Vocalist Joan Watson-Jones Returns To The Lilypad This Month

Vocalist/lyricist/composer Joan Watson-Jones sings with conviction, swings with precision and turns a lyric into a cool, compelling musical story. Hear her melodious narratives at The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge Street in Cambridge, on Saturday, October 21, at 4:30 pm.

 

Celebrating the return of Pianist Frank Wilkins, who was recuperating from an injury, Watson-Jones' band also features Bassist Dave Zox and Drummer Alvin Terry in a performance of songs from her latest CD, Choices, and other favorite tunes.

 

Armed with a master's degree in music education from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Watson-Jones had a long and successful teaching career in The Bronx and in New England. But the jazz seed had been growing in her since her childhood in Harlem, where she took piano and tap lessons at the age of four. Later, she learned to play guitar and drums, and was coached and mentored by the late singer Joyce Bryant.

 

With her husband's encouragement, Watson-Jones gave in to the inner urge of her jazz muse, and became a full-time vocalist, lyricist and composer after she retired from teaching. Splitting her time between Derry, New Hampshire and New York's renowned Harlem, Joan has been a mainstay on the New England jazz scene for three decades. She was voted Best Jazz Singer in New Hampshire by New Hampshire Magazine and produces and hosts her half-hour podcast, The Jazz Room.

 

Watson-Jones has released four albums: One More Year (1996), I Thought About You (2006), Quiet Conversation - A Duet (2013) and Choices (2021). Her latest release primarily consists of her own compositions, including the title track, a lilting, Latinesque tribute to her mother, a former Moulin Rouge dancer; “A Child's Dream,” a mid-tempo, Quiet Storm shout out to her father, who was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s doctor, and a member of the Upper Manhattan Medical Group (the inspiration for Billy Strayhorn's “UMMG”); and “The First Time We Met,” a love song with a bossa nova beat.

 

Choices is a critics favorite. Jonathan Widran of The JW Vibe writes that Watson-Jones is a “deeply soulful, emotional and sublimely swinging singer,” and Dick Metcalf, Editor of Contemporary Fusion Reviews, writes that the album is, “full of ultra-cool original jazz stories.”

 

Need more Boston Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...