Visionary musical collaborators Jesse Dee and Jacquie B will be performing twice in the City over the next while — The Vat on Jan. 21 and the Velvet Olive on Feb. 12.
Most recently the pair wrapped up their ‘Hobo Holiday Tour’ late last year which saw them cover communities in central and eastern Canada.
These days, they’re finishing up a new CD and continuing to build on the momentum behind ‘National Treasure’ – a collaborative project of Jessee Dee and Jacquie B with fellow musician Ory No’man.
As for Jesse and Jacquie, the couple defines versatility with splashes of ‘funky jazz, hard-hitting rock and delicate folk’ surfacing tastefully across their discs. Vocally, they’re a seamless, magical match as well.
Jesse describes their latest recording as their most comprehensive to date. Recording began last summer and has been interspersed with touring stints.
And ultimately, that’s been a plus for the project, says Jesse.
“It’s nice to have perspective on stuff, and be able to come back to something and listen to it with fresh ears,” he explains. “I really like that kind of perspective that time allows.”
Since taking to music full-time at the dawn of 2009, Jesse and Jacquie have pretty much made the road their home. That year alone they hit the road on three major tours starting with ‘Fresh Outtha Box’.
Promoting their Greenhouse CD was the next order of business via the ‘From Our House to Yours’ tour later in the fall.
‘Highway Robbery’ wrapped things up in October, taking them from Edmonton clear across the country to St. John’s, Newfoundland with Ory No’man.
The aforementioned National Treasure certainly allows Jesse Dee and Jacquie B to stretch their creative muscles in different ways.
“It’s a much thicker sound with Ory’s voice and instrumentation there as well,” says Jesse, adding the three choose songs from their own repertoires that blend well and then brush them up with fresh sonic spins.
Looking back, Dee didn’t even pick up a guitar until he was 18, but sounds like he’s been perfecting his musical gifts for years prior.
Although he always liked music and sang here and there growing up, he never considered it as a full-fledged possible career until after high school graduation. That’s when his folks gave him a guitar for Christmas – a gift he hadn’t even requested.
But creative energies flourished once he started studying music, and he soon enrolled in jazz studies at Edmonton’s Grant MacEwan College.
After a year, he felt ready to break out on his own.
His debut disc A Cross Pollination of Service Station Scrawl was released in 2008.
In the meantime, there isn’t a lifestyle the Jesse D and Jacquie B can imagine topping the one they’ve chosen for themselves.
“I’m really stoked to get something out there that is really representative of what we do,” explains Jacquie of the upcoming CD. Touring brings things full circle as well. It’s refreshing to hit the road after stretches of time when the ‘biz’ has be caught up with. “When we tour, I think this is what makes everything else worth it.”
Jesse agrees.
“I like taking our music to people and seeing how they react to it,” he says. “When you share it and see the effects it has on people, that has a pretty profound effect on you.”
Check out www.jessedeemusic.com.
mweber@reddeerexpress.com
