#debra mann

Debra Mann graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston studying jazz and classical piano, and voice, with such incredible musicians as Charlie Banacos, Hall Crook, and Jeannie LoVetri. She performed around New England for many years as a soloist and as part of many different ensembles, playing jazz clubs, festivals, and concert halls, including Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops. Throughout her career she played with local icons like Greg Abate, Dave Zinno, Dino Govoni, Jay Azzolina, John Lockwood, Marty Richards, Marty Ballou, Dan Moretti, Ed Tomassi, Bob Gullotti, John Allmark, among countless others. She eventually established a set trio, which grew into a quintet, and became her main performing group. Besides performing, she was a revered educator, teaching privately and also as a faculty member at both Brown University and Wheaton College. She was also a member of The Jazz Education Network and The Providence Musicians Union, and recorded for New Bedford’s Whaling City Sound. 

In order to know more about her as a person within that artistic life, I reached out to a mutual friend and long time collaborator of hers, bass player Dave Zinno, to ask him for some insight into she was.

As we began talking about Debra, the first thing Dave said to me was that she was “filled with good will”. He said that more than any musician he has met, she was “super supportive of live music…she would turn up everywhere, across genres. Didn’t matter if it was a folk artist or whatever, her and her husband would come out and support everything. And she always had something good to say, a very optimistic person”. Dave went on to tell me about her influences, her exquisite ability, and her love for the American songbook, Brazilian music, and the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Her top influence however, had always been Joni Mitchell, and Dave said that she had for years wanted to do a project that would honor Joni’s music. This lead to her arranging and performing many of Joni’s tunes for several concerts and later manifested into Debra’s phenomenal final album “Full Circle: The Music Of Joni Mitchell”, which was released last year through Whaling City Sound. 

Listening to this gorgeous album, you can hear not only the reverence Debra felt for Joni’s music, but how Debra took up that spirit and imbued each song with her own unique essence. And as Dave put it to me, being that Joni was the spark that began Debra’s musical journey, it’s “poetic that it came out when it did, the whole notion of ‘Full Circle’ is really beautiful”. He also said that even though she respected a wide range of musicians, she “never tried to sing in another voice, unlike so many singers trying to reflect their heroes, she was always trying to follow her own voice...her singing was her greatest gift”.

While it is difficult to sum up an artist’s life, the beauty of musicians is that although we may lose them, we still have their recordings, their songs, and the stories they leave behind with those they shared the bandstand with; including the many beautiful stories Dave shared with me, his voice filled with the same joy she brought into so many lives. 

To end, here are some of Debra’s own words from her song “Lessons of the Heart” off her album, Home: 

“Now it’s time to say goodbye/And greet the dawn with joy not mournful sighs/My heart wants to sing of gladness not of bitterness or sadness/My heart wants to sing a song of loveliness not lonely madness...I’ll make a brand new start/Learning once again the lessons of the heart”.

To listen to Debra’s albums, purchase music, and learn more about her, visit debramann.com. 

Happening Around Town:

The John Allmark Jazz Orchestra; first Monday monthly @ The Met (Pawtucket)

Groove Merchants; Mondays @ Fifth Element (Newport)

Jazz Jam; Tuesdays @ Ten Rocks (Pawtucket)

Leland Baker Quartet; Wednesdays @ Acacia Club (Providence)

Jazz At The Parlour; Sundays (jam held every third Sunday) @ The Parlour (Providence)

Modern Sound Series; last Sunday monthly @ Tea In Sahara (Providence)

Is This Jazz?; (Providence) visit isthisjazz.tumblr.com for listings

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