Photo by Brendan Klem
Y MARTIN, TIJANA ON FEBRUARY 26, 2017.
Calgary’s Ellen Doty performing at Casa
Tijana Martin
Lethbridge Herald
Calgary jazz artist Ellen Doty hopes to inspire Lethbridge residents to follow their dreams in her upcoming concert.
On Wednesday, she’ll be performing at Casa along with special guest 35-time, award-winning saxophonist Eli Bennett.
Her music is rooted in jazz but draws from pop, folk and soul as well.
“It’s kind of a mishmash of all things that I love and all things that have influenced me,” said Doty. “I think sometimes people are a little scared by the jazz genre and I really want to open it up to everyone.”
Her passion for music sprouted at a young age. Her grandmother, she said, lived across the street from Nat King Cole in Los Angeles.
“So his music was passed down to me through my dad.”
She performed for the first time during her Grade One talent show, but it wasn’t until years later that she took the leap of faith to pursue a career in music.
“I always loved music but I think I was afraid to take the jump to doing it full-time so I ended up doing geology in university. But a few years ago I just decided that I really love music and decided I would go for it,” said Doty.
“I}ve had some loss in my life and lost some dear friends that were quite young and I think for me, that really helped me make the jump because we never know how much time we’re going to have, so we might as well spend that doing what we love,” said Doty. “That’s the whole reason I do music; it’s such a wonderful experience to share music with people.”
Doty has released one album thus far -” Gold” – which was funded with the help of some generous fans.
“I think one of the themes from that album was just to do what you love,” said Doty.
Just recently, however, she finished recording her second album which will be released later this year.
She said she uses her music to inspire others to follow their dreams and to appreciate the meaningful things in life.
“Of course I talk about love, especially in some of my new songs/ I talk about giving love to others and doing your best to make sure that you tell the people that you love, that you love them and giving positivity and encouragement in a world that’s struggling a bit with that right now.”
Doty’s performance starts at 7:30 p.m. at Casa.
Tickets are available online for $20 at: http://www.ellendotyleth.brownpapertickets.com.
A special $10 student price will be available at the door.
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