London Free Press, Ontario, Canada
Sept 15 2005

Datevik set to sizzle in London

By HERMAN GOODDEN — London Free Press

If you want to be ahead of the curve when it comes to major jazz
talent, drop by when Armenian vocalist Datevik plays her second
London gig tomorrow night at Aeolian Hall. Backed up by pianist Bob
Albanese, bassist Joe Fitzgerald and drummer David Meade, Datevik
puts on a mesmerizing show that wins the hearts of listeners and
critics.

The last time she was here, in January 2003 for SunFest’s World-Beat
Jazz Festival, Free Press writer James Reaney said Datevik possesses
“one of the world’s great voices . . . one of a kind . . . always
daring, always in control.”

If you want a taste of that, visit and play the
spine-tingling recording.

With a voice that blends Ella Fitzgerald and Cleo Laine, Datevik
scats her way through a wordless song that cooks as hot as any jazz.

Datevik’s Canadian booking agent is Londoner Catherine McInnes, a
teacher by day and folk and jazz musician by night.

About five years ago, McInnes was playing with her folk band Mosaic
at a Guelph bookstore when an Armenian gentleman came up to speak to
her.

“He said, ‘You’ve got to hear this Armenian singer.’ Two weeks later,
this CD arrives in the mail. I put it on, not knowing what to expect,
and I just went nuts. She’s phenomenal. I couldn’t stop listening to
it.”

McInnes and Datevik started corresponding. Soon McInnes was
travelling to New York City to study voice with her.

Datevik had established herself as the first lady of jazz in Russia
by age 20, and for the next 10 years, McInnes says, “She played
concerts and festivals all over the eastern part of the planet. Then
about 1990, she decided to make her big move to New York City and
make it in the big jazz world.”

McInnes landed Datevik her first gig at the Montreal Jazz Festival in
2001.

“And it all started with this older gentleman’s gesture of kindness,”
McInnes marvels. “He’ll be at the London show and he’s coming along
with 20 other Armenians.”