Diana Panton is constant reinvention
Hamilton jazz vocalist celebrates 20 years of recording with soft winds and roses, her 11th full-length record, in which she tackles many contemporary favourites.
Juno-winning Hamilton jazz vocalist Diana Panton has just celebrated a milestone 20th anniversary of becoming a recording artist in fitting style. She recently released a new album, soft winds and roses, her 11th full-length record in a discography now impressive in both its size and consistent quality.
Over a glass of wine at her favourite Italian restaurant in Westdale, Panton tells HAMILTON CITY Magazine that her prolific output was one she always expected. “When I started making the albums I don’t think it would have surprised me to learn I’d make this many or would still have more to make. I felt dedicated enough.
“Looking back, I think a highlight for me is having vinyl. That was not something I expected, but I have six albums out on vinyl now. The very first one, red, felt so special. I love vinyl records and that was the original format of the albums I loved. To hear my record on the system I have at home where I listened to those albums was such a treat. I felt then that I had arrived.”
As with so many jazz vocalists, Panton has often explored the Great American Songbook of classic jazz and pop tunes. On soft winds and roses, her song selection has moved forward a few decades, as she covers tunes written and made popular from the ’60s onward. Among those reinterpreted here in her fresh style are favourites from the likes of Elton John, The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Gordon Lightfoot, Randy Newman, Ron Sexsmith, Joni Mitchell and even The Bee Gees.
Explaining her approach to the material, Panton notes that “the jazz way is to bring something new to the song. You can do that by changing the tempo or the arrangements, and I’ve
always felt the best way is to just be yourself. There’s only one of you. My goal is that when people listen to the album they are just hearing me do the songs and are not thinking too much about the original. That is what I do with all the albums.”
A look at the song list on soft winds and roses reveals that a huge chunk of the material is Canadian in origin. “At one stage, I thought I might do an all-Canadian album,” says Panton. “I think I have addressed that now with this one. I wanted some healthy Canadian content in there and that was a pleasure for me to highlight.”
Rave reviews have come in from media outlets around the globe. “It is nice as an artist to feel you’ve tried something a little new and that people are receptive,” she says.
As with other Canadian jazz singers such as Holly Cole and former Hamiltonian Chantal Chamberland, Panton has found Asia a very welcoming market, with her albums frequently making bestseller lists in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. As she explains in her press bio, it was this Asian connection that spawned the concept for soft winds and roses.
“I have recorded several compilations for the Asian market, and I was often asked to include a bonus track that was a bit more contemporary and well known in that market than some of my more obscure song choices,” she says. “Fast forward to the present: I decided to assemble a selection of modern standards composed from the 1960s onward.”
Panton has received serious critical acclaim throughout her career, though the choice to remain a totally independent recording artist, funding and releasing her albums by herself, has meant that commercial success on the scale of Diana Krall or Norah Jones is almost impossible to achieve.
She has, however, earned the respect of her peers and the music industry, as shown by eight Juno Awards nominations. She has won twice, in 2015 for her album red, and in 2017 in the children’s album of the year category for I Believe In Little Things.
Her foray into children’s music was highly successful, as that album achieved the rare feat of charting simultaneously on Billboard’s jazz and children’s music charts, boosted by an interview on NPR in the U.S. Over her recording career, Panton has also earned nine Hamilton Music Awards, multiple National Jazz award nominations, and three Silver Disc awards in Japan.
In our extensive interview, Panton explored the origins of her career as a jazz vocalist. Growing up, she was exposed to plenty of classical music via her Scottish-born father (he passed away last year). “He was a pipefitter from Glasgow who worked in Hamilton and he was such an exceptional person. I owe a lot to him aesthetically. I discovered jazz and art literature through him.”
Panton studied violin and clarinet in the music program at Westdale Secondary School, but then her love of jazz took precedence. “The first person with whom I felt an affinity immediately upon hearing their voice was Ella Fitzgerald. Something resonated with me, and that got me started with jazz. I wasn’t listening with the intention of singing or making albums, I just loved the music.”
