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Jarvis Church takes on Sam Cooke with new album

R&B/soul singer Jarvis Church returns with a daunting, but ultimately fun, project called the Soul Station, a series of records paying homage to his favourite soul singers. Just released on Oct. 9 is The Soul Station Vol. 1: The Songs of Sam Cooke - A Tribute. Church recently stopped by CBC Music to chat with Tom Allen, host of Radio 2's Shift, about the project.

Allen: You decided to focus on Sam Cooke after reading his biography, Dream Boogie. Just tell me, for those who may not know, just tell me Sam Cooke’s story?

Church: Probably the most interesting things about Sam Cooke is that he was one of the first black musicians to own his own publishing and to really control his own music. He had a really, almost accidental, death. It was a mistaken identity shooting that killed him at just 33 years of age. He had one of the most pure voices ever recorded, just that kind of voice that touched people He was credited for being one of the originators of soul music, and was referred to as the king of soul. What really struck me, I was in Los Angeles living downtown at the time, I’m reading his biography and it all takes place in America and he settled in Los Angeles in the same neighbourhoods I was in. It really connected with me. I’ve always loved his music and I thought it would just be so much to sing to this music.

Allen: That’s interesting, the business side of things. I didn’t realize he was in control of his own stuff. That was pre-civil rights era, right?

Church: Exactly. He was a very outspoken supporter of civil rights. “A Change is Gonna Come” is regarded as a civil rights anthem. I love seeing his music against the backdrop of that civil unrest. Soul music is just that — music that touches the soul.

Allen: So for you, you were born a generation after Sam Cooke, more or less. You were born in Jamaica but came to Canada as a boy. So when you sing “A Change is Gonna Come,” what’s your perspective on that? What experiences do you bring to that song?

Church: It’s not so much my experiences, it’s all in the lyrics. When I sing a song, I feel the lyrics, I feel the story that the author is telling. I get swept away with it just like everybody else. There’s a line, “I go to the movies, and I go downtown, but people just don’t want me around.” Sam had a way of using really contemporary lyrics. He often said that a great song just sounds like someone’s talking.

As a songwriter, I’ve been writing songs for such a long time, but I’ve really come full circle. When I was young I wanted to write the most complicated songs ever. I wanted to write songs that no one could tell where they were derived from and covering your tracks. Now it’s the complete opposite. I like to write songs that sound familiar and are effortless to listen to and understand. He was all about that.

Allen: So when you’re singing that, he has a whole bunch of really recognizable songs, but I think you’re right that’s the one most people can hear in their heads. Are you actually hearing Sam Cooke’s voice in your head when you’re singing that song?

Church: No, thank God, because he sings it much better than I do. But I am speaking those words and really feeling that sentiment. It’s a universal sentiment. Anybody can understand that feeling of people not wanting you around.

Listen Listen to Jarvis Church singing "A Change is Gonna Come"

 


Allen:
 What other songs of his are you tackling?

Church: I do “Having a Party," “Cupid” and “Bring it on Home;” a song of his, an old gospel spiritual song called “Steal Away.” It’s such a beautiful song. I do a Christmas song called “Christmas Means Love.” And then a couple of my own. I’m a songwriter as well and I just thought it would be really cool to not only cover these amazing artists but then try to contribute a couple of songs in the same vein.

Allen: So can you give me a preview of how some of your own songs fit in this vein?

Church: I’m all about songs where the sentiment is the title. I wrote two songs for this album. One called “Do it Better,” which is sort of a cheeky, playful sentiment: why does she keep coming back? It’s because I do it better. And another one I wrote is called “She Keeps Me up All Night...”

Allen: Which is because you do it better?

Church: Exactly. See, there’s a theme (laughs).

ListenListen to Jarvis Church singing "Do it Better"


 

Allen: You said another event that inspired you to take on this idea of the soul station was when you were here at CBC in a concert celebrating 50 years of Motown. Can you describe that?

Church: I was invited to celebrate Motown. I did a couple of Marvin Gaye songs, and a Stevie Wonder song. It was just so much fun to be up onstage with all these musicians. You have to understand that this is music that every musician loves to play. If you hire musicians and take them to studio and tell them you’re doing a Sam Cooke song, it’s like a vacation for them. And that comes across. People loved it. I think it’s a natural connection. People think of my voice and think, oh yeah, it’s soulful. It’s all about the show. All of this is so that we can go up onstage and do this music like how it was done.

Allen: When did you first come across this music?

Church: Always. But I think the first artist that really started to get me singing by myself along with them in the privacy of my own house was Prince. He’s a soulful singer. Singing is all connected. Prince is influenced by Jimi Hendrix, who’s influenced by Marvin Gaye. It just keeps going.

Allen: There’s a connection between Prince, Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye. There’s this fluid high register. This ability to go up in the falsetto. This effortless falsetto.

Church: That’s something I’ve always loved doing. I’ve always spent a lot of time up in the falsetto range.

Allen: Is it easy?

Church: It is easy. That’s why it’s called the false. It’s fake, you’re not really singing. [In a falsetto voice] You’re just going like this, do do do, you can do anything you want.

Allen: Maybe you can do anything you want!

Church: It’s interesting, because falsetto is a funny thing. There’s no power in it. There’s a little bit. It’s beautiful. In the studio where it’s quiet it's one thing, but when you’re onstage falsetto can get buried sometimes.

Allen: You mentioned Jimi Hendrix. He’s someone that didn’t use that falsetto. I think of him as a growly kind of singer.

Church: He wasn’t much about the falsetto. He wasn’t much about the singing.

Allen: I remember his mom said he was a lousy singer.

Church: But that was just so cool. Songs aren’t about singing in a way, they’re about speaking. It’s about connecting with somebody and doing it in a way that’s sincere. Whenever singing gets in the way of someone’s sincerity, I’m always a little bit disconnected.

Allen: There’s also the question of style. When you approach these songs, some of them were written in the late '50s or early '60s, that’s a long time ago. There’s a difference in recording sound. What do you do to try and bring that into a modern sensibility, but still keep the truth of the song from the time?

Church: I think what makes it modern is the mix. It's a little more fatter, a little bit more bass-heavy. But that’s really it. I didn’t want to reinterpret, I just wanted to sing them. I always have people asking me who were my influences, and this is my way of saying these were my influences. You know I wear lots of hats — songwriter, producer, record label — doing all those different things, I just wanted to come back to singing. Here’s the song, let me learn it, let me understand it, let me know what the singer means by these lyrics and let me speak them like they are my own. I don’t really try and flip it and turn it upside down. I’m not trying to out-sing Sam Cooke.

Allen: When you first started out on this path, is this what you were dreaming of being able to do?

Church: To be honest with you, the main motivation for this project was the fun of it. Just performing this stuff with nine people up onstage is just awesome.

You can see Jarvis Church live in Halifax and Toronto this November, and in Ottawa in March.

Related:

Exclusive video: Jarvis Church and the Soul Station perform new songs

Jarvis Church sings Sam Cooke [PODCAST]

R&B history moment: Sam Cooke's anthem for change


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