(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "INFLUENCE")
CHRISTIE DASHIELL: (Vocalizing).
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Today, we continue our series about this year's first-time Grammy nominees, and we're going to start this one on top of a hill in suburban Maryland, north of Washington, D.C., where a wealthy couple had a summer home built around 1899. Now, by summer home, I mean a mansion. That's what it's called today, the Mansion at Strathmore. And Strathmore - it's now a performing arts center that surrounds the home.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHANG: And it's here, in a dark, wood-paneled room that seats about 100 people, that jazz vocalist Christie Dashiell says she first felt like an artist.
DASHIELL: I remember just being an artist that knew I had something to say, but I didn't have the sort of space to say it, and I didn't really know how to get what I was saying out.
CHANG: More than a decade ago, Christie Dashiell came to Strathmore for its artist-in-residence program. She was one of six musicians just launching their careers. And so it felt like the right move, when she was putting out her first album, to come right back to this room for the release concert.
DASHIELL: I think when I walked in the room, and there were people in the room clapping for me and cheering for me and smiling at me when I was singing, I knew, oh, this is for real. Like, I'm doing the artist thing for real.
CHANG: Yeah, for real. Christie Dashiell's second release is called "Journey In Black," and it's up for a Grammy for best jazz vocal album.
DASHIELL: Trying to remember - (singing) I know you're here.
CHANG: She and I spoke while she sat at the beat-up Steinway grand piano inside the music room of the Mansion at Strathmore, a room that has just amazing acoustics.
DASHIELL: The room is really reverberant, so the sound just really fills the space. And for me, a singer, like, that's, like, heaven 'cause my voice sounds so pretty in here 'cause it just goes everywhere.
(Singing) But in their rest...
CHANG: Oh, I love the way you put that. When you did the residency program at Strathmore, how much did it open your eyes to different types of musical collaboration? I mean, I ask because I sort of picture an experience where you're meeting and mixing with all kinds of musicians and artists, and you're learning from each other, challenging each other. Was it kind of like that?
DASHIELL: It was. I think I was just coming out of grad school where I studied jazz voice. And then, you know, before grad school, I had studied jazz voice for four years at Howard. And so coming out of that space, I was just, like, a jazzhead. I wanted to sing like Ella. I wanted to sing like Sarah. I wanted to sing...
CHANG: Yeah.
DASHIELL: ...Standards and just - I wanted to really fit into that space. And I wanted to fit into that space so bad, but there was something in me that knew that wasn't exactly the space that was for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROTHER SISTER")
DASHIELL: (Singing) Dear brother, I feel your pain.
CHANG: And now you teach at Howard - right? - in D.C., where you studied, as you mentioned. And I understand your father also teaches...
DASHIELL: Yes.
CHANG: ...In the music department at Howard, is that right?
DASHIELL: That's right. My father is the chair of the music department at Howard, and at first, I hated it.
CHANG: Well, I was going to ask, what is that like having your dad in charge there?
DASHIELL: It was weird. Well, my dad has always been in charge. You know? He was...
(LAUGHTER)
DASHIELL: ...So it's like, OK, we're back.
CHANG: Right. Yeah.
DASHIELL: I'm embracing it now. At first, I - my family is really musical. My dad is a bass player. My siblings play. Actually, my brother is on my album. And I grew up with that being just how things were. Five years into my teaching at Howard, my dad was like, I'm going to be your boss now.
CHANG: (Laughter).
DASHIELL: At first, I was really resistant. I was like, I don't want this. This is what I was trying to get away from. But now, you know, it's great. It's like, who gets the chance to be, like, I get to go to my dad's office and have lunch, you know, every day, and we get to talk about music and educating and how to help students find their voice, like my teachers helped me? So I'm learning to lean in a little bit more to that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANCESTRAL FOLK SONG")
DASHIELL: (Singing) For today is a new song, yesterday has come and gone.
CHANG: Well, this album is called "Journey In Black." Can you tell me the journey you wanted to take people on? - because the very first track is called "Ancestral Folk Song." Why start the journey there?
DASHIELL: I really wanted to honor my two grandmothers, both of which passed away around the, like, COVID lockdown time.
CHANG: Oh, wow.
DASHIELL: My husband's grandmother passed and my maternal grandmother passed almost, like, about a year apart. And I really wanted to spend time, like, writing a lament but also writing a song that was in honor of them. And then it turned into me just kind of honoring the ancestors that made the music. It just kind of snowballed into a bigger thing.
CHANG: Yeah.
DASHIELL: And I also knew that I wanted people to know that jazz music is our folk music, too. So I thought, OK, "Ancestral Folk Song," cool.
CHANG: Well, then this record - I mean, it explores such a wide range of emotions, right? You have love. You have grief. You have joy. You have a broken friendship. How intentional was that to give this album such an expansive emotional wingspan?
DASHIELL: Wow, thank you for saying that. I wanted "Journey In Black" to - while the title is - like, black is kind of the central word in the title, I wanted to open up what black looks like and means to people. So often I find I lead my life with, I'm a Black woman, and this is my Black experience, which is incredibly true. And also sometimes that blocks me from experiencing things more from a human space. And I think, like, the human themes of love, loss, grief, joy, friendship - all of us can relate to that, Black, white, brown, whatever.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRIEF")
DASHIELL: (Singing) Therein lies the bloom.
CHANG: So where were you when you got the news that you were nominated for your first Grammy?
DASHIELL: I wish I could bottle that feeling up and just hold it. But I was at home. I had just performed in Philly that - the night before. I was on that first train smoking that Friday morning that I found out 'cause I was like, I got to get home. I got to be with my husband. I got to be with my dog. They're announcing the Grammy nominations. I think I could be nominated, but also, I think I could not be nominated, so let me be home. And I was on my couch, and then my name came on the screen, and I was like - I don't know, I was just shocked. I was shocked.
CHANG: (Laughter).
DASHIELL: It was a great feeling.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRIEF")
DASHIELL: (Singing) It had become your heart's song.
CHANG: Christie Dashiell's album "Journey In Black" is nominated for best jazz vocal album. And tomorrow, another first-time Grammy nominee, we hear from Radhika Vekaria, who's made a recording of ancient chants.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GRIEF")
DASHIELL: (Vocalizing). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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