Laurin Talese brings a museum-worth of living stories to Philly stage

Cleveland-to-Philadelphia transplant and jazz vocalist Laurin Talese has done things small and intimate—such as the tight ensemble behind her highly-personal, 2016 recorded debut, ‘Gorgeous Chaos’—and, obviously, close to home during the pandemic’s two year quarantine. Now, Talese is ready to burst out high, wide and loud beyond her own experience with her next album, the still-recording ‘Museum of Living Stories.’ The album is commissioned by Chamber Music America, whose music makes its debut with her band and an extended horn section at the Kimmel Cultural Campus’ Perelman Theater on Feb. 19.

The splendidly-titled ‘Museum of Living Stories’ is filled with empathetic Talese compositions not directly about herself, but rather the world beyond the insular—that of racism, social justice, addiction and incarceration.

Jazz is the medium in which we equate Talese and her work. Yet, her dramatic, winding voice and its nuanced way with a song could tackle anything that she grew up with – her family’s radio habits of Marvin Gaye, Anita Baker and Curtis Mayfield.

“Once I started singing, I focused on community gospel choirs, enamored as I was of that big gritty church sound… and those screaming meaty parts, but, ultimately, I felt like an outsider,” says Talese. “That sound wasn’t me.”

What was her—developed through years of scholastic programs and educators in Cleveland and at Philly’s University of the Arts—was the fine art and finesse of jazz.

“Once I transcribed my solo for a version of Sarah [Vaughn] ‘Lullaby of Birdland,’ I felt as if that was where my voice should be. That sound energized me. I locked myself in my room for hours at a time, and played those CDs over-and-over. My voice feels at home in jazz.”

Talese’s second love, that of Hollywood film classics and their richly orchestral jazz scores – those of Duke Ellington and Henry Mancini – brought to her a sense of scope, immensity and whimsy.

Such scope brings us immediately to the present and future of her large-scale ‘Museum of Living Stories’ project, one commissioned during the pandemic to be performed at several venues before its recording commences.

“I’m excited to debut these songs,” says the singer. “These are stories of my life growing up, things I was told and things I observed, but from a variety of perspectives. The ‘museum’ component comes in because I wanted people to come in with more of an open mind, much as they do when they view fine art in a museum space. They don’t enter with judgements. They don’t villainize the figures or characters in a painting. They’re open to the experience.”

Having a rich life in a rough Cleveland neighborhood gave Talese entrée to the sights and sounds of rabid drug use, prostitution and crime. “This was unsavory stuff. Seeing this as a kid, maybe because your parents kept you away from it, you assign that scene and its people some moral judgement, immediately. You carry all that through your life, until you realize that, most often, everyone is worthy of redemption – a second, third or fourth chance.”

Talese’s compositions for ‘Museum of Living Stories’ focus on the struggles she’s witnessed, inside and outside her family, and the decisions, bad and good that people make.

“You come to realize that, perhaps, people don’t know what goes on beyond their block, what resources are available to them, and they did what they had to do to get by, often with regrets. Maybe they committed acts of betrayal or worse… as a kid I would have dismissed them as just being an a**hole. As I got more years on this earth, I came to realize that some people are just doing the best with that they have. So with this piece, I decided to present just what I saw, what someone I know saw, what someone else went through. The facts. I’m leaving it up to the listener to decide.”

To that end, Talese’s new ‘Museum’ compositions traffic deeply with empathy as their grace note. The music is about opening her mind and her song to the multitude of reasons behind life’s worse decisions, and forging understanding, as opposed to condemnation.

“While it might not be our load to carry or to deal with everyone’s toxicity, there is space for empathy without passing judgement. Everyone out there needs someone to listen to them.”

Laurin Talese will perform at Kimmel Cultural Campus’ Perelman Theater on Saturday, Feb. 19, at 8 p.m. For information and tickets, visit kimmelculturalcampus.org