Sylvia Arthur gets the low down from the UK's premier female saxophonist, a sister who’s doing it for herself
Rising star YolanDa Brown is out to prove that beauty, brains and artistic bent can be a marketable combination in a mainstream music celebrity. The 25-year-old PhD student is set to create waves in the industry with her saxed-up versions of Pop R&B and diversity is her U.S.P. A self-taught saxophonist, Brown is not what you’d expect from your typical instrumentalist. Not known for their intellect, less still for their good looks and worse for their sobriety, fewer still stand out because of their gender. YolanDa Brown is the exception.
The East London born child of Jamaican parents began playing sax at the age of 13, having studied a number of other instruments previously. But there was something about the saxophone that held her attention, keeping her captive for the last twelve years. “I played the piano and the drums but I wasn’t getting the same satisfaction from them as they’re things that you play on whereas the saxophone is something you blow in to,” Brown says. “I put a lot of myself in to the sax. It’s my voice.” Here she explains what it’s like to be young, gifted and YolanDa Brown trying to make it on the UK music scene.
How would you describe your music?
My music is conversational because I play a lot on emotion. I play by ear. When I started learning the saxophone I was taught for the first three years but since then I’ve taught myself. So I play by ear. What I say is that the saxophone is my voice. If I could sing then I’d sing almost how I play. It’s music for everybody, something that everyone can understand. And it ranges from genres – R&B, soul, reggae, classical, jazz – so there’s a bit of everything in there.
Who’s your audience?
That’s a hard question because when I did my last solo concert there was such a wide range of people there. When I joined Black Grape Productions, the entertainment company that manage me, two years ago, I did a lot of comedy shows, charity events and big theatre events mainly in the Afro-Caribbean community. So I had quite a big following from that. Having promoted the concert we had people there who were jazz lovers, gospel people from the churches that I play at and also people of all ages. The youngest person there was about 6 all the way up to people’s grandmas. So, it’s everybody really. I play a range of music from the oldies to the new to my original pieces so it’s for everybody.
How do you choose what songs to perform?
I do sometimes look at the audience that I’m going to play to but I also like to take people out of their comfort zone. For example, I grew up at school playing a lot of jazz and I like the jazz standards – Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, really moody. When I joined Black Grape that’s the kind of feel I was playing with and they were like, “Why don’t you try playing some R&B songs?” So I played Ne-Yo So Sick and My Love by Justin Timberlake and remixed those kinds of songs with my tip on it. Because I was going to all these comedy shows I’d play that for them, along with a jazz standard. You can imagine going to a comedy show playing a jazz standard and everyone’s like, “What’s going on here?” then playing an R&B track that everyone can identify with. So I always like to put some jazz in to anything I do.
How would you sum up the UK jazz scene?
I’m not involved in it as heavily as I could be. For me, I’ve taken the saxophone to places where it’s not usually seen or heard. I do play in jazz clubs like the 606 but the jazz scene for me is very underground. I’m a bit more contemporary and out there with the music. I’m not really following a scene. I’m just doing me.
Jazz musicians, instrumentalists at least, are predominantly male. What’s it like being a woman in the industry?
Its been interesting. I wouldn’t label myself as a jazz musician. I’ve been embraced more in the R&B and hip-hop industry than the jazz. The jazz scene, because it’s so underground, can be quite competitive and it’s more about what chops you have, what technique you have, who you’ve played with and things like that. I haven’t been embraced as warmly but now that I’m doing my second concert at the prestigious Cadagon Hall people are taking me for me. They’re not thinking, “She plays the saxophone, she should be playing like this.” They’re saying, “Wow, she’s doing this. This is her branding, this is her sound, this is her music, this is what she’s trying to communicate and we’ll embrace her like that.” I’ve got Soweto Kinch, who won the MOBO for Best Jazz Act, performing with me and he’s really open. That to me is a testament to how far I’ve come because at my first show I called many musicians that I wanted to appear on stage with me and they weren’t as open. Now everybody wants to take time to get to know me, which just proves that you just have to do it yourself and then the people will come to you.
You’re very well-educated. Why did you decide to pursue academia to such a high level?
This is a dilemma I’m going through at the moment. I love studying Management Science. It’s a passion and an interest that I have. I did my Masters and at the end of my dissertation I felt that there was so much more that I can do with this, that I still wasn’t finished. I applied to the Funding Council to get funding for my PhD and they said yes. I wasn’t doing it thinking I want to become a doctor or I want to lecture. I just felt that I haven’t finished with the work I’d started. With the music, after university I auditioned for Black Grape, which was a band at first that fragmented and they chose to market me as a solo artist. I went there not thinking that anything would come of it and all of a sudden out flourished this career. So both of them are my passions and interests but it’s always a struggle, a hard balance and a double-life sometimes. For me, I need to finish the PhD but I’d love to pursue the music after that and then maybe go back in to it.
Are you working on an album and when can we expect it?
Yes. I’ve released an EP which is called Finding My Voice and I’m working on an album at the moment. There are a lot of ideas that I’ve been writing but it’s also about finding the right producers to work with as well. It’s all in the pipeline at the moment but I’m working with people that complement my sound. So, we’ve been moving forward with it and it’s going well so hopefully mid-next year I’ll have something out there.
