Monday, 27 February 2017 09:10 Richard Amery

You may remember Ellen Doty from her performance a few years ago at the LethbridgeJazz Festival.

The Okotoks/ Calgary based jazz singer/ songwriter returns to Lethbridge, March 1 to play Casa with Vancouver saxophonist Eli Bennett and guitarist Josh Crowhurst.
“It’s a trio with voice, guitar and saxophonist. It’s a unique sound,” Doty said.

“We’re going to be playing some songs from‘Gold’ (her debut Cd released in 2014) and some new songs and some jazz standards from Nat King Cole and because I lovesoul and Motown, maybe some Ben E King and Marvin Gaye,” she said, noting the Lethbridge show is part of a quick tour of Albertaplus stops in Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

She just finished recording her sophomore CD in Toronto with engineer John Bailey, producer/ drummer Davide DiRenzo and pianist/producer Marc Lalama, with a plan to release it in the Fall.
“ I’m really honoured to have worked with them,” she said.

“ It‘s a very unique sound,” she said.

In addition to recording the new CD, she also visited the Banff Centre to work on her songwriting.

“ I’ve always loved that place. I’ve been there twice, in 2013 and 2016. It’s a wonderful place,” she said.

“ I’ll be laying low after this tour. But there is a lot to do. I’m doing all of the publicity myself and setting up radio interviews. And of course getting the songs to be the best they can be for performance.”
Doty has fond memories of playing the Lethbridge Jazz festival.

“We had a lot of fun and people were really excited about the the music. They were still standing and cheering, then Michael Kaeshammer came back and played with me,” she recalled.
Ellen Doty plays Casa, Wednesday March 1 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor