Though she had been performing for many years, Monica Chapman came to jazz later in life, making it something of a second career for the Romanian-born, Toronto- and Guelph-based jazz vocalist.
This month, Chapman released her second jazz album, P.S. I Love You, a compilation of jazz and show tune standards by greats like Irving Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein and Lionel Bart that she’s infused with a distinctly bluesy, New Orleans style.
Chapman’s Toronto CD release show, in which she will be accompanied by full band, will be held April 24 at the downtown club Lula Lounge.
Produced and arranged by jazz musician and agent Bill King, P.S. I Love You features trumpet player William Sperandei, bassist Dave Young, Juno Award-winning jazz guitarist Nathan Hiltz and drummer Mark Kelso, as well as King himself on piano.
Having already had air time on CBC radio and Jazz FM, P.S. I Love You is more varied than Chapman’s debut jazz album, But Beautiful, released on iTunes in 2013, which, also featuring covers, is more grounded in bluesy ballads from singers including Lena Horne and Billie Holiday.
Chapman, who moved with her family from Romania to Israel at the age of three and to Canada at nine, took voice lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto as a teenager, as well as studying piano and clarinet.
Initially drawn to classical music and musical theatre, she played clarinet in the Scarborough Youth Symphony while in high school, majored in piano and voice at the University of Western Ontario and obtained an Associate of The Royal Conservatory (ARCT) diploma.
In her 20s, Chapman got involved in musical theatre and, after marrying and becoming the mother of two, she was accepted as a singer in the Toronto Operetta Theatre.
Only in the past decade, Chapman said, with the encouragement of her husband, who felt her voice was “well-suited to jazz,” did she begin to make the transition from classical and musical theatre to jazz.
“I’m versatile and I love to combine different styles,” she said. “It can be difficult to make the transition from classical into jazz, but it wasn’t a problem for me. I’m very grateful to people like Bill King, who helped me along the way to find my jazz voice and further my jazz education, introducing me to singers like Billie Holiday, etc. I really just got hooked.”
Among her key musical influences, she listed Judy Garland, Doris Day, Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra.
Splitting her time between Guelph, where she lives with her husband, and Toronto, Chapman teaches piano and singing to adults and kids from her private home studio and, in addition to recording, loves singing at jazz clubs.
She described singing at the New York City jazz club Birdland as “the highlight of my career.” She has also sung at New York’s The Salon and Toronto clubs The Reservoir Lounge and Lula Lounge.
“I love the intimacy of singing in clubs,” she said. “I’m always looking for new places to sing and am looking into breaking into Montreal’s jazz club scene.”
This July, Chapman will perform at Toronto’s East end Relish Bar & Grill as part of a jazz trio in the TD Toronto Jazz Festival.
P.S. I Love You is available for purchase on iTunes and at CD Baby, Amazon and various music stores around Toronto.
Doors for the April 24 CD release show open at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m. No cover charge before 8 p.m. Reservations recommended.