Debut of the Jazz Mafia Sit-down Interviews

text by Katie Jackson

The Jazz Mafia decided that you perhaps want to know us a little better, peer into our psyches. Join us for our first round of panel discussions, focusing on four vocalists that will be performing this Friday, March 19^th at The Independent.  “This FRIDAY?!?!” you say.   Yup, that’s right.  Joe Bagale and OONA are co-headlining the Independent.   Hence, our first Jazz Mafia Sit-down will feature three of our beloved Jazz Mafia vocalists: Joe Bagale, Karyn Paige, and Dublin…with special guest Oona Garthwaite (lead singer-OONA) weighing in on their inspirations and development as vocalists.

We will continue to feature these discussions each month, with a focus on a different area of the Jazz Mafia family for each interview. Let us know what you’re most interested in, and we’ll pass your inquiries along to the crew.

Let the games begin:

KJ: Describe the biggest nightmare you’ve ever experienced while performing.

JB: Not too many nightmares I can think of. There was one time when my voice cracked while I was talking to the crowd during one of my first shows in the bay. Remember Peter Brady during that infamous recording session? Yeah, that was me. A few people in the front row even laughed.

KP: I split my pants down the bum crack onstage while singing “Controversy” in an all-girl Prince tribute band.  My godfather and uncle were in the audience.

OG:  (laughs) Pretty sure it hasn’t happened yet, although I’ve started a few songs in the wrong key, it’s terrible-horrible…but nothing like KP’s pants-mare.

D: I used to be a marijuana abuser. One night at a show I abused it with blunts, pipes, roaches, hookahs, I think I even smoked out of a can. Anyway, I went on stage and the band started a song and I started rapping and suddenly the lyrics didn’t make any sense. And then they just all left my head and my mind went blank. The band started giving me these weird looks as (though) I (had) just freestyled through a song I had done hundreds of times. Then it was just a domino effect, I couldn’t remember the lyrics to the next song, or the song after that, or that song after that. And I #@%*ing wrote them! Terrible. That’s when I quit weed.

KJ: When did you decide to be a singer? When did you first realize that you were “good?”

D: Rapping is something I started doing when I was nine years old because I was bored and lived in the country. I never really made a decision. There are some days that I think I’m good and others when I think I’m not really that good at all.

OG: When I was six, for both…I fell seriously in love with the sound of my own voice being the only sound in a room during an audition for kiddie musical theater. I was nervous and didn’t know what to think of all the people watching and listening, but once I started singing they kinda disappeared. I didn’t want to stop.

KP: Mary J. Blige’s “What’s the 411?” That LP dropped when I was in the fifth grade, and I would sing along and that’s when the bug bit me.  It wasn’t until my junior year of college that I decided to sing professionally.

JB: I started singing the first moment I heard Michael Jackson. I wanted to be the best musician I could be and play as many instruments as I could growing up, so I never really thought of singing as anything different than the other instruments. It wasn’t until I moved to San Francisco in 2003 that I started to realize I wanted to sing and write songs. People have started to really enjoy my music and my vocals so rather than me thinking that I’m good; my thought process has been to not give up. The truth is I am always trying to get better.

KJ: What is your mother or father’s favorite tune that you perform?

D: “Rosin My Bow.”

OG: (smiles) Pretty sure my mom’s favorite is “Shhhhout!” because she gets a shout out in it.

KP: Mom likes when I sing Prince’s “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?”

JB: I’m not sure to be perfectly honest. When I lived at home my mom always wanted me to be a crooner. She liked when I performed in front of the high school jazz band and sang jazz tunes. My Dad is a musician too, so it’s more about what I can do to be better or what parts of the performance were the best rather than one specific song.

KJ: What about songs you secretly love, guilty pleasures, so to speak?

D: There’s a few R Kelly songs that I just #@%*ing love because the man has no fear to just go for the cheese, fully committed.

KJ: (laughs) I concur!

KP: I feel no guilt for any songs I listen to.  All music serves a purpose and has a place in the world.

OG: Jay-Z – “99 Problems.” I wish I had written this song; so tough, so harsh, smack-talking, nasty beat to it, me gusta. I’ll take Patsy Cline and Zap Mama; I tend to keep them to myself. I do like Karyn’s answer, though it took me a lonnnnng time to get here… now I’m listening to all the dance/pop FM radio, if it’s Beyonce I’m tuning in, never thought I’d say that….

JB: 1.”I’m Gonna Getcha Good” – Shania Twain (The chorus starts with just voice and keyboards and then the guitars and drums drop in. #@%*ing brilliant melody and amazingly produced.)

2. “Back in the High Life” – Steve Winwood (people think this period was cheesy for Steve Winwood. Get past the super slick production of the late 80′s and you’ll understand that these songs are incredible.)

3.”Give it to Me” – Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado (The groove is amazing and hypnotic and I get a laugh at how arrogant they all sound when singing these stupid ass lyrics. Classic banger.)

KJ: Times are tough these days, for most of us. Music is one of the main things we humans turn to to take us back to the light. With that in mind, what do you tell yourself to get out of a slump? Any motivational soundtracks?

OG: What kind of slump? I usually just need to exercise. I’m not very good at talking myself out of things. But then I listen to me and Dave’s [Tweedie, OONA co-leader] tracks!! I can’t wait ‘til this collection of songs is out because I can’t sort the playlist order in my MP3 player.

KP: I ask myself what a few people I admire would do if they were in my situation.  Then I listen to The Bee Gees’ “Jive Talking” and all is right with the world.

D: To get out of a slump I always throw on one of the seasons of Arrested Development.

JB: If it is a real slump I tell myself it can’t get much worse and then I listen to “Getting Better” by the Beatles.