Wow, this second week of Ariel Hyatt’s challenge has been hard and taken me ages. Coming up with The Pitch.
First of all we have to write down the genres of music that I play. Well that’s taken me a long time as I have never really felt sure about what certain genres actually mean – what ‘folk’ music is, or ‘soul’ etc, and have been unsure what labels I should use to describe my music apart from ‘pop’. I searched other artists’ sites and myspaces and found often no genre is given, so that didn’t help my dilemma. I have studied jazz and often play with jazz musicians both in recordings and at gigs, but I am not a jazz artist. Nor am I folk, even though I am often compared to folk artists. I am not ‘soul’ yet I believe there is a soulful element to what I do. Mmmm. I asked a few people like manager Lorda and producer Barbs for their thoughts, and referred to what some journalists have written to describe me and all of that helped. Another factor is the variety of production sounds on my forthcoming album, eg Threadneedle Street is produced by UK DJ artist Pete Lazonby and is totally programmed, in stark contrast to the sparse production arrangement of If I Could Fly which has no programming and just drums, base, guitar and piano.
Some that come up for me are: pop, chillout, jazz, electronica, acoustic, organic.
Then we have to write down artists that other people say I sound like. I put Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, Imogen Heap, Beth Orton, Dido, Carole King, Eva Cassidy, Joni Mitchell, Yael Naim, Julie London, Blossom Dearie, Doris Day, Sia, Jane Siberry, Portishead, Sade, Karen Carpenter, Joan as Policewoman, Shawn Colvin, Joan Armatrading, Sarah McLachlan, Everything But the Girl.
Next is artists who have influenced me. This was interesting for me to reflect on. I remember how I used to devour some of my Dad’s records – I used to play Quincy Jones’ albums ‘You’ve Got it Bad Girl’ and ‘Body Heat’, and Carole King’s ‘Tapestry’ over and over, as well as early Joan Armatrading albums of my aunt’s, and albums by Jimmy Cliff and Al Green. The lyrics were pretty much wasted on me at that time – it was the music I responded to. Having studied music since I was four years old and been into all kinds of music the list of artists who have influenced me is too long to mention here, but I would have to add JS Bach, Chopin, Thomas Mapfumo, Geoffrey Orema, Massive Attack, Burt Bacharach, Billy Field, Prince, Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan, Ali Farka Toure, Keith Jarrett, Joni Mitchell, Sinead O’Connor, Aqualung, Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, Harold Budd, Elton John, Aimee Mann, Lou Reed, Vince Jones. That will do for now otherwise this blog will never get written 
Then comes writing down all the feelings and vibes I want to convey with my music. I’m not going to list these here, as I would be too embarrassed, but can say I found this really worthwhile and interesting and it certainly helped me putting together the pitch!
So what I have come up with using the Ariel formula and according to her brief is:
Australian singer-songwriter Jane Walker’s debut album ‘Walk Gently’ offers up an intimate, earthy and uplifting cocktail of pop, chillout, electronica and jazz. Her original music combines flavours reminiscent of Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, Sade, Imogen Heap and Carole King.
What do YOU think of all of this? I would love some feedback so please leave a comment
Jane
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