- Kay Meek Centre's annual fundraising gala featuring Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole, Friday May 31 at 7 p.m. Tickets: welcome reception and show, $129; VIP meet the artist, $159. Box office and info: kaymeekcentre.com
WHEN celebrated Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole was 15-years-old, she embarked on a journey that changed the course of her life - musical and otherwise.
"My parents were not happy about it," she says, reached Wednesday from her current Toronto, Ont., home.
Cole left her then home of Fredericton, N.B., with a mere $20 in her pocket and hitchhiked south across the border to Boston, Mass.
Born into a musical family, Cole's grandfather was a country and western accordion player who played with Hank Snow, her parents are classical piano players, and her brother, Allen, now an accomplished Toronto-based musical writer (The Wrong Son), had decided to study jazz at the Berklee College of Music.
Cole laughs when she tells the story of how she surprised her older brother at his college, sharing details like how she snuck in and out of his dorm where she crashed for a month. Thanks to their similarly-styled long tresses, she'd use Allen's ID card, masquerading as him to gain access. Once inside, she'd hand the card off to one of his dorm-mates who would transport it out and hand it over to Allen so he too could get in.
That early introduction to the jazz world at the influential New England institution resulted in Cole feeling like she "saw the light."
"It inspired me and I knew what I wanted to do," she says.
"It was such an influential time in my life. . . . I feel so fortunate that I discovered what I really wanted to do and what was my real passion and what I was good at, at a young age and some people never do in their lives," she adds.
Cole continued to visit her brother and eventually went on to launch her own jazz career, and she'll be forever grateful for the influence and support of her family in helping her do so.
That's why she's pleased to have the opportunity to take the stage as the featured performer at West Vancouver's Kay Meek Centre Friday, May 31, at the local theatre's annual gala fundraiser. Funds raised will support Kay Meek's operations, including youth learning and education, the creation of professional self-produced theatre, community outreach and audience development.
"When I see causes like the Kay Meek I think to myself this is an opportunity for other young people to discover what they want, discover what they're good at, discover what inspires them, discover what is exciting, what is creative and how they can change their lives (and) change other people's lives. . . . The Kay Meek Centre could be the kind of thing that turns, kids and teenagers, their lives around and sets them on a path of creativity, a path of positive thinking and it could be a huge thing," says Cole.
She's long been interested in lending a hand to community-oriented causes. By focusing on their community, people can take a hands-on role and become personally engaged, and feel like they're making a difference. As well, they can witness firsthand the benefits within their community and, in certain cases, within people they actually know.
"Not only is it great for the actual cause, but it's great for the community in general and just for the concept of being a community, the concept of helping one another as a group in a way that we can really feel in a direct way," she says.
Cole says she feels like this is something that's becoming lost as the world continues to get bigger, making community-focused initiatives ever important as they provide an opportunity for much-needed reconnection.
Giving back is something she feels is important.
"Every thing that you give, you get back in spades," she says. "I don't mean monetarily, I mean in terms of who you are as a person. So much of the stuff I've done, I just am so happy I've done it, not only because I see the people reaping the rewards, it's because I am, honestly. I come back enriched and I learn a lot and it's fun and it's emotional and it's good in all ways."
Following Cole's appearance at Kay Meek, she'll continue to tour in support of her recent album, Night, which was released in the fall.
When reflecting on its concept, Cole, who calls herself a "night owl," references on one of her earliest childhood memories, when at age three, to ease a croupy cough, her father put her on his shoulders and took her out into the night.
"It cured me. When I got back home I was well and it seemed like, 'Holy Mackerel, look what I have been missing for my three years,'" she says.
The nighttime hadn't been part of her consciousness prior to that point and the experience opened up a whole new mysterious world.
"To me the majesty and all the wow of the night is post-midnight. It's not so much about it being dark, it's more about the feeling of the quiet and the intrigue and the peace that you have in the nighttime," she says.
Night contains a broad repertoire, including: a Bond theme, "You Only Live Twice;" two Tom Waits covers, "Whistling Past the Graveyard" and "Walk Away"; Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"; and, an original composition, "You've Got A Secret."
When choosing a song, Cole says it has to appeal to her both musically and lyrically.
"But the fact that it's a great song musically and lyrically is not enough. It has to be something that I feel. I love subtext more than anything and it has to be something that I feel that I can reinvent," she says.
Night is also a reunion of sorts, seeing the members of the Holly Cole Trio featured - pianist Aaron Davis and string bassist David Piltch.
What Cole's next album will look like, only time will tell, she says, as she tends to go with the flow, rather than make specific plans as she proceeds forward.
"I let things come about," she says, adding "I'm trying hard to live in the moment."
The importance of this approach was made increasingly clear following a recent experience that has affected her life in a profound way.
Cole was in a Tokyo hotel when the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami struck.
"It was horrific and I feared for my life and the lives of the people in my band and my crew," she says.
While they were luckily all unharmed, Cole still feels like she's recovering from the event.
"There's things that reside in your subconscious for quite a while," she says.
Cole expects the experience to be reflected on her future records, but just how exactly will remain to be seen.
"Life-changing events like that, when you re-evaluate all things, of course they're going to be in your art and they should be. That's what makes you who you are," she says.
And who Cole is, is a musician, passionate about communication and engaging with her audiences around the globe - Vancouver included.
"Singing is so natural for me and I love to do it. It's a creative outlet and so cathartic. But the whole thing, it's really not like, 'Listen man, if you're cool enough, you'll get it,' when I go out onstage. It's really like, 'I want you to get it.' The communication within the band, the communication from the band to the audience, the communication from the audience back, it's like fuel and it's gorgeous and gasoline for us on the fire."
