From Swedish Cruise Ships to Prairie Vistas:
The Johanna Sillanpaa Interview
by Jim Dupuis
Pre-teen Johanna Sillanpaa (pronounced Yohanna) was
singing professionally in Northern Europe before she moved to Alberta.
Attending Grant MacEwan in Edmonton
opened up the world of jazz to her and she has not looked back. She has still
maintained contacts from those school days and she has teamed up with some of
them and other well- known musicians from Toronto and New York to put together
her new album From This Side for Chronograph Records. This album
contains both re-arranged covers and compositions she wrote or co-wrote with
fellow composer Chris Andrew. I sometimes find that the compositions of young
artists are the weakest tracks on their releases. This is not the case with
Johanna. I found I was happily playing her new compositions as often as I was
playing the standards off From This Side
on my show Jazz Notes. The album has
been quite successful, topping both the
iTunes jazz album charts and the earshot
Canadian National Jazz Chart! Recently we chatted about her first musical career
in Sweden and her current career in Edmonton, Alberta, along with the process
of making From This Side. After
exchanging pleasantries, we started our conversation.
JD: Johanna,
I’m going to take you way back to your childhood, I believe in Sweden?
JS: I am.
Born and raised.
JD: When
did you come to Canada?
JD: As a
child in Sweden, were you exposed to jazz?
JS: No.
Music, absolutely, when I was a pre-teen and you teenager I sang on cruise
ships between Sweden-Denmark, Sweden-Germany, Sweden-Finland. So, I did perform
at a young age, but not jazz. Jazz came to me. When I moved to Canada I got
accepted at Grant MacEwan in the
music program in Edmonton. That’s kind of where this new jazz and funk stuff
was introduced to me at school.
JD: As a
child did you study music at all or were you just naturally a good singer?
JS: In
school, ya, for sure. I did have a voice coach for a few years, when I was
younger. Of course, when I was in Canada at the music program it was full on,
right--coaching and learning.
JD: What
was it like letting loose on a cruise ship. That must have been fun.
JS: They
were day time cruises, because I was under age, but it was fun. It was great. I
always joke that I think I made more money when I was fifteen than I do now.
(laughs).
JD: Sad but
true (laughs).
JS: Ya it
was good.
JD: I
noticed that you have a new album out called From This Side on Chronograph
Records. It has a mix of songs from the Great American Songbook and some
that you wrote or co-wrote. Now composing—what state of mind do you need to be
in to compose?
JS: It’s
like anything if you don’t do it for a while--it’s like exercise and you have
to exercise that part of your brain to get into it. So, for me, I love it. The
process can take a while before it kind of kicks in. I had a couple of years
where I hadn’t written anything. I think my last project was 2012. So, I hadn’t
really written a lot since. I found that I had to press myself for it. We have
a studio at home and I would go in there every night and start messing around
on the piano. Some tunes were created that way and I co-wrote with Chris Andrew. He arranged some of it
and Tyler Hornby arranged some as
well.
JD:
Obviously you like writing both lyrics and music. Which do you prefer to write?
JS: Woo,
that’s a good question. I think music and melody come to me before lyrics.
Maybe because English isn’t my first language, but however that being said I
don’t know I would write great lyrics in Swedish. For me, I’m more of a melody
girl.
Youtube
video of “Thing Called Love”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICRpetyIxMc
JD: Ok.
Now, I noticed the band that you have on From This Side and I’m totally
impressed. I am a fan of every one of
these musicians. Great Albertans, a Toronto musician, a New York musician—all
Canadians by birth, I guess. How did you get this all-star band together? I
mean, wow!
JS: The
bulk of them I’ve know for a long time—Tyler
Hornby and the same thing for Chris
Andrew. We go back to Grant MacEwan
days. So, I’ve know him for my entire musical life. Those were no-brainers. I
worked with Kody Hutchinson as a bass player and I got him in a producer role
this time—co-producer. I wanted to switch it up a little bit this time and I
had worked with George Koller a few years back at a festival. I loved him and
was also a fan of his from back in Holly Cole days. It took a bit of time to
get it together scheduling wise. It wasn’t easy to get everyone in the same
place for three days. Ingrid (Jensen)
is the one I know the least. I know her through Tyler (Hornby) and he’s the one
who worked with her in the past. The communication happened through him. She
was not in the studio with us. It was a remote recording. She recorded her part
in her studio in New York.
