MUSIC

A quiet shade of swing

Linda Niles is a working singer who loves her work and lets you know it

MICHAEL KENT

The Lobby Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok is divided into two halves, one on either side of the passage from the entrance. As you enter, the one on the left side is where the music's coming from. It is not exactly a jazz lounge although Linda Niles, now singing there nightly, is a jazz singer by choice.

"But I know it's not always possible to do jazz wherever I go, so I guess you could call me a working singer," she said. "In fact, I didn't choose to be a singer at all at first; it was more like singing chose me. When I was at high school I actually wanted to be a librarian."

She laughs and covers her face with her hands as if the notion is too odd to cope with. The movements are small and birdlike, the hair cropped short, only recently emerging from the blonde wig phase that she'd decided to abandon.

"It's what I was studying at high school when I got my first music gig," she continued. "I was in the gospel choir and someone noticed me and gave me a job. It was nice, it was exciting. It led to another gig, then another.

"So there I was, at school during the day and singing in the evening; it was a cycle. I didn't think about it very much, until I realised the emphasis had gradually changed. It seemed that singing had moved into my life and taken over. It decided for me, and I found I was doing what I wanted."

There was plenty of work for her in and around Montreal, so she settled comfortably into the life of a working singer - though perhaps not always so comfortably.

"You have to be ready to make the sacrifices if you're going to sing professionally," she cautioned. "It's not a predictable life and there are ups and downs. But you do it because you love it. I was rather shy, and I found that singing was a way to communicate with people. And as a musician, I met other musicians, writers, artists of one kind or another and interesting people, and that was good. I never had dreams of being a star; I just wanted to be in that kind of life."

It was 8 o'clock on a Wednesday night and there were not too many people in the lobby lounge as yet. The band was already on the stand, swinging discreetly into a soft-focus, mid-tempo number. They are three young Thai musicians, pianist Pongsatorn, bassist Chayan and Polwit on saxophone with veteran Filipino drummer, Lester Esteban.

So how, we asked, was she communicating here at the Lobby Lounge? Was it very different to Montreal?

"Yes, there are a lot of jazz venues there and bars and restaurants with live music but not so many hotel lounges," she said. "In Bangkok I get the impression that jazz is presented either as a big show like a festival, or it's in the background. I think we're in the second category here, so what we do is help to set an atmosphere and contribute to it."

It was now time for her to add her own contribution, and perching on a bar stool in front of the band, she launched into a brisk version of Gershwin's Our Love Is Here to Stay. She sang it fairly straight in a high, light tone, and was clearly keeping a lot of vocal power in reserve.

"The American Songbook - composers like Gershwin and Jerome Kern, and writers like Johnny Mercer - they're my ideal repertoire," she said later. "They wrote the songs that people recognise, even if they don't recall the names. They're timeless and universal, and they always tell a story. I like stories, I think everybody does.

"But I would like to do them a bit more. Some songs need to be quiet, but a lot don't come across in a whisper. I'm old fashioned in that I like hard swinging. Well, that's not always what's required, so we've decided to settle for quiet swinging."

Her next song, Autumn Leaves, was an effective demonstration of that, and, being Canadian she had no trouble singing it in the original French as well as with Johnny Mercer's English lyric. It's a wistful song, with the falling leaves symbolising a lost love and the passing of time, and yet it always responds well to an uptempo swing treatment. Everyone took a solo and the performance drew a quiet patter of applause: it was somebody's favourite song, perhaps.

"One of the best things about this job is when you start a song and you see a reaction," Linda said. "It's a personal memory, perhaps. Someone tells you that song had a special meaning for them and you know you've made a difference to their evening. You should never assume that people aren't listening just because they're not sitting on the edge of their seat looking at you!"

Her next song was from the 1930s, Dancing Cheek to Cheek, one of the songs that Irving Berlin wrote for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It skipped along nicely in Linda's hands and we asked her if people did actually dance at the Lobby Lounge.

"They do," she said with obvious pleasure. "Not a lot and they're usually foreigners, but it does happen."

It is clearly an advantage not to have a highly developed ego and to be able to put the customer first. Working in a hotel, Linda Niles has decided that she is part of the hospitality industry.

She changed the tempo and the style with another movie song, But Beautiful featured in Road to Rio, one of the popular series of "Road" films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. It's a song whose romantic story is gently understated, and one that did come across at a whisper. Linda and the band treated it with restraint but without sacrificing the emotional content.

With I'm Beginning to See the Light, a jazzy mid-tempo number by bandleaders Duke Ellington and Harry James, she jumped back into solid, quiet swing mode. This is one of those songs that say, "I didn't know what life was about till I met you," in a quirky, upbeat way and to me, it neatly expressed the kind of engaging musical optimism that is the Niles style.

Linda Niles and the quartet are at the Lobby Lounge, Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok every evening except Monday until June 30 from 8-11:45pm. For reservations or information, call 02-250-1000 ext 1235/6.

Bangkok Post

Last Updated : Sunday April 08, 2007