By K. Michelle Moran
Arts & Entertainment Editor
She’s a well-known, critically acclaimed vocalist who has fronted everything from big bands to her own trio, but Sterling Heights’ Ja has never had a CD of her own. Until now.
Ja, who’s among the acts performing July 4 at Tastefest, released “Passion of My Soul” last year. An acoustic collection of standards and classics sung in English, Italian and Portuguese (which she learned specifically for performance), Ja (a.k.a. Janice Franco) considers her first album a labor of love.
With her smooth, perceptive delivery, Ja has long performed Brazilian and world music with such skill that her percussionist and co-producer, musician Larry Fratangelo of Sterling Heights, said she’s fooled concert-goers into believing she and her band are from Brazil.
On the album and live, Ja is often backed by minimal instrumentation.
“Her voice is so rich and strong, it doesn’t need much over it,” said Fratangelo, who also performs with Ja and guitarist Robert Tye of Warren as the trio Amoroso (named for a Joao Gilberto Bossa Nova album).
“Many albums these days tend to be vivid colors of production,” said Fratangelo, who records with Ja and other artists in his downtown Detroit studio. “This one [‘Passion’] tends to be more pastel. It tends to be less produced, and really featuring the quality of the instruments and the performances of the artists.”
A former dancer and theater actress who started singing in clubs at 18, Ja’s introduction to standards came early. Her father’s friends included the likes of Robert Goulet and Jerry Vale.
“Always, we had somebody over for dinner or something that was in show business,” Ja said. “So I learned a lot of the older standards from just being around those people and being influenced [by them]. There are pieces on [‘Passion’] that were my father’s favorite songs that are not Brazilian … [but] are just piano-vocal pieces,” including the Hoagy Carmichael/Ned Washington song “The Nearness of You.”
Ja came by her singular moniker early as well; it was taken, she says, from a childhood nickname. She’s kept it as a performer because the name’s international flavor is in keeping with her international sound.
While “Passion” is a collection of old favorites, Ja’s forthcoming follow-up will be an album of mostly originals. Due in September, Fratangelo said it incorporates Middle Eastern rhythms and world music with the New Age/pop of artists such as Basia, Enya and Sade.
An admitted perfectionist, Ja has studied not only voice, but microphones, and seeks out the ones most suited to her voice. She has also learned recording, which helps her achieve the sound she wants in the studio or on the stage.
“As a musician, I feel like I’m in the same league as all of the people that I have looked up to in this city, who have been doing it for years,” Ja said. “I feel like I’m respected now because of what I’ve done with this CD, and my education … in the last five years with the recording studio and understanding the technical part of what we do.”
Ja’s next show is a
performance with Amoroso at 2 p.m. July 4 at the Wellness Plan stage at
Tastefest. She will also perform Fridays and Saturdays in July at Trattoria
Andiamos in Grosse Pointe Woods, July 7 at Festival Epicure in Windsor, and
July 18 at Rochester Jazz in the Park. For more about Ja, log onto www.Brotherangel.com.