Profile of Munich jazz singer Jenny Evans
If you like jazz, you’ve no doubt seen her picture, heard her name or even caught a glimpse of her on stage — singer Jenny Evans. Over the last two decades, the 43-year-old crooner has built such a huge fan base in Munich that many follow her from show to show, much in the manner of rock groupies. “I love being on stage. From the age of five I was the first to climb the stage at any children’s concert. They just couldn’t keep me down,” she chuckles. Evans found her calling, and her way to the city on the Isar, through trial and error. “I always was into music, but I never wanted to make it a profession. I actually wanted to do my doctorate in linguistics. That’s why I decided to learn German.” After completing her studies, which included training at the Royal College of Speech and Drama, the London-born artist first sojourned in Switzerland. Several months in St.Gall made her realize that the far-from-Hochdeutsch Swiss German would not stand her in good stead. She placed an ad in the Süddeutsche Zeitung and landed a three-month stint as an au pair. Evans arrived in Munich in 1976. “I began to sing again,” Evans remembers. She sang with the university choir and with the Münchener Motettenchor. Since the late 1970s, Evans has performed with top musicians — among them Al Grey, Buddy Tate and Benny Bailey — on the international jazz scene. “It is great to work with different musicians. Everybody gives a different bit and influences the whole.” Drummer Rudi Martini, now Evans’ husband and manager, saw her sing in the mid-1980s and produced her first highly successful jazz CD. In addition to her ability to belt out a tune, Evans is a skilled entertainer. “When you’re on stage people project a lot onto you. It’s catharsis in some way.” The singer likes to move people — to tears or song or dance — just to get a reaction. “I don’t act. I am authentic when I sing,” explains the University of Munich graduate. Yet, as if to contradict herself, the jazz star urges: “You have to be an actor.” In qualifying the opposing theories Evans elaborates: “There are these really sad ballads and only a singer who understands what the song is about can move the audience. On the other hand you have lyrics like ‘I hate men’ and this is where you have to be an actor.” The singer — who Time magazine dubbed “the leading female jazz singer in Germany” in 1996 — is convincing in concert. When she sings about Mr. Bojangles you have the feeling she actually knows the guy. When asked if there are songs she doesn’t prefer to cover, Evans says: “Every song is good. You just have to make it your song. When you are a musician you are in the service business. A lot of people want to hear ‘New York, New York.’ They get ‘New York, New York.’ I can sing it my way.” What does Evans consider to be her worst audience? “Sometimes there are a few people who are disruptive.” Munich’s jazz diva is known to stop her show, glare in the direction of the boisterous visitor and exclaim: “Excuse me? Did you pay to get in here?” When the puzzled offender affirms, she comments, “I wonder why!” “Usually I get a round of applause because the others are relieved I said something.” Off stage, Evans is involved in projects for radio, television and even the print media. Readers of the English-language magazine, Spotlight, know her as the voice of Peggy from “Peggy’s Place,” a unique soap opera that readers can hear via the magazine’s cassettes. Fans of the German crime series “Tatort” may have caught a 1980s episode in which lead character Kommissar Schimanzki walked along the Duisburg waterfront to a jazz club (actually filmed in Schwabing and run by Evans until 1989) called “Jenny’s Place.” A song on the Tatort soundtrack is named after the bar, to which Evans wrote the lyrics. “I am an avid worker,” admits Evans. Her extracurricular activities include painting, writing and adding material to her extensive discography. The jazz singer’s motto is upbeat: “Make hay and make love while the sun shines.” www.jazzrecords.com/jenny-evans <<< gitte härter