Sophie Milman: From Russia with jazz

The former Soviet Union was known for many things. Jazz wasn’t one of them.

Maxim Gorky wrote disparagingly of it. During the Cold War, saxophones were confiscated as Stalin had some Soviet jazzers arrested and sent to the Gulag. Nikita Khrushchev said that listening to jazz gave him gas.

Had Maxim, Uncle Joe, and Nikita lived long enough—perish the thought, really—they might have changed their minds about jazz after listening to Sophie Milman sing that folk classic, Ochi Chyornye (Dark Eyes).

Milman, 25, was born in Ufa during the final, dying years of the USSR. Together with her father, an industrial engineer, and her mother, a journalist, they immigrated to Israel in 1990. Ten years later, the family came to Canada.

Though she left the USSR at age seven, that country left its mark on her. “It affected my personality for sure,” said Milman last week after a rehearsal with her band for her upcoming US tour that hits venues such as the Hollywood Bowl. “Russians, we’re melancholy. We can be a little bit dark. That affects my preferences when it comes to music. The music I was listening to in Russia, it wasn’t jazz, but it was Russian bards, and great kids’ music. More like Joe Raposo songs than Teletubbies. Pretty heavy, serious stuff. Nobody really dumbed down children over there.”

It was in Israel that her musical tastes were set. There, she listened to her dad’s record collection brought over from the USSR, vinyl largely confiscated from people then sold “under the table.” Ella. Nat ‘King’ Cole. Louis Armstrong. Mahalia Jackson. The Platters. Stevie Wonder. The Beatles. And get this, Russian imprints of Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson with Count Basie. “I grew up with Oscar,” reminisced Milman. “So when I moved to Canada, Oscar was this giant celebrity.”

In Toronto, she continued the classical piano lessons she’d begun in Israel, and took her Royal Conservatory Grade 9 exam. “I passed, then quit the next week,” admitted Milman. “I probably shouldn’t have.” If the piano wasn’t her bag, singing certainly was. She never took voice lessons, but signed out recordings from the Toronto Public Library. Carmen McRae. Nancy Wilson. Nina Simone. Cassandra Wilson. “Together, they’re my musical educators,” said Milman, who’s now working with vocal coach Alan Reid and will soon study jazz with her bassist, Kieran Overs.

She enrolled in the commerce program at the University of Toronto (she’s two full credits shy of graduating), and was working as a receptionist at a law firm when, as a lark, she sang at a singers’ series at the Red Devil BBQ and Blues restaurant. The house pianist, Bill King, put her into rotation. Three gigs later, Geoff Kulawick of Linus Entertainment came in for a listen then offered her a contract.

Her eponymous titled first release in 2004 has sold over 100,000 copies. Her second CD, Make Someone Happy, won a Juno this past April for vocal jazz album of the year. She goes into the studio this November to begin work on her third album.

But in a world full of female jazz vocalists with pretty faces and enough cover versions of jazz or pop tunes for every minute of the night, how does Milman differ? “I’m not from North America. I don’t come from that school of singing, that school of music,” responded Milman. “I’m not originally a blues singer. I come at it from a little bit of a European perspective, and my voice is quite, let’s say, Russian-Jewish as opposed to Dianne Reeves. My background juxtaposed with the music I grew up with creates a certain sound.”

Hamilton audiences can hear that sound on Friday, July 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Philpott Memorial Church, 84 York Boulevard when Milman and her band play the Brott Festival. Expect plenty of easy listening covers from her CDs. Fever. My Baby Just Cares for Me. Rocket Love. Bein’ Green (made famous by Kermit the Frog, and a tune Milman says is the story of her life). Plus a newly spruced up version of Bruce Springsteen’s I’m on Fire, among others. Tickets are $25, senior $20, and student $10. Call 905-525-7664.