Page 24 - BiTS_12_DECEMBER_2020

LL: Who are the players and singers you’ve admired and have been of influence?

VC: So many! I have always loved Cannonball Adderley - for me there was no one else besides him
and my teacher and mentor, Chris Vadala. But over the years, I find I love lots more people - Oscar
Peterson, Coltrane, Rasaan Roland Kirk, Jeff Coffin, Art Tatum, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Freddie
King, B.B. King, Elmore James, Snooks Eaglin, Ray Charles…the list goes on and on and it started to
include emulating guitar players too.

As for vocals, I love people who really deliver the story well. The first I remember loving is Ella
Fitzgerald. Then came Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, Oliver Wood and the Wood Brothers, The
Highwomen, my friend and vocal teacher, Maureen Murphy. Again, there are so many across so
many genres, it’s hard to name them all!

LL: What was touring in the Joe Louis Walker band like? Were you the only young female in
the band? Any good stories to share?

VC: I was the only woman in the band, but I didn’t really think about that. Most women musicians

that I know just want to be thought of as fellow
musicians and I’m that way too. Joe complimented me by
saying that “I play like a guy”. Meaning I play with
confidence and just get after it. There is no tentative
approach in my playing - it’s really “give it my all or
don’t play!”. So, I appreciated being just another
member of the band in his group. And I appreciated also

that he and his wife, Robin, treated me like a daughter
and looked out for me on the road.

Touring with Joe changed my life - no doubt. It was my
first opportunity to support an artist on the road. I was

so hungry to get out there and play! I spent a beautiful
month-long tour with JLW’s band in Turkey in 2013 and I
still think about that tour probably once a week. I was
encouraged to fully express myself in my playing and I wasn’t limited to a certain number of
choruses. Joe just wants you to say something in your playing. If it takes five choruses, then it
takes five choruses! He featured each of his musicians on a song, including me, and it’s something I

love to do with my own band members too.

Touring with Joe was my chance to get my feet wet and get a taste for the road life. I realized that I
wanted to get out on my own and do it. Joe has been nothing but supportive since the start of my
solo career. I’m so very thankful for his guidance and support.

LL: Let’s talk about your latest release “Heart On The Line”. With the exception of track 8, the
slow steam blues titled ‘Weep and Moan’, the album’s got a laid back 70’s Funky Pop R&B
vibe! Can you talk about your vision and concept for this album?

VC: My last record “Honey Up” was intended to kind of hit you in the centre of your chest with a
constant driving force and never let up. I felt that for “Heart On The Line” I wanted to focus on the
stories and songwriting, and really flush out the arrangements I heard in my head. I wanted to
show off the other side of the saxophone. Not just the slightly overdriven, growling, aggressive,

24