Singer, songwriter and arranger Jacqui Naylor has accomplished what few artists are able to do successfully, she has been critically acclaimed, as a vocalist who can comfortably perform jazz standards such as “Blue Moon,” can sassily sing Rod Stewart’s “Hot Legs,” albeit with a twist, and creates quality original compositions such as the beautiful, “Easy Ride From Here.” The San Francisco based artist talks quickly; her conversation changes directions often, and then she will suddenly stop to thoughtfully consider a question. She finds humor at every corner, not out of glibness, but quite the contrary, because she lives life to the fullest. She would rather be positive and innovative, versus settling for the same old same old, whether in life or in her music. Recently the talented and well loved Jacqui Naylor took time to speak to me about her unique music, and her last two CDs, 2006’s The Color Five and this year’s holiday album Smashed For The Holidays, a title which describes her music, not a state of inebriation.

 “We call them acoustic smashes,” says Naylor as she eases into our conversation with a description of her music. “I think it is fun. We (originally) did it (smashes) just because we liked the idea of doing it, and it became something that we have become known for. I wanted to distinguish our music from what DJs do with mashups, where the tunes are made to fit together electronically. We assimilate tunes because of their chord structure, so the band is able to play the groove of one tune, while I am singing a whole other song.”

Naylor’s approach to smashed hits was not contrived, but flowed from a desire to enhance her communication with the audience. “I very rarely sang songs that other singers did. I felt that unless I was going to do something different with it, why (bother) doing it. I had all my Ella Fitzgerald albums, and all of my favorite albums, why did I need somebody else singing, “My Favorite Valentine?” I kept getting asked to certain songs, (such as) “My Funny Valentine,” and I said that I don’t do that. Sarah Vaughan sings that, you don’t need me. I just didn’t see a reason to be singing them. Finally, I had to come up with a way to address the issue, and “My Funny Valentine,” was one of those acoustic smashes that we did. We mixed “My Funny Valentine,” with AC/DC’s “Back In Black.”   We kind of laughed when we did it, and I said, “I kind of like that, putting two tunes together,” but we hadn’t figured out what (other) tunes we should be doing it with, or how obvious they should be. It became a way to be innovative around tunes that maybe weren’t so innovative,” explains Naylor.

“As an artist I look to solve certain types of performance issues that I think are important. I used to do all ballads, because I love ballads, and if I didn’t think that people (in the audience) would kill themselves, I would do just ballads, all of the time. (In particular) I think that we do a really good job of sad ballads. What happened organically is you realize after not too many times of getting up and trying to do all ballads that it doesn’t really fly. (About) ten years ago I asked, ‘What other tunes do I like?’ I could do upswing tunes, but they would have to be in a minor key. Then this thing about doing rock tunes came up, and we (had to decide) whether to put them with swing or jazz music. It became organic in the sense of how I needed to address the issue of “My Funny Valentine,” and “Autumn Leaves.” It (smashing tunes) came out of my longing to communicate to the audience in a different way. I wanted to be able to communicate a story. Those tunes are fabulous songs, but I needed to figure out what I could bring to it. I think that it was more organic than deliberate, although the idea of mixing classic rock with jazz was always interesting to me,” she says.

Although she has adopted an innovative approach to her music, Naylor has stayed true to her foundation in jazz music, which may sound like a bit of an oxymoron, for someone who utilizes grooves from artists such as Led Zeppelin and the Kinks. Naylor provides these insights, “I studied jazz, and had some rules that I wanted to follow as a jazz singer.

I am singing the lyrics and the melody the way that they were written. I haven’t messed with the actual tune,” she says, while adding that the band continues to honor the underlying groove, whether it is rock or jazz.