The
team that put together and played on From This Side. Ingrid Jensen.
Paul
Johnston, Chris Andrew, Tyler Hornby, Johanna Sillanpaa, George Koller, Kodi
Hutchinson.
JD: I was
wondering about that. Just the logistics would be so difficult and expensive.
Ya, I had the pleasure of seeing the
Jensen sisters at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and have seen
Ingrid a couple of times before. Oh, you have a good one on your CD. You have a
good trumpet player on your CD. She’s an excellent musician. Like I said
before, everybody is good on your CD. I mentioned before that you wrote or
co-wrote many of the songs on From This Side. You picked a few from the Great
American Songbook. Are these your favourites? Why did these ones make the cut?
JS: No, I
have many favourites. It was really hard for me to pick standards. I knew I
wanted some on there with maybe some different arrangements—more contemporary
arrangements. So, it was really a tough call. I was sitting with Chris Andrew, the piano player, one
day. We were doing a writing session. I gave him a bunch of titles. I said,
“Here’s three of four tunes I enjoy singing” and he took “Time After Time” and
said this will be cool and we started with that. “Everything I Got Belongs to You”—I’ve always
enjoyed singing that song as well. I asked Tyler (Hornby if he could come up
with a neat arrangement. What else do we have? We have “Blue Skies.” That is
also one of Chris Andrew’s arrangements. That one, he arranged a number of
years ago for me. That was a song that was a given to put on From This Side. What am I missing?
JD: Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock.” It isn’t
out of the Great American Songbook but it’s just a great, great tune.
JS: It’s a
fantastic tune. I also sung that one for a couple of years prior to recording
it, and I just totally enjoy singing it.
JD: I must
commend you on your choices. I just love every choice. Some of my favourite
composer are here and obviously the arrangements by Chris (Andrew)—he just does
a great job on that. He, to me, is a hidden gem. More people should know about Chris Andrew than do. A lot of people
know about him, but he should just be famous. He’s awesome. He’s a wonderful,
wonderful musician. I don’t have to tell you that.
JS: Ya,
they are all wonderful.
JD: What is
the significance of the title of your new CD From This Side?
JS: I’m
trying to think about that, because that is something I kind of came up with,
with my graphic designer. We were kind of playing with concepts. Just because
it’s a side shot (album cover). There’s my two lives: my years in Sweden and my
years in Canada are pretty equal now and just how life is from this side I
guess you could say.
JD: Do you
have any recent or upcoming gigs?
JS: I didn’t
do a ton for jazz fests because the album wasn’t released until March and usually
for jazz festivals you apply the previous fall. I’m hoping for next year for
the Edmonton Jazz Festival. I mean,
I gig all the time. I’m currently in Banff at the Banff Centre for two nights
out here. I’m hoping to get a little more festival work next year because the
album has done so good with radio and placements and things.
JD: That’s
good to hear. Speaking of your new album, which is From This Side by Johanna
Sillanpaa, how do we get a copy?
JS: If you
like digital you can just go to iTunes and just download it. If you like
hardcopy you can go to my website johannamusic.com and I have an ordering
system there. You can also order it from Chronograph
Records website as well. There aren’t as many outlets for hardcopies these
days.
JD: Good. I’d
like to thank you for taking the time to speak with me.
JS: Thanks
for having me.
JD: Good
luck with From This Side and we’ll
speak again when you have the next one out.
JS: Thank you
Jim.
FB: @johannamusicpage
TW: @johannasillan
INSTAGRAM: @sillanpaaj
Jazz Notes
with Jim can be heard every Wednesday from 5-7 PM at thex.ca and at 92.5 FM in
the Kamloops area. It is one of longest running jazz radio shows with the same
host and same title in Canada.
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