Soon after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama last autumn, with a Masters in Performance, vocalist and composer Grazina Pukaite released her debut recording, Small Sessions 1. She’s now preparing for a gig at the Bull’s Head in Barnes and spoke with UKJN about her approach to music and her plans for the performance.
Grazina Pukaite is Lithuanian, but developed her love of jazz when she lived in Ireland and heard records by Carmen McRae. She stayed there for about five years, during which time she toured with legendary guitarist Louis Stewart and performed at Dublin’s National Concert Hall. She moved to England in 2018 to study for a BA at Middlesex University, then moved on to the Guildhall. Pukaite mentions McRae, Norma Winstone, Betty Carter and Mark Murphy as influences. She was also inspired by her teachers, notably Anita Wardell and Brigitte Beraha, who encouraged her to move into vocalese and extended improvisation techniques.
Pukaite’s entry into jazz came through recognising the limitations of her first love. “I was into classical music, but I felt I was being restricted by it,” she recalls, “You have to be a certain way, stand a certain way, when you sing classical. There’s not a lot of freedom to express yourself. Of course, it does offer a great foundation for building your voice and technique, but I did feel it limited how I could express myself musically. With jazz, you have a good foundation of knowledge, and you also have so many tools to make the music your own — improvising, paraphrasing, storytelling, there’s so much space to develop your own artistic voice. So that’s how I came into jazz, that search for ways to express myself musically.”
Since graduating from the Masters she has been building experience and reputation on the London scene: “I’ve had a few small-scale gigs in pubs and smaller, intimate venues, sitting-in on some of Anita Wardell’s gigs. I also had my own gig at last year’s EFG London Jazz Festival. It was a highlight for me. I did mainly original compositions, with an amazing band that helped me to deliver them.”
The Small Sessions 1 EP was released in January. It’s a record that demonstrates the singer’s eclectic taste and wide-ranging approach to music, with two original songs (“On Connection” and “Ode to My Fingers”) joined by Brazilian favourites (Jobim’s “Chega de Saudade” and “Desafinado”) Annie Ross and Wardell Gray’s “Twisted” and Ralph Towner’s “Renewal.” “On Connections” emerged organically: “There was nothing written before we met in the studio. I had a few ideas, some parameters for the lyrics, then everything was created on the spot in one or two takes.” “Renewal” was first recorded by Oregon, and Towner recorded a vocalese version with Maria Pia de Vito and John Taylor. Pukaite takes the song further: “I like a more ‘instrumental’ approach to singing so for me it’s very important to listen to the way instrumentalists approach a tune. I thought it would be more interesting to break down the tune, write my own lyrics for the introduction, take the chance to add my own interpretation.”
Small Sessions 1 features saxophonist Harry Brunt and guitarist Julian Woods, both classmates on the Guildhall course, plus keyboardist Chris Bland, who graduated from Guildhall a year or two earlier. There’s no percussionist: “I was led by my emotions, I thought I needed to record some music, put it ‘out there’. I thought it would be a good introduction to what I’m about, my sound, the way I interpret music. I came up with this drummer-less, stripped-down, recording session.” The musicians practised separately, before getting together in the studio for a day. “We only did a couple of takes of each song, so what you have on the recording is very raw, untouched, unproduced stuff. One day, one or two takes, that’s it.”
The range of material is impressively and deliberately wide: “Yes, because I feel at this stage that I’m not a one-dimensional artist, I’m multi-faceted, because I’ve been inspired by so many amazing people. So I thought maybe it would be a good thing to show so many different styles, so many aspects of my music. Or maybe …” Pukaite pauses for a few seconds, then laughs before adding “It’s just me, you know.”
Plans for the Bull’s Head gig are still some way from being finalised, but Pukaite has some ideas. The set list is likely to be “a mix of contemporary and traditional, with some Brazilian tunes. Maybe a couple of my originals but I’m not sure yet.” The band for this performance differs from that on Small Sessions 1, consisting of three Guildhall musicians in what can be described as a ‘classic’ jazz trio: Woods will be on double bass alongside Lior Solomons-Wise on piano and Chris Davis on drums.
As to building her career, it’s early days, as Pukaite recognises: “I’m still finding my own sound, my own voice. So maybe even singing traditional I can incorporate free jazz styles. I hope I can create my own unique interpretations. This is the quest for many artists and may be an ongoing journey. Yet, therein lies the joy of being a musician — the joy of the journey itself with endless possibilities and momentum.”
