Micah Barnes wrote the songs on his latest CD New York Stories while he was living in New York City and wooing his romantic partner who was busy working on Broadway.
He and his partner were sharing an apartment in Harlem, on the site of the Savoy Ballroom, home to some of the jazz dance crazes of the 1920s and ’30s, and a few blocks away from the Apollo Theatre, where many African-American performers shot to fame after debuting on amateur night.
Rather than spending his evenings “sitting lonely in a Times Square coffee shop,” Barnes said he headed to his rented piano studio at 5 p.m., where he wrote the sophisticated songs on New York Stories in a burst of creativity.
“The pulse, the rhythm of the city really spoke to me,” he said. “All those jazz standards were written within a couple of blocks of Times Square. It’s hard not to feel that you’re tapping into musical history.”
The 10 tracks on New York Stories, launched in May, are infused with jazz rhythms, the blues and the sounds of Broadway and feature Barnes’ rich vocals and his witty, literate lyrics.
On it, Barnes documents the heightened emotions – the highs and the lows – he experienced while intoxicated with love.
The opening song, New York Story, explores “the feeling of being in love with the city and the person,” Barnes said. “It’s based on some beautiful long walks me and my honey had in Central Park.” In After the Romance (The Rent), Barnes even makes the mundane aspects of a relationship sound like fun.
Starting Tomorrow, in which Barnes sings, “You’re going to wake up in my arms each and every day,” is cheerful and optimistic. On the other hand, Harlem Moon is a song about the insecurity jealousy brings, he said. The title comes from the solitary walks he used to take along the Harlem River.
Barnes expresses fear of losing his partner and the depth of his feelings for his beloved in the stirring Some Other Man. In Don’t Take My Baby, Barnes, who now lives in Toronto, makes it clear that his rival was not just a person, but an entire city.
“We didn’t know where we were going as a couple,” he said. “It’s the one song that describes the happy ending.”
New York Stories debuted at No. 4 on the Canadian Jazz Album iTunes chart. The single New York Story, released in April 2014, reached No. 1 in Canada and Top 20 on the U.S. iTunes chart.
Barnes, a former member of the a cappella group The Nylons, said he’s “flabbergasted and humbled” by the response to the recording. Anyone who’s ever been in love will relate to the lyrics, the vocals are passionate, the melodies delightful and memorable and the band is tight, so it’s certainly no surprise that the recording is a winner.
Barnes’ romance with jazz began when he was 13 and his mother, Lilly, played Billie Holiday for him. He quit the rock ’n’ roll band he was in, determined to learn all the standards. “I care about melody. I care about story,” he said. “I care about bringing a piece of life to an audience.”
One of the sons of the Canadian composer Milton Barnes, Barnes co-produced New York Stories, with his brother, Daniel, who plays drums on the recording.
Barnes, along with Jackie Richardson, one of Canada’s top blues and jazz singers, performs at 7:30 p.m. at the Home Smith Bar at The Old Mill Toronto on June 27, as part of the TD Toronto Jazz Festival. Barnes is also singing during brunch at Toronto’s Jazz Bistro on June 14, 21 and 28 (http://jazzbistro.ca). And his show, Stand By Me: The Songs from the Brill Building, is touring Ontario in June, July and August. For information about the TD Toronto Jazz Festival, visit http://torontojazz.com. For more information about Barnes, visit http://micahbarnes3.bandzoogle.com/home.
