I started my “Growing Up Jazz” series to share stories and honor some of the great masters of Jazz I had the good fortune to know while growing up. It was an unusual yet exciting childhood; climbing inside instrument cases to take naps during rehearsals, dancing around during my parents concerts, going on tour and playing “Go Fish” with legendary musicians on trains and planes throughout Europe.
Midnight Sun was the second song I recorded to enter the Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition. I was having a tough time picking a ballad because truthfully, I don’t really like singing them. A lot of ballads I find to be either depressing or cheesy and in my whole life as a songwriter I’ve only written two ballads, neither of which could I enter because the song needed to be a standard.