One could not imagine having a more delightful conversation with anyone than what I had a while back with jazz vocalist, composer and teacher Dr. Tish Oney, whose doctorate is in music but who at one time had contemplated becoming a medical doctor and while that may have benefited the medical community greatly, it would have been a serious blow to all that she represents that is true and good about artists who understand their craft.

 

“I was also a biologist and believe it or not, my undergraduate degree is in microbiology from Cornell. I was going to be a medical doctor, until I just couldn’t turn away from music anymore and I had to do it fulltime. I know a lot about the structure, the function and the anatomy of the vocal organ and since I have studied all of these things, I sing better, when I know what my diaphragm is doing and I know what orientation it is in my body, how it works together with my abdominal muscles and my larynges muscles. I think that kind of knowledge is very empowering for singers and they don’t get enough of it, so I believe in equipping my students with as much information as I can give them and that is factual I think the singers that do the best are the ones that really know the facts about how they are built, how they function and how that enables them to be equipped to answer their own questions later on,” says Oney.

 

In addition, to being a superb vocalist and composer, Oney is a fascinating and versatile artist, as you might find her one night performing a classical composition by Gabriel Fauré as a soprano soloist in Los Angeles, or perhaps as she says keeping her jazz chops in shape by working out in a classical paradigm while performing a Bach recital in New Hampshire.

 

At Christmas, you may find her performing an adaptation of her program Jazz Seasons. “Jazz Seasons is a compilation of songs that are from the four seasons, but it is appropriate for any time of year. I will do “Blackberry Winter,” and I will do “Summer Night,” and I have written a couple of songs that are seasonal in nature. I just find that it is a nice theme, because there are so many songs about autumn, spring, summer and winter, so I thought why not put them altogether in a show?  We can walk through the year and enjoy the scenery along the way. We can also adapt the show to be a Christmas show or a holiday show in the November or December. I just keep those songs but add to them some eclectic arrangements of well known Christmas songs or lesser known songs. Peggy Lee actually wrote a song that is a New Year’s Eve song that is called “My Dear Acquaintance,” and that would be in my show if it were a Christmas show. Seasons of Christmas would be a Christmas show that is an augmentation of the existing Jazz Seasons show,” Oney explains.

 

Tish Oney is equally adept at performing standards with a program entitled Swinging Through The American Songbook. “This is really a straight ahead jazz show that highlights songs from the 1930’s through today and it stops along the way to bring out songs from some of my favorite composers. It is a program of standards that many people know and also many songs that they may not have heard. I try to balance it in every show so that people have something familiar that they can relate to. I use that to explore some other sounds that they may not have heard and that are worthy of being heard and being explored by jazz musicians. Swinging Through The American Songbook is a great survey of many of the great American standards,” she says.