Bill King

“Everyone knows who Diana is, so we want you to hear Melissa, Alex, Beverley, Sara, Leah, Emile and the rest.” Those women and the “rest” are pianist/composer/publisher Bill King’s ensemble of Canadian independent female jazz vocalists, called the Real Divas.

Aged 15 to 50, the Divas flock like songbirds from across the country, mainly to Toronto, for exclusive, intimate jazz performances. Most of the Divas are fairly unknown or up-and-coming, but include legendary Canadian chanteuse Molly Johnson, who makes an appearance on King’s latest compilation, Real Divas II: Torch Light Vol. II. The second in the series features another 16 soft, romantic Diva performances out now on his Canadian indie-label 7 Arts Entertainment.

As host of “Jazz Preview” on Toronto’s Jazz FM 91.1 on Sunday nights, and a major driving force behind the Beaches International Jazz Festival since its inception in 1988, King has always been one to get carried away by the magic of female singers. Having worked with vocalists since early in his career, founding the Real Divas concept came naturally when, three years ago, King turned a quiet Tuesday night in Toronto’s entertainment district into a night of rich, luscious song and jazz.

“During the night, we’d have younger performers and unknowns, and would tell them to just bring sheet music for the trio I had there and sing a tune,” says King. “There’s a feel to the evening, an intimacy that you develop with the singer, more than just another jazz concert. I get bored with the same thing all the time. But with a singer, I get into it. I think people have a connection with really good singers. As a kid I could listen to Barbara Streisand all the time. You’d sit there by yourself and imagine how the person is, or the tune, and how it relates to you.”

Born in Indiana in 1946, King spent his youth studying with Blues father W.C. Handy’s former pianist Eva Smith, and at the esteemed Louisville Academy and Indiana University. An award-winning classical pianist and clarinet player, and scholar of Oscar Peterson’s Advanced School of Contemporary Music, King, by the early ’60s, started his career performing with local community orchestras and big bands.

At 20 years old, King’s band The Chateaus’ song “Moanin’” made the Billboard Top 50. They opened for the Beach Boys, the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars, and worked with bands like The Shangrilas. Later, King would join Janis Joplin’s band as pianist, work with the Pointer Sisters, and move to Toronto for a recording contract with Capitol Records where he’d release two albums, Goodbye Superdad (1970) and Dixie Peach (1972).

“When you look at the history of Canadian jazz, there is a history there, but there’s not a big history of recorded jazz,” says King, who, by the late ’70s, formed the rock group China and recorded a self-titled album. After a yearlong stint with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks in the early ’80s, King launched his first indie jazz label, Night Passage Records, where he picked up a Juno nomination for Best Jazz Recording.

“If you go back and get together all the records of those singing jazz in this country for the last 25 years, it’s fairly sparse. But when you come to the last five years or so, it’s quite incredible. So many kids have come out of university programs, or who sing, or are just fascinated with singing. And of course the opportunity to record a CD is a lot less expensive than it used to be.”

In the late-’80s and ’90s, King founded The Jazz Report Magazine and launched a new label, Radioland, inking a major distribution deal with Verve/Polygram Canada. By 2000, King collected a Juno for Best Traditional Jazz recording for co-producing one of jazz’s finest saxophonists, Pat LaBarbera, on “Deep In A Dream.” That same , King launched the National Jazz Awards. Voted on by the public, the awards continue to draw a greater appreciation and recognition for excellence in jazz.

With a storied career born in America, King has become like an ambassador for Canadian Jazz. “There’s no need to go anywhere else. I get a lot of music, and it’s all the same attitude, same sound. I’ve had so much more to work with here. There’s a difference here with the singers. They don’t try to do the same arrangements, but have their quirky takes,” says King, who’s recent Diva show of solos, duets and group harmonies sold out at The Mod Club in Toronto.

Like their sultry song, the Divas are catching on, attracting greater interests with concerts now from Saskatoon to Montreal, and airplay on CBC radio and Calgary’s JazzFM. Meanwhile, tomorrow’s potential Divas keep knocking on King’s door.

“When the biggest stars in the Canadian music industry are our Canadian women—Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, Diana Krall, Shania Twain, Anne Murray, Sarah McLaughlin, Holly Cole…you know we have the biggest female stars in the world. I think the women here have a way of defining themselves pretty quickly; they’re not copying anybody or caught up in trying to be a soul singer. They are what they are, and come to it naturally. I think there’s a genuine quality. I find the same thing with [the Divas]—they have a distinctive quality.”