By Diane de la Paz
This summer brings harmonic convergence — a cluster of them, really — to Mercerdale Park.
For example: Soul will join jazz, rhythm will meet blues and three-dog harmonies will hark back to the 1970s.
Mostly Music in the Park, the free series of concerts stretching from mid-July into August, will start with a jazz-R & B blend by Soul Kata on July 14. The quartet features singer Katrina Wible, a 1998 graduate of Mercer Island High School.
“I used to go to Mostly Music in the Park and see the bands play, and I’d say, `I wish I could be up there,”’ said Wible, 25. “Now I have the confidence to do it.”
Wible met drummer Willie Holiday, bassist Nate Omdal and pianist Josh Rawlings at Cornish College of the Arts in 2001; they named themselves Soul Kata for a couple of reasons.
“I sing kind of soulfully,” said Wible, who tends toward understatement. “And kata is a Japanese word for `way’ or `form.”’
The band, which appears frequently in Seattle night spots, mixes standards such as George Gershwin’s “Summertime” with rock ballads like Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel.” Lately the group has added originals, such as “So True,” a love song Wible wrote for her boyfriend.
“People love it when we do (Al Green’s) `Let’s Stay Together”’ she added. “We do our own arrangement.”
Wible, who also works at Overture Music in Bellevue, is poised to leap into a full-time singing career. She studied piano and guitar as a child, but upon arrival at Mercer Island High, she plunged into choir. She’s taken voice lessons ever since, including a stint with jazz vocalist Greta Matassa.
“When I’m singing, I want people to feel how I feel,” Wible said. “I’d like them to go away saying, `Wow, that was a great experience.”’
Three days later, Mostly Music concert-goers can catch another singer with the same agenda and an entirely different song list. Tony La Stella joined Shambala, a Three Dog Night tribute band, two years ago. Since then he’s brought “Joy to the World,” “Old-Fashioned Love Song,” “Black and White” and other hits to stages around the Northwest, complete with 1970s vintage costumes.
If Soul Kata is youth and simplicity, Shambala is complexity and, well, maturity. The latter band is made up of three middle-aged guys, who’ve polished their covers of Three Dog Night hits. Re-creating this music is a kind of hobby, said La Stella. “At the age we are,” he added, “we don’t have any illusions about becoming rock stars.” La Stella is a tenor who performs in operas and nightclubs; the other two singers, Mick Johnson and Dennis Johns, run businesses.
Converging as Shambala is fun now, but it wasn’t easy at first.
“We were all used to doing leads,” as singers, said La Stella, 46. “We had to learn how to share the leads and share the stage. And Three Dog Night’s harmonies are very complex and difficult ? the ultimate result is that you have three lead voices. That’s what makes us unique, soundwise.” The one band that sounds similar, of course, is Three Dog Night, which still tours.
Third up on the MMIP itinerary is Incendio, a Southern California-based group with an unusual sound that, its leader said, mixes Steve Ray Vaughan blues licks with Spanish guitar.
The band, slated for July 21, plays “Latin guitar world fusion” that mixes jazz, blues, salsa and flamenco, said guitarist J.P. Durand. He added that “Some sonic surprises” also emanate from his instrument.
Durand’s wife, Liza Carbé, is Incendio’s classically trained vocalist and bassist; his fellow guitarist is Jim Stubblefield, a “tremendously fast” player who sharpens the group’s sound with a rock edge.
Durand said Incendio turns itself up a bit when playing outdoors. “There’s an open, free feeling that the audience brings,” to the setting. “People are more inclined to dance ? we react to that.”
That feeling of freedom is a big part of Mostly Music’s success, said Sandra Schilling, a member of the volunteer committee that selected the nine bands that will appear this summer. When choosing performers from some 100 hopefuls last March, she looked for variety, passion and freshness. MMIP rarely reruns groups that have appeared previously. When that does happen, as in the case of the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Schilling urges the performers to add something new. The jazz orchestra will have two guest vocalists on Aug. 7, instead of last year’s one.
And if there’s enough clamor for the return of a band, back it comes.
“We try to stay away from rules,” in Mostly Music bookings, Schilling said, “and go with what the community is feeling.”
Schilling added that Lois LaFond & the Rockadiles, the children’s music outfit to play July 28, “grabbed us with their energy.” And Show Brazil, booked for July 24, will fill the stage with percussion-driven dancing.
MMIP is fully funded by private sponsors such as KeyBank and several other Mercer Island businesses, Schilling said. Oh Chocolate! supplies sweets, Starbucks sends coffee and concert-goers are encouraged to bring picnics.
“We just want real, strong family entertainment,” Schilling said.
She hopes groups like Incendio and Show Brazil provide pleasant surprises, while she knows Shambala and the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra dish out well-known and well-loved songs.
“Anyone who goes down to listen to Shambala,” she added, “is going to end up groovin’.”
Schedule
Mostly Music in the Park concerts start at 7 p.m. in Mercerdale Park. Admission is free. The shows will go on in a light drizzle, but not in a downpour.
This summer’s lineup:
Thursday, July 14: Soul Kata (R & B, jazz, funk)
Sunday, July 17: Shambala, a tribute to Three Dog Night
Thursday, July 21: Incendio (Latin guitar and world fusion)
Sunday, July 24: Show Brazil (Brazilian music and dance)
Thursday, July 28: Lois LaFond & the Rockadiles (children’s music)
Sunday, July 31: Jude Bowerman (R & B, blues)
Thursday, Aug. 4: Clinton Fearon and the Boogie Brown Band (reggae)
Sunday, Aug. 7: Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra (16-piece jazz band with two vocalists)
Thursday, Aug. 11: Jo Miller & Her Burly Roughnecks (hillbilly/honkytonk swing)
