All Photos: Alan Mercer
Shot on location at Joe T. Garcia's Restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas
From her home base of Dallas to Las Vegas to India to Dubai, the world is falling in love with Laura Ainsworth. With her satiny, three-octave voice, her sexy sense of humor and her trademark elbow-length gloves and beaded gowns that would fill Julie London with envy, Laura ushers audiences into her own enchanting world - a cocktail mix that combines the elegant retro style of nightclub singers of the ‘40s and '50s with sophisticated modern musical twists. She calls it "new vintage." It’s an intoxicating blend that has attracted some of the top jazz players in Texas to her side, including longtime partner Brian Piper, the 2012 “Dallas Jazz Musician of the Year” and one of the most sought-after pianists/producers in the Southwest.
Big band and lounge jazz are in Laura's DNA. Her late father, Bill Ainsworth, was a renowned big band sax and clarinet master and arranger who, at age 17, was possibly the youngest member ever of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. As a young girl, Laura watched enraptured as her dad accompanied such showroom idols as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Mel Torme. Laura grew up worshiping the great jazz, big band and club singers such as Ella, Keely Smith, Doris Day, Dinah Shore, Julie London, Margaret Whiting and Rosemary Clooney, as well as comedienne/singers Madeline Kahn, Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore. Both music and humor became a big part of her life.
Laura's debut CD, Keep It To Yourself (like all her albums, available through www.lauraainsworth.com) spotlights her amazing voice, surrounded by some of the greatest jazz musicians in Texas in a delightful genre- and era-skipping collection of songs from the 1920s to today, from ballads to swing, standards to obscure gems, Cole Porter to Marshall Crenshaw. Jazz Inside magazine raved, "You can keep those pop divas, the only one for me is Laura Ainsworth...a wonderful modern interpreter of the Great American Songbook, as well as thoroughly modern styles." Robert Sutton of JazzCorner.com wrote that she "weaves past and present with stunning power." And AllAboutJazz.com raved, "Gifted with a sultry, swoon-inducing croon, Ainsworth can sing any words and command attention…The whole album is among the year's most consistently engaging jazz releases, performed with class and heartfelt passion.”
Her second album, Necessary Evil, upped the ante, with Jazz Inside declaring, "Laura Ainsworth has not only met the incredible standard set by her debut recording, but surpassed it with her timeless musical craftsmanship and abundant raw talent." The album's theme is the darker side of love. It combines standards, obscurities and new songs in classic styles to tell a variety of stories of love with a twist. The film noir theme (complete with Raymond Chandler-style liner notes) includes a full big band. Oscar Montagut at TheWorldMusicReport.com called Laura "an exceptional singer, full of grace and color," and declared Necessary Evil "a smart and brilliant contribution to the world jazz scene." Preston Jones of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram said it "pops in a way that makes you realize just how terrific old-school jazz can sound in the right hands." Scottish radio host Richard Irvine called it "reminiscent of those classic Verve, Capitol and Columbia albums of the 1950s." And Koop Kooper, host of the internationally-syndicated "Cocktail Nation" radio show, simply declared, "My goodness, it is brilliant."
Like her debut, Necessary Evil made the Jazz Week top radio airplay charts. Several cuts also appeared on the best-selling compilation CDs, Goa Chillout Zone and Independent No. 1s, distributed throughout India and the Middle East by WOA Entertainment, which led to a concert tour of India and Dubai. Laura is a four-time nominee for Best Female Vocalist in the Artists Music Guild Heritage Awards, and in 2014, was a double nominee for both Best Female Vocalist and Best Mainstream Artist. She’s also been a guest on countless radio shows and podcasts in the growing cocktail jazz/lounge/bachelor pad genre and appeared on various TV talk shows and her own special on Dallas Comcast Cable.
August is shaping up to be a milestone month with the simultaneous releases of her long-awaited third album, New Vintage, which in its debut week at radio stations made JazzWeek’s Most Added chart, and Top Shelf, an audiophile vinyl LP of ten tracks from her first three CDs. She and Piper will travel to Manhattan on August 24thfor her New York debut at the elegant Metropolitan Room. And she appears alongside jazz icon Sue Raney on the latest compilation CD in the popular “This Is Vintage Now” series. Producer David Gaston wrote, “As excellent as Laura's first two albums have been, New Vintage looks to be her breakthrough…Laura creates a rich, intoxicating atmosphere that transports the mind to another place and time…Thank you, Laura, for making the Great American Songbook exciting and fun again!”
Laura and her husband Pat live with 15 adopted parrots, which she writes about in a column for the newsletter of the Wings of Love parrot rescue. She and Pat live in a Midcentury Modern house that they purchased and restored to its original Fabulous Fifties glory. In a twist worthy of one of her songs, it was once Laura's childhood home, where she used to watch her dad rehearse and write intricate big band arrangements on the kitchen table.
Alan Mercer: Why don’t you tell me a little bit about the beginning of your career, Laura?
Laura Ainsworth: Sure –- I can start with my birth! I was born in the wrong era. Period, paragraph. That’s what set me on this unusual career path.
AM: Do you think you would have ‘fit in’ better living in an earlier time period?
