanding of human pain and the human spirit. I guess I was like 14 when I really got into her pretty hardcore.”

Knowing that the art of performance lies in the variables, the singer/songwriter tends to modify his renditions slightly in each show. Performing classics including Good Morning Heartache, Strange Fruit and Body and Soul, James draws inspiration from Holiday’s ability to tell a great tale.

“I try to work within her philosophy,” he says. “She said, ‘I never sing a song the same way twice,’ and she always sang in a way that she could feel it, that she believed it. She was really a storyteller. She was one of the first mainstream popular artists to really bring that kind of storytelling aspect into jazz standards. So I try to bring my experience to the songs that she made popular.”

When dreaming of a date with Lady Day herself, James has no shame in telling it like it is. “I’d probably hit on her – she was pretty hot,” he laughs. “Everything I could learn from her was on her album. It’s funny, I’ve been talking about it today – meeting famous people – it’s kind of the worst thing to ever have happen. It’s a lot easier to hear the pure genius and that’s what you get from an album.

“I love that the lives of her or Miles were so well documented in their time, that you can really hear their evolution, month-by-month, sometimes week by week. I don’t think I’d ask her anything. Honestly, if she were singing I would shut up. I wouldn’t sing at all. I’d just want to listen to her. She could sing anything. I’d love to hear her sing Summertime though.”

Currently working on an R&B record, Love In A Time Of Madness, James is clearly interested in many other styles of music. Ranging from Nirvana and De La Soul to A Tribe Called Quest and Cypress Hill, the young talent has continuously acknowledged his inspirations throughout his career.

“I guess what a lot of people don’t understand is that I discovered jazz in the context of hip hop. It was always a cool sound to me – bands like Digable Planets or really anybody in the ’90s whose hip hop production used soul, break beats or jazz ensembles. It’s just a familiar sound of hip hop really, and then I discovered, ‘Oh cool, these are full albums. These are artists who have these long careers.’ ”

BY PHOEBE ROBERTSON