Jazz chanteuse Kinga Heming was born to sing.
“My career began while being baptized as a baby,” she says. “When I screamed out, the attending priest predicted that I would become a singer.”
And so, she has. Today, her vocals are as smooth, heady and sophisticated as a well-matured brandy. She describes her style as “jazz, with a twist of soul and R & B.”
When she appears at Pat’s House of Jazz in Crofton’s Osborne Bay Pub with guitarist Loni Moger and bassist Bernie Addington, she will pay tribute to the jazz classics. The concert is Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m.
Some of the songs she has selected include Almost Like Being in Love, Nature Boy, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, No More Blues and That Old Black Magic.
Heming credits her parents for gifting her with an appreciation for music, especially jazz.
Her father played in a jazz cabaret while her mother constantly played vocal pop and jazz records by The Platters, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and others.
Steeped in the music of Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, Sarah Vaughan, Natalie Cole and especially Ella Fitzgerald, Heming originally studied classical piano and voice before fully exploring the world of jazz while at Toronto’s Humber College. In her final year there, she won the Duke Ellington Honouree award.
She has gone on to perform with pianist Renee Rosnes, flugelhornist Guido Basso and Don Thompson’s jazz ensemble.
She has also sung anthems for the Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors and Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts.
For her debut release Guess Who I Saw Today, Heming says she selected music that reflects a time or point in her life when she experienced an emotional roller coaster — whether it was love, happiness, heartache, anger or frustration.
It includes new interpretations by Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo and songs associated with Nancy Wilson, Bill Withers, Mose Allison and Randy Newman.
Her produce/arranger Bill King says “I could tell during our first practice sessions, (that) the voice fit comfortably around the rich melodies and could deliver a heartfelt interpretation of the lyrics. “
The June 9 performance is one of the Pat’s House of Jazz series, presented each Sunday at 2 p.m. by the Chemainus Valley Cultural Arts Society in the all-ages Osborne Bay Pub, 1534 Joan Ave. in Crofton.
Reservations are recommended for this show. Call 250-324-2245 or visit http://osbornebaypub.com for more information.
Tables will be held until 1:30 p.m. Admission is $15.