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‘Whatever I do
in music, I like to have arrangements that sound
different...There’s no
point trying to be Ella'
INTERVIEW: MISHKA ADAMS
FORGET Rosie, Lily and Amy – there’s a new girl in town, and she’s definitely the real deal.
Mishka Adams, who hails from the Philippines but now lives in Holloway, has just released her second album, Space, and without so much as a whimper of hype, hysteria or hairspray has crafted the finest record by a young singer that’s come my way in a long time.
Boasting nine original compositions and one cover – a cracking version of Air’s All I Need – Space sounds like a watershed moment in Mishka’s career. It is a coming of age of sorts, in which she’s developing her unique vocal and compositional style and honing her talent for highly poetic, personal lyrics.
The 23-year-old joined me for coffee in Tupelo Honey café, in Parkway, and told me her interest in jazz stemmed from learning the saxophone in school in England when she was just 10 years old. But while she might have been turned on to music here, her family life at home was also influential.
“My mum is a sculptor, so when I’d go home to the Philippines on holidays I’d be surrounded by a big circle of artists and musicians,” she said.
Mishka recorded her first album in the Philippines, and while you might be excused for not instantly associating jazz with the South-east Asian archipelago, Mishka’s work has been well- received back home.
“After I finished my A- levels I went back home for about three years,” she said. “While I was there I met a guitarist and we started playing together. Eventually we formed a band, played some gigs and I then recorded my first album, God Bless The Child, out there with Candid.
“It’s done really well in the Phillipines, which is nice – it surprised me!
She added: “There’s a jazz scene at home, but it’s pretty small – everybody plays with everybody – and it’s not widely appreciated by the public. I think people are coming around to jazz, but there’s always a bit of stigma attached to it because people aren’t really exposed to it.
“Jazz has that ‘intellectual’ kind of thing associated with it, but I don’t think you need to be a musician to appreciate it.”
In terms of musical influences, Mishka’s are classic jazz, plain and simple. “The first record I bought was a Louis Armstrong double CD,” she said. “It had Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan on it, so then I started listening to their records and anything else that people would recommend.
“I was given a CD by Stacey Kent and learned a lot of standards from her records. From there I started branching out. At the moment I’m into British jazz: Norma Winstone, John Taylor.”
But Mishka, who co-produced the new record, isn’t looking to make her name sounding like anyone else.
“Whatever I do in music – whether it’s a standard or a new song – I like to have arrangements of things that sound different,” she explained. “I can’t just go out there and make a new album where I try and sound like another Ella.
“Ella was Ella when she started, and no one really can be like her again. There’s just no point in going there.”
What’s particularly refreshing about Mishka is that for someone on the verge of success, she is remarkably down to earth and grounded in her outlook.
She’s just completed a Masters at the Guildhall School of Music, has started teaching music and even has her sights on establishing a jazz summer workshop for young people back in her native Philippines – none of which bears the hallmarks of someone who’s had their head turned by the glamour of a career in music.
When I asked where she sees herself in two years’ time, she said: “I’ve never been someone to make long-term plans – every time I’ve had a plan it never really works out.”
But something tells me that if Mishka makes a plan for musical success it’ll work out sooner than she might think.
There’s a third CD on the way – the plan at the moment is for “an album of ballads”, with James Taylor and Joni Mitchell setting the standard – and now that Mishka has completed her studies, you can expect to see her performing around town with much more frequency.
My recommendation is to go check her out while you’ve still got the opportunity to see her in small venues.
• Mishka plays the Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho on Saturday at 7.30pm as part of the Candid Jazz Week.
www.mishkaadams.com • www.candidrecords.com |
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