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One of a kind: Jazz bassist/vocalist Nicki Parrott at the Palladium Friday

Bill DeYoung

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Australia's Nicki Parrott is one of jazz music's few singing standup bassists. Publicity photo.

You can probably count on one hand the number of jazz bass players who sing at the same time. Change the equation to singing bassists who also happen to be women, and the number shrinks even more.

Meet Nicki Parrott, who’ll perform Friday at the Palladium as part of a trio with pianist Rossano Sportiello and drummer Ed Metz.

Parrott, an acclaimed performer and recording artist in her own right, has been making music with these particular guys for close to two decades. Their show is a blend of classic jazz, American Songbook standards, pop tunes and even the odd classical interlude.

“We vary it, and that’s what keeps it interesting for us,” Parrott tells the Catalyst. “With a trio, you can really fill out a set by doing a lot of different things. It keeps it interesting and fun for us to offer them a pretty wide repertoire.”

They live in three different states – only Metz is a Floridian – but they perform around the world together (they’ve just come off a week-long residency in Zurich, Switzerland, for example).

“The best kind of rehearsal, which is how this trio really works, is on the bandstand,’ Parrott explains. “We just go up and we pass it around – Rossano starts, then I sing, I pass it back to Rossano, Eddie’s featured … it’s very even that way. And because we’ve worked together so much, it works.”

From left: Sportiello, Parrott and Metz. Photo: Palladium Theater.

A native of New South Wales, Australia, Parrott studied music in Sydney. Jazz is her one true love, but ironically her first performances were of Beatles songs and other popular music.

As a child, “I played piano and flute. And then my sister had a band. She basically said if you want to be in my band, I need a bass player.

“There was one at school. I took it home, it had three strings on it – somebody in my town said ‘You don’t need the fourth string anyway. You don’t need the low notes.’ So I tried playing a three-string bass for a while until I finally realized, I do need that fourth string.

“I basically taught myself for many years by transcribing records, and playing with my sister and friends from school. We just started jamming a lot.”

It was, she says, during her time at the Pan-Pacific Jazz Camp in Sydney (she was around 15) that forged her lifelong allegiance to the Songbook, and to jazz. In 1994, the Arts Council of Australia granted her the funds to come to New York to study with Rufus Reid.

From 2000 to 2009, Parrott was part of a trio with guitar legend Les Paul, at the Iridium Club.

“I got into singing and playing at the same time while I was working for Les,” she recalls. “I was hired as a bass player – and he asked me onstage one night ‘Is that all you do, just play bass?’ I said, well I sing at home, like everybody does. But I sang that night and he wanted to keep that in. So I sang every Monday night … then I started to really enjoy it. And I made it a thing.”

Those dates with Paul were important stepping stones for Nicki Parrott. “It was really, really fun. It was such a great gig to have on a Monday night, which is often an odd night – it’s a quiet night in New York. But it was always packed. And it was packed with all kinds of people, celebrities to rock stars. Everyone used to come down there. Tourists.

“And it was really a show. A lot of people used to sit in, particularly the second set. That made it different and really interesting every Monday. Often we played a lot of the same songs, but the guests were different. We never went up with a set list, it was just whatever Les felt like doing. It kept you on your toes.”

On those toes she remains, to this day. That’s a hallmark of jazz. “Eddie and I sometimes have an idea what direction Rossano might go in, but he likes to keep it really fresh and on the night,” Parrott says.

“I pretty much know which songs I want to sing each night, but he’ll often just start a tune that we haven’t really played much together, but he’s in the mood to play it that night.”

Find details and tickets here.

 

 

 

 

 

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1 Comment

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    Elisabetta Di Blasio

    January 5, 2024at3:46 pm

    Dear Friends!

    I am truly a jazz lover! I only discovered Nick Parrot recently… and I need to listen to her and her band on a daily basis!
    Beegie Adair was the jazz pianist that I had to listen to daily, however, I now need to listen to the beautiful voice of Nick Parrot and her bass and musicians! God bless you all!
    Elisabetta xo

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