Chicago Tribune

THE INC. COLUMN

Ellen Warren & Terry Armour

The INC. spot

Armour gets jazzy with Jenna Michael Sexton Some don’t agree. I guess Mammina you either love them or hate them. Among jazz purists, Mammina, A - (Laughs) I love Yes. My 35, has made a name for herself first rock concert when I was 9 because her musical style runs years old was Yes. I was the gamut from old-school jazz hooked. to rock to folk. Mammina has Inc. - Any other favorites? her own label, Mamma Grace A - Have you ever heard Records (jennamammina.com), Sammy Cahn’s “Dedicated to on which she released her debut You”? (She begins to sing). Of CD, “Under the Influence.” course, Abbey Lincoln has been She performs on Thursday for a great influence on me, in writ- the “Have a Heart for Sickle ing and as a person in my life. Cell Anemia” gala in the Inc. - Is so-called ‘smooth Skyline Room at Navy Pier. jazz’ as strong as, say, what John Coltrane or Charlie Inc. - Your musical tastes are “Bird” Parker did? rather eclectic, from Elvis A - Smooth jazz is a marketing Costello and Led Zeppelin to machine, but traditional jazz is Nat “King” Cole and Abbey Singer Jenna Mammina says traditional jazz still still out there, on a certain level Lincoln. makes an impression on young people. and with a vengeance. It’s just A - It comes from growing up not appreciated in the marketing in a musical family. My older sense. But more and more kids brothers and sister, they listened love the tunes: Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello and are coming up listening to Col- to groups like Led Zeppelin. I Yes. trane and Bird and saying, “I inherited those records. My Inc. - Yes? I’ve often felt that for a rock think this is what I want to do.” mom sang Nat “King” Cole group, Yes kicked free-form jazz up a notch. songs to me when I was little. I