The Hamilton Public Library quickly discovered her voracious appetite for jazz. “I’d go to the downtown library every week,” Panton recalls. “I’d take out the limit of 10 CDs and 15 cassettes, then I’d do the same at the Westdale branch. That was the amount of listening I’d do every week even before I contemplated singing.”
She notes that the next step came “when I learned that (founder) Russ Weil was still running the practices for the Hamilton All-Star Jazz Band out of the Westdale school. I lived so close that I would go there and listen to the practices at night. That planted the seed that perhaps I could do this.”
Joining their ranks is how she cut her teeth as a jazz vocalist.
“I stayed with them for nearly a decade, working with big-band arrangements for 25 people,” she says. “I was super fortunate to have that opportunity. We got to travel all over, including the Montreux Jazz Festival, and it enabled me to meet the piano player I have worked with, Don Thompson.”
An accomplished pianist, bassist and vibraphonist, Thompson is regarded as an elder statesman of Canadian jazz. He has won multiple Junos, worked with the likes of The Boss Brass, Jim Hall and Mel Torme, and is an Order Of Canada recipient. Panton’s long and productive musical relationship with him has been life- and career-changing. After hearing her sing with the All-Star Jazz Band, Thompson offered the young singer (then just 19) invaluable encouragement and advice, as she recalls.
“He suggested I apply for the Banff Centre for the Arts jazz program. I got in, and even though I felt a little like a fish out of water there, Don took me under his wing. At the end of the workshop he came up and said, ‘When you’re ready to record, give me a call.’ I was a bit taken aback, after just singing for one year. I was extremely flattered but I felt nowhere near ready to record.”
Nearly a decade later, Panton took Thompson up on his offer, launching her recording career. In the interim, Panton had earned an honours masters degree in French literature from McMaster University, then taught at the University of Paris for 18 months (the only significant period of time away from her beloved Hamilton).
Simultaneously with making that first record, 2005’s …yesterday perhaps, Panton started her full-time teaching career at her alma mater of Westdale. She tells HCM that “Over the years, I have taught French language classes and drama in French, as well as art in French and English.”
Of note: Panton’s musical success means she is now on Westdale’s Wall of Distinction.
The financial security of a full-time education career has enabled Panton to function as an independent artist, ensuring she has full creative freedom. Her choice of this path has been endorsed by the likes of Don Thompson and legendary jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan, one of Panton’s inspirations.
Thompson and Toronto guitar ace Reg Schwager (Diana Krall, Chet Baker) have appeared on all 11 of her albums, and together have created a signature sparse sound that is the perfect setting for Panton’s subtle phrasing and clear, unaffected vocals.
Thompson is responsible for the musical arrangements on her records, though Panton notes that “sometimes I’ll have a sonic idea, like starting the Leonard Cohen cover (‘Hey That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’) on the new album a cappella. Don knows exactly my vocal range, the way I breathe, so the arrangements are custom-made for my voice.”
Schwager, in turn, just shows up for the recording sessions, sprinkling his guitar fairy dust over the songs. “He still doesn’t get the song list or charts in advance. It is all done right on the spot,” says Panton.
In terms of her musical career, relocation to an industry centre like Toronto or New York City might have benefited Panton, but she remains passionate about and committed to living in Hamilton.
“People say, ‘How could you come back to Hamilton after living in Paris?’ but there is something about Hamilton I always really enjoy, even after travelling everywhere.”
She is grateful for the support of fans in the city.
“I have a very loyal following in Hamilton. Even if they are few and far between, if I have a concert here, it is well-attended every time.
“In Hamilton, I feel like the emotional content is always very important. You can’t come in and mess around. They come expecting to hear you. It is a great place to cut your teeth. If you look across the genres in Hamilton, I see that as a common thread. It doesn’t necessarily have to be polished. A little rough around the edges is OK, as long as it is truthful and honest.”
