Tamela D'Amico - Got a Little Story by Lisa Steinberg

Q: Your album Got A Little Story comes out on April 14th, will you be doing anything special for the big release?
D'Amico: Actually we are still in the process of planning something right now, but it is unclear as to what coast I will be on to do it or if we are going to do both LA and NY. More to come on that!
Q: Peter Krause executively produced the album, how did you two team up?
D'Amico: I have known Peter Krause for many years. I met him while I was still in college and working at his talent manager's company. We kept in touch over the years and he has always been real supportive of me as an artist and vice versa. I was in the process of prepping my album and on my birthday I was given the news that my funding was delayed by my initial investor. Peter, who knew my voice, and has seen me perform live called to wish me Happy Birthday.

When I told him the status of my project being delayed, he swooped in to take over as executive producer because he believed in my talent as an artist and my music. It was shocking and an exciting blessing all at once. And now here we are.

Q: Who are some of your musical influences?
D'Amico: Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, and Sarah Vaughn and so many other great ladies of the day who all sang the same songs but each from the most unique and honest place. It was their individual stamp of honesty with the lyric that set their vocal sound apart. I only know how to sing from the center of truth, from the most honest and emotionally naked part of my soul. When you first come out on the scene, listeners try to put you into a category and say you sound like such and such. I have my own sound that has been influenced by those ladies above but only in spirit.

I also am a great fan of the passionate talents of Stevie Wonder, Ludacris, and Luciano Pavarotti. It is this diversity in my tastes of music as an artist that keeps my outlook fresh. When you are an artist you get to take in everything and be inspired by the world, and not just musically speaking. Truly passionate people, in general, inspire me.

Q: How did the title of the CD come about?
D'Amico: For a while, I thought that I was going to call the album “The Girl in the Penthouse", because the album has a very classy yet provocative feel to it. After discussing many titles with my label LML Music, I turned toward Doug Haverty who actually did my CD artwork. He has worked on many well known albums in the marketing department and expressed that rather than having a random title or using a song title or my name to entitle the album, it was wiser to find a song lyric that fit what the entire album had to say.

In my personal life, I am very inquisitive by nature. I love meeting and learning about new people. Upon meeting someone new, I always ask, “So, what's your story?" Doug took the lyric “Got A Little Story" from one of the tracks on my album: “One For My Baby."

Within the lyric, it goes “Got a little story, you ought to know..." As soon as he mentioned it, I thought, “That's it!" This is MY story that I am telling. Each one of the songs on the album represents a person/personal experience to me and when I sat down with arranger Chris Walden we tried to infuse those emotions from my stories into each track in a very cinematic way so that each piece has a beginning, middle, and end emotionally and musically speaking. Those 10 tracks encompass a lot of personal stories for me which I often tell in my concerts.

Q: Do you have a favorite track off of the album?
D'Amico: All of the tracks hold a special place in my heart. “One For My Baby" is very important because it is a Sinatra classic and the first song that I chose for the album. I feel that I made it my own. I am most proud of “And I Love Him" because it is a Beatles tune that we turned around. I told Chris Walden that I was looking for an arrangement that would sound as if Count Basie was kissing Billie Holiday. I think we achieved that and I believe that it will have the most crossover appeal.

Q: Where did your love for Jazz come from?
D'Amico: I guess I was sort of an odd child. I used to watch The Judy Garland Show on New York’s Nostalgia Network instead of cartoons when I was about 4 years old. Lots of black and white programs from back in the day with jazzy big band swinging arrangements. It was a fantastical glamorous world that I wanted to be a part of.

More importantly, I am such a reincarnated old soul. I have always known this music that I sing. There is a saying that basically says something like, “One doesn't choose to sing Jazz, it chooses you." I know I was made for this. I have sung and recorded other genres, but Jazz is my heart and I have to be true to myself. Beyond that, I come from a very large Italian family where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin and the like filled the soundtrack of our home. It's in my blood.

Q: How much hand in the production of the album did you have?
D'Amico: This was initially an independent endeavor. I am a big networker in the most genuine sense. I truly do keep up with everyone I meet, so in the beginning stages I flew back and forth between NY and LA researching what was happening and successfully working in the music business. I always shoot for the stars first and then climb back down the ladder only when I am absolutely forced to. I knew that I would have to utilize this album as a vehicle to launch my success, so I was very serious about doing this right.

I interviewed many well known record producers. I chose all the songs and what I wanted to say as an artist and then I was blessed with a connection to my producer Jimmy Hoyson, who had worked at Capitol records as an engineer and producer for many years. He is a Grammy Award winner who has worked with everyone who’s anyone. I had recorded with him a few years prior on a project and I totally trusted him to guide me. He understood what I am about.

The idea of my album was very ambitious; go in and record live with a Big Band in the old school ways of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald at Capitol Records. Jimmy is a big thinker like me and has the innate ability to tap into an artist to find their strengths and use that as a launching pad for everything else. I am a very creative and strong personality and he nurtured me through the whole process. He hooked me into Chris Walden. So, I couldn't have asked for a better team. Peter Krause, Jimmy Hoyson, Chris Walden: a powerful creative male triad that fused forces with Lee Lessack at LML Music who has such a great belief in this music.

Q: What is it about the CD that you think will resonate with listeners?
D'Amico: You can play it at a large party or just during any relaxing Sunday. It just sort of fits.

We deconstructed the classics and present them in a fresh new way that has gone beyond the normal jazz demographic. If you checked 100 random iPods, you would probably find at least one Sinatra tune on 99 of them. People out there have started calling me “Sinatra in Heels" which is sort of a funny compliment because I am my own girl, but I will take it.

This CD is very warm and I realized that these songs are timeless because when I perform the majority of my crowd usually ranges in age from 16 to 85. Everyone loves jazz, whether they realize it or not, because at the end of the day it is pretty darn sexy!

Q: Why should listeners take the time to pick up the album?
D'Amico: This music is timeless, evocative, and sexy. Who doesn't want those three adjectives in their world? It is a true album in the old school sense. We wanted to create something that brought back fond memories of the vinyl days where you would sit and listen to an entire album over and over again from beginning to end because it told a story. It's a fresh spin.

Q: Where can those interested go to learn more about you?
D'Amico: www.myspace.com/tameladamico That will link you to many other sites, as well as my official website which is undergoing some changes at the moment.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=32955