If you’ve heard Shenel Johns sing, it’s hard to imagine that she could have chosen any other path. But for the Connecticut-born singer, influenced both by the gospel reggae she heard growing up in her Jamaican family and the jazz vocalists she came to know later, being a vocal artist wasn’t always her plan.
“I decided against singing when I first moved to New York. I got into management for like a year,” Johns explains. “I was working with Josh Evans, who’s a trumpeter. He had a big band at the time and I was a featured vocalist, and he asked me to do the gig at Dizzy’s, and that’s kind of where everything took off.”
After that first gig at Dizzy’s, she found herself getting regular calls for gigs; but she still wasn’t sure if music was the right path for her. Ultimately, she realized she needed to develop a relationship to music that was better aligned with who she was as a person.
“Once that relationship changed, I started to enjoy it,” says Johns. “I had to take time to really understand what my spirit was trying to tell me.”
Since taking on the mantle of jazz vocalist, Johns has performed, toured and recorded with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, bassist Endea Owens, and many others. It’s been a journey of self-exploration and self-acceptance for her to arrive where she is today, about to release her debut album.
“It was important for me to create a sound that involves all the parts of me.”
“There are definitely some gems in there that will make you feel included no matter what you’re into.”
Catch Shenel Johns at La Jolla Music Society, Saturday, May 16 at 5:30 and 8 pm.
