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Dates Appearing: July 26 - 31 Current Release: |
Joy Askew
By Chris Kornmann
Freedom. Not everybody experiences the true meaning of the word. It's about independence, expression and power of choice. Most importantly, it's about being true to yourself. Joy Askew is one of those few artists that found freedom by nurturing her music within, determined to let it out, even if no one was listening.
Raised in Newcastle, in northern England, which she describes as "culturally rich," Joy was surrounded by music all of her life. Her father, a musician himself, played a variety of instruments including the piano, stand-up bass, and clarinet to name just a few. At the tender age of two she says their was never a doubt that she didn't want to sing. "I heard 'Rock Around The Clock' and that was it. I just wanted to sing it," she says. By the time that she was five, she was singing solos in school performances and at ten she was playing the piano. "When I was fourteen, my brother formed a blues band and told me I had to play keyboards and sing in it, and that was it. It was the most natural thing to do." She later moved to London and spent six years playing in several bands with not much success. However, in 1982, she had her first break playing keyboards and singing back-up for the band Eye To Eye. "I realized it was a great asset to be able to do two things."
That asset brought her to America for a three month tour and she never went back. "Since the age of twenty, when I fell in love with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, I had wanted to come to America. I saw this as my opportunity and I came over originally for a three month tour and never went home." She continues, "I still had that impetus of not realizing what I was doing. I had a little money and no plans after that. I just said to myself 'I'm not going home.'"
"The first thing I did was I went down to a club on Bleeker Street called Kenny's Cataways. Somebody said they had a jam session and I got up and performed one night. Afterward, this guitar player came up to me and handed me a phone number and said 'I think you should call this number because this guy is looking for a keyboard player and a back up singer.' I put it in my pocket and basically forgot about it. The next day, I was jogging and it fell out of my pocket and my girlfriend asked 'What's that?' and I replied 'It's Joe Jackson's phone number.'"
To most musicians, this would seem like an excellent opportunity. After all, Jackson had just recorded Night and Day, the biggest selling album of his career. However, Joy felt differently. "That is the whole thing with New York, people are always trying to make it, they all have a professional purpose and I didn't have that. I was just happy to be here." Her friend lectured her, dragged her home and made the call for her. "It took me about ten minutes to pick up on my girlfriend's animosity and immediacy that this was an amazing job offer." When Joe answered the phone he said that he had been looking for her and asked her if she knew how to play the Hammond Organ. She told him yes, even though she didn't. He asked her if she could come for an audition and when she agreed, he asked if she could come now. Surprised, she told him she could come in an hour and half. "I put the phone down and I called this keyboard player that I knew from England and I asked him if he could teach me how to play the Hammond Organ and he said 'Sure' and I said 'Now!'" As fate has it, Joy got the job and played with Jackson during his world tour which lasted a year.
In 1984, she toured with Laurie Anderson during her "Mr. Heartbreak" tour and ended up playing a rather prominent role in Anderson's acclaimed concert film "Home Of The Brave." Joy described the experience in comparison to Miles Davis' music. "I felt what Miles did was that he drew two lines and said we are going to play in here and that is what he did. The freedom in that is incredible. I felt that Laurie was like that."
At the end of the tour, Joy was anxious to make some music of her own. "It was time for me to do my thing and concentrate on my music." She approached several record labels and publishing companies, only to be rejected each and every time. "I've had thirteen years of rejection...it was very, very intense. One year I had over fifty rejections." And yet, she persisted.
"Even though I knew that my artistry was growing inside me, I was still totally partial to the outside." She continues, "What was happening here in the mid-eighties in the music industry, I had absolutely nothing to do with that and that is why I wasn't getting any feedback. I realize now, that I was a square peg trying to fit into a round hole."
As a result, she continued playing with Jackson and played on two of his albums: 1986's Big World and 1989's Blaze Of Glory. She also earned a living working with other musicians while simultaneously maintaining a band of her own. She continued writing songs, although she was still being turned down.
In 1988, she purchased an eight track and a microphone and said "If no one is going to record me, then I am going to record myself." With that, she laid the groundwork which would eventually lead to her debut album Tender City on Private Music.
She began work on the album, but after a weird string of events, she was faced with the situation where she was forced to take jobs. In 1992, she was on the road again, touring for six months with Rodney Crowell. "They were an incredible band" she said. "Rodney would just start strumming and I wouldn't know any of the songs so you're just thrown into the moment and the band would yell out a few chords. It was very exciting." Later that year, she received a call from Tony Levin, bassist for Peter Gabriel, who informed her that they were in need of a keyboardist since they could no longer wait for David Sancious, who was on tour with Sting at the time. Levin had suggested to Peter that he hire Joy to play keyboards and sing back-up on his "Secret World" Tour. Soon after, she received a call from Gabriel, who was in Africa at the time, to say that he loved her music and that he wanted to work with her. He flew to the states to interview her and she got the job. She describes it as "The best job on earth....Peter was carrying the ticket and I was being taken out for the evening."
Throughout the tour, Joy continued writing songs and formed a band shortly thereafter. Although she was still being turned down by record labels, she felt different about what she was doing now. "Record companies were not attractive to me anymore. I had so much rejection that I wasn't bothered about what anybody in the business thought. I upgraded my studio and just started working on the album and recorded most of it at home. I did whatever I wanted to do."
It wasn't long until somebody took notice. Following the tour, she was contacted by Private Music who expressed an interested in working with her. After eight years of hard work, the album became finally a reality. "They were very enthusiastic and put a lot of energy into it," she says. The album is a reflection of this. Her music captures her moods through the combination of great songwriting and her distinct voice. "The mood becomes the groove...and I never lose sight of the original essence that captured me." She creates a truly unique sound by incorporating a variety of musical styles ranging from the Middle Eastern sounding "Corrine," to the peaceful and tranquil "Cool Water," to the powerful "Hands Tied Tongue Tied," to the intensity of "From The Lips Of The One That I Love." Joy's songs take you to far away places, but somehow, it always feels like home.
At the time of this interview, Joy informed me that her record label had recently dissolved. After years of set-backs, how can she handle one more? "For so long I didn't have a deal but I was able to be myself and once you do that you can never go back. I have now been given that freedom again and once again, I am doing the songs for me." Turly an artist who knows the meaning of freedom.
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