Rising star YolanDa Brown is out to prove that beauty, brains and artistic bent can be a marketable combination in a mainstream music celebrity. The 25-year-old PhD student is set to create waves in the industry with her saxed-up versions of Pop R&B and diversity is her U.S.P. A self-taught saxophonist, Brown is not what you’d expect from your typical instrumentalist. Not known for their intellect, less still for their good looks and worse for their sobriety, fewer still stand out because of their gender. YolanDa Brown is the exception.
The East London born child of Jamaican parents began playing sax at the age of 13, having studied a number of other instruments previously. But there was something about the saxophone that held her attention, keeping her captive for the last twelve years. “I played the piano and the drums but I wasn’t getting the same satisfaction from them as they’re things that you play on whereas the saxophone is something you blow in to,” Brown says. “I put a lot of myself in to the sax. It’s my voice.” Here she explains what it’s like to be young, gifted and YolanDa Brown trying to make it on the UK music scene.
How would you describe your music?
My music is conversational because I play a lot on emotion. I play by ear. When I started learning the saxophone I was taught for the first three years but since then I’ve taught myself. So I play by ear. What I say is that the saxophone is my voice. If I could sing then I’d sing almost how I play. It’s music for everybody, something that everyone can understand. And it ranges from genres – R&B, soul, reggae, classical, jazz – so there’s a bit of everything in there.
Who’s your audience?
That’s a hard question because when I did my last solo concert there was such a wide range of people there. When I joined Black Grape Productions, the entertainment company that manage me, two years ago, I did a lot of comedy shows, charity events and big theatre events mainly in the Afro-Caribbean community. So I had quite a big following from that. Having promoted the concert we had people there who were jazz lovers, gospel people from the churches that I play at and also people of all ages. The youngest person there was about 6 all the way up to people’s grandmas. So, it’s everybody really. I play a range of music from the oldies to the new to my original pieces so it’s for everybody.
How do you choose what songs to perform?
I do sometimes look at the audience that I’m going to play to but I also like to take people out of their comfort zone. For example, I grew up at school playing a lot of jazz and I like the jazz standards – Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, really moody. When I joined Black Grape that’s the kind of feel I was playing with and they were like, “Why don’t you try playing some R&B songs?” So I played Ne-Yo So Sick and My Love by Justin Timberlake and remixed those kinds of songs with my tip on it. Because I was going to all these comedy shows I’d play that for them, along with a jazz standard. You can imagine going to a comedy show playing a jazz standard and everyone’s like, “What’s going on here?” then playing an R&B track that everyone can identify with. So I always like to put some jazz in to anything I do.
How would you sum up the UK jazz scene?
I’m not involved in it as heavily as I could be. For me, I’ve taken the saxophone to places where it’s not usually seen or heard. I do play in jazz clubs like the 606 but the jazz scene for me is very underground. I’m a bit more contemporary and out there with the music. I’m not really following a scene. I’m just doing me.
Jazz musicians, instrumentalists at least, are predominantly male. What’s it like being a woman in the industry?
Its been interesting. I wouldn’t label myself as a jazz musician. I’ve been embraced more in the R&B and hip-hop industry than the jazz. The jazz scene, because it’s so underground, can be quite competitive and it’s more about what chops you have, what technique you have, who you’ve played with and things like that. I haven’t been embraced as warmly but now that I’m doing my second concert at the prestigious Cadagon Hall people are taking me for me. They’re not thinking, “She plays the saxophone, she should be playing like this.” They’re saying, “Wow, she’s doing this. This is her branding, this is her sound, this is her music, this is what she’s trying to communicate and we’ll embrace her like that.” I’ve got Soweto Kinch, who won the MOBO for Best Jazz Act, performing with me and he’s really open. That to me is a testament to how far I’ve come because at my first show I called many musicians that I wanted to appear on stage with me and they weren’t as open. Now everybody wants to take time to get to know me, which just proves that you just have to do it yourself and then the people will come to you.
You’re very well-educated. Why did you decide to pursue academia to such a high level?
This is a dilemma I’m going through at the moment. I love studying Management Science. It’s a passion and an interest that I have. I did my Masters and at the end of my dissertation I felt that there was so much more that I can do with this, that I still wasn’t finished. I applied to the Funding Council to get funding for my PhD and they said yes. I wasn’t doing it thinking I want to become a doctor or I want to lecture. I just felt that I haven’t finished with the work I’d started. With the music, after university I auditioned for Black Grape, which was a band at first that fragmented and they chose to market me as a solo artist. I went there not thinking that anything would come of it and all of a sudden out flourished this career. So both of them are my passions and interests but it’s always a struggle, a hard balance and a double-life sometimes. For me, I need to finish the PhD but I’d love to pursue the music after that and then maybe go back in to it.
Are you working on an album and when can we expect it?
Yes. I’ve released an EP which is called Finding My Voice and I’m working on an album at the moment. There are a lot of ideas that I’ve been writing but it’s also about finding the right producers to work with as well. It’s all in the pipeline at the moment but I’m working with people that complement my sound. So, we’ve been moving forward with it and it’s going well so hopefully mid-next year I’ll have something out there.
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