Exposed Vocals Interviews Janet Orsi

My name is Janet Orsi and I am a jazz singer in the Orange County area.  My musical journey really started when I auditioned for the Orange County High School of the Arts.  At the time, I was unsure of what I wanted to do and thought I would give music a try.  I experimented with musical theatre, pop and a cappella choir, all of which I enjoyed, but wasn’t sure I wanted to devote my life to.  In my second year, I took a required jazz course, where I was exposed to jazz and improvisation for the first time.  By the time I graduated, I was still wrestling with what my path would be, but knew that music was what I wanted to pursue.  So I attended Chapman University to get a strong classical foundation.  At Chapman, jazz found me again, this time in the form of Professor Albert Alva, who approached me to offer me a place in the school big band as the fronting vocalist.  The first day I walked into that rehearsal hall, I knew I had found my people and my calling.  I completed my studies at Chapman, earning a double bachelors degree in vocal performance and music education.  All the while, I was out attending nightly jams and jazz gigs, singing with the big band and booking gigs of my own.  Since, I’ve sang with many incredible musicians and played a variety of venues throughout Orange County and Los Angeles.  Currently, I have the amazing opportunity to be living in Valencia, Spain while I work towards a masters degree in contemporary performance from Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus.

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

 

Janet: I grew up in Southern California.  When I was young, my dad was the Coke Corner pianist at Disneyland and my mom is in the Sweet Adelines (women’s barbershop) so I had a lot of exposure to traditional Americana music.  I had a lot of music in my life from an early age but it wasn’t until high school that I thought about pursuing music seriously.  I decided, quite last minute, to apply to the Orange County High School of the Arts because I thought it would be a better use of my time to have music classes rather than be in a club or on a sports team at a public school.  At OCSHA, I learned about singing pop, jazz and musical theatre and I realized that music was what I wanted to do with my life.  For college, I wasn’t sure what in music I wanted to do yet, so I decided to get a classical education at Chapman University.  It was there that I discovered my passion for jazz music.  Chapman is by no means a jazz school, but it has a big band.  One day, the big band leader heard me sing and came up to me and said “You’re going to sing in my big band next semester”.  Immediately after joining the big band, I couldn’t get enough of jazz.  I started going to jams and jazz clubs on the weekends and got gigs through the school and on my own.  By the time I graduated, I knew that jazz was my path.  Now, I’m at my dream school-Berklee College of Music (on their campus in Valencia, Spain) getting a masters degree and learning so much about jazz and contemporary performance every day.  As a short wrap up to a long answer, I guess that jazz music was always in my life but it took a while for me to hear it calling to me.  Now I want to share the music I love with my generation.

 

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

 

Janet: Well my name is my actual name given to me by my parents.  I did consider having a stage name for a while, but Janet and Jazz start with the same letter.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

 

Janet: I think that for the consumer, platforms like Spotify and Pandora are amazing, but there’s room for development in the area of artist benefit from these platforms.  As a freelance musician, getting yourself heard is extremely important, so yeah I definitely give away music for free in the format of my Soundcloud page and putting audio clips and videos on my website.  Music is like any other business.  It’s selling a product and the product is you and your music.  You have to show people what they will get out of your music and nothing does that better than giving them the real deal.  Sort of like a test drive.  At the end of the day, when you’re starting out, loyal fans who support you will get you more money and momentum than airplay royalties.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Janet: Yes-go out and talk to people in person!  You might be the best musician ever but if you don’t go out and show people that, they’ll never know.  Go out and get to know the community of your style of music.  When I started, I didn’t know anybody, but I started going to jazz jams where I could sing and to listen to other players at their gigs.  Now I know a lot of amazingly talented musicians, sound engineers and other people in the jazz network.  And one other thing-be supportive of your fellow musicians.  We are in this together and there is room for all of us to have success in this industry.  Lift up your fellow musicians and help them out and they’ll do the same for you.

 

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

 

Janet: Well I only just recently started writing songs.  When I go to write a song, I may try to come up with lyrics first or an idea of what the song is about and then I’ll go to the piano and just play chords and sing over them until something works.  Sometimes I skip the part of having an idea or theme and just play chord progressions and sing over it and lyrics come.  As far as inspiration, I really love a lot of jazz standards-I think they express ideas about love and respect beautifully.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

 

Janet: Sure do.  My artist website is www.jazzjanet.com and I think that using as several online platforms is great.  So, I use Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIcsg2F-agdIDDiPdDj5WQ), Twitter, Facebook and Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/janet-orsi) and when I return to the US, I’m working on getting my first EP on iTunes, Pandora and Spotify.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

 

Janet: Oh man.  Wouldn’t that be awesome?  I would definitely put some of that money towards a home studio.  With the knowledge I have from being at Berklee, I would love to be able to record myself and my colleagues on my own terms with more than just my two channel interface and my laptop.  And I’m getting married this year, so it would be great to be able to get a house.  I would want to spend time transcribing and improving my musicianship and recording in my super cool home studio.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

 

Janet: My primary social media platform is Facebook and I also send out a newsletter to fans who subscribe on my website.  This is a great way to get fans involved and even get some feedback on stuff you are doing.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

 

Janet: Right now, I’m working on my debut EP, which will be a collection of instrumental jazz pieces that I have written original lyrics for.  This has been a really fun project to work on so far and it’s about halfway done.  The EP will be completed by the summer and should be released in fall 2016.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

 

Janet: I honestly can’t imagine a life where I would abandon music completely.  I’m not sure what kind of job I’d have (probably something to do with books, my other passion), but I have a feeling that music would find its way into my life.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Janet: Right now, I’m in school, so that’s my top priority, but as soon as I graduate, I’m going to become a full-time musician.  My fiancé and I are going to work together at our own teaching studio and I will be doing gigs and session work as often as I can and continue to record and release new music.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

 

Janet: Well I already mentioned my debut EP, which will feature songs by jazz legends with my own original lyrics.  If everything goes as planned, I will also kick off the release of the EP with a jazz music video.  The EP should go public in Fall of 2016.  If you want to stay informed, go to www.jazzjanet.com and subscribe! Thanks for tuning in!