LA: Not in every way, but in terms of music and style, definitely. I would have been more at home in the Forties or Fifties. Listen to the song “Where Did The Magic Go?” on New Vintage to get an idea of how I feel about that. Fortunately, I grew up the child of a big band musician. He was quite a bit younger than most of the players from that era –- a sax and clarinet prodigy who started with the Tommy Dorsey band when he was seventeen. Bandleaders always had to lie about his age to get him into the clubs, but he looked even younger than he was, so I think it was sort of like “wink-wink, nudge-nudge.” My dad made his living for years with big-name bandleaders like Tex Beneke and Freddy Martin, but then he met my mother in Los Angeles. At that point, he decided he wanted to settle down as opposed to being on the road.
AM: Did he stop doing live performances then?
LA: Oh, no, he still went out to Vegas and did big shows out there, with the really top talent. And he played at the Tail O’ The Cock in L.A. as a member of the Ernie Felice Quartet. He played clarinet and also sang vocal harmonies. In fact, he was playing that gig when he met my mom. Her girlfriends had taken her out for her birthday; she almost didn’t go, but they talked her into it. He saw her at one of the front tables and said to the guys on the bandstand, “See that girl? I could look at that face for the rest of my life!” And so he did. Such a romantic story; it should be a song.
AM: What brought your parents to Dallas?
LA: Once rock music started dominating the charts and the jazz players were all ready to jump off buildings, my dad was fortunate to be offered a job in the commercial recording business. He was able to keep making a living in music by playing and singing on jingles. He was the session leader for the singing group.
AM: That’s a great job!
LA: It is -- he had steady work every day. There were always more station call letters to sing!
AM: Clearly, your father was a huge influence. Did you always know you would be a singer?
LA: I did. I knew I would work in music and theater, and that I would write. I was singing early on, in all the school productions, but I don’t think my parents realized how serious I was about it. Since I was a good student (“Most Likely To Succeed”) and could do a lot of different things, I got pulled in a lot of different directions. To cite just one example, I was a top math student, but my interest in the practical applications of math could have been expressed in negative numbers. Plus a career in math would have equaled total unhappiness.
AM: What did you do after you graduated from school?
LA: My degree is in communications for radio, TV and film. I got into writing advertising and lyrics –- even before I graduated –- working for a jingle company, freelance at first and then on staff. It’s funny –- the very same person, Tom Merriman, who brought my father to Dallas also gave me my first job in the commercial music business.
AM: Did you sing jingles?
LA: No, and I’ll tell you why. My father was such a perfectionist that I didn’t want to go into the studio and audition in front of him, so I didn’t do it! He heard me in school musicals, but sadly, he died before I ever sang professionally.
AM: You always had the love of the music from the Thirties, Forties and Fifties. What made you decide to record these songs?
LA: It’s been relatively recently in my career that I started to record. My husband has always encouraged me in that respect. He could see that when I was in a live show, I always felt let down afterwards, because the show was over and there was no way anyone else would ever hear it. So sad.
AM: Especially if you want to leave an artistic legacy.
LA: Interesting you should say that, because it’s just what I wrote to Bea Wain. She was such a wonderful singer, a huge influence on me, but most of her records were cut in the 1940s. I recently discovered that she’s still alive at age 100! And on Facebook! So I wrote her a fan letter a few days ago. I told her how glad I was that she made those records because if she hadn’t, I would have no way of knowing what Bea Wain sounded like. That realization had inspired me to do more recording myself. It’s my hope that fifty years down the road, someone who is not around today will discover my records and be inspired.
AM: You just released your first vinyl record. Why now?
LA: I’m so glad to see people rediscovering vinyl. The music I like to record was originally on vinyl so it just seems appropriate. Of course, much of it was on 78s, but I’m not that authentic! I’m very proud of this album. I decided to call it TOP SHELF because it consists of what I consider to be the best of my recordings. Smooth and fine and asked for by name!
AM: That’s very exciting. Tell me about your new CD and digital download album out now? I adore it! I have listened to it over and over and can never get enough.
LA: Thank you! Brian Piper’s arrangements have a lot to do with it, I’m sure. I tell him my ideas for each song, and he works his magic. But another huge part of it is song choice. For every CD I’ve done, I’ve put an incredible amount of thought into that. These are songs that really suit my voice and style, and that in some cases have dwelled in obscurity for half a century or more and deserve to be heard.
AM: I am so thankful you recorded ‘That’s How I Got My Start.’ I love that song.
LA: Ah, Bea Wain! That’s who I heard sing it first, and hardly anyone even knows of it. That is my favorite song to sing right now. There’s just something about the attitude. Very fun to sing live.
AM: I’d love to see a video of that song.
LA: You’re in luck. I’m about to make one.
AM: You are getting ready to make your New York City debut at the Metropolitan Room. Are you doing anything special to prepare?
LA: Mostly just distilling all the great material I love into a show that lasts just over an hour. Talk about the “top shelf” –- this will be it! “That’s How I Got My Start” will be first up. I have my music director/producer Brian going with me, and we’ll be bringing in a few New York players. And I won’t have that old frustration about the show being over, because we’re making a video of the whole thing. Maybe someday when I’m 100 years old, I’ll get a fan letter from someone who saw me sing on the Internet, or whatever means of digital storage exists then!
To learn more about Laura Ainsworth visit her web site http://www.lauraainsworth.com/