Artist Profile - Laura Ainsworth

1. Laura Ainsworth, born in Los Angeles.

 
2. Music definitely is in my DNA, on both sides of the family. My maternal grandmother, as a teenager (!), played ragtime piano in an all-girls’ quartet, a la “Some Like It Hot.” She was amazingly talented, but her career was ended very young by severe rheumatoid arthritis.

 
On my father’s side, the talent was...my father, legendary sax/clarinet player, arranger and group singer Bill Ainsworth. He was a musical prodigy from Fort Worth who auditioned for Tommy Dorsey as a 17-year-old student at Rice University and blew everyone away. He hopped the band bus in Houston and never looked back. As some players still tell the story, he came to the audition with a pitiful, beat-up old sax that “looked like it was held together with rubber bands and paper clips.” The band admired his playing so much that they took up a collection and bought him a beautiful golden sax! His headshot ended up being in a full-page magazine ad for Selmer saxophones.


Over the years, my dad played with Dorsey, Ray McKinley, Freddy Martin, Tex Beneke and other big bands, then joined the Ernie Felice “cocktail band” quartet, singing and playing clarinet along with Felice’s jazz accordion. That was in Los Angeles, where he met my mom when her girlfriends took her out to the Tail O’ The Cock for her birthday. Their eyes met, and…


3. As for my own memories, I grew up not in L.A. but in a suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth, as my mom and dad relocated here for him to be a part of Dallas’ commercial recording business. (He’d grown up in Fort Worth.) He was the vocal group session leader who sang and made sure all pitches and harmonies were spot-on. He was such a perfectionist, his nickname in the industry was "The Judge." My earliest memories are of going to jingle sessions (so exciting for me as a child!), and also to the Fairmont Venetian Room with my mom, on Tuesday “comp” nights for house-band members’ families. I saw Ella, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme and many more. The amazing songs and musicians my dad exposed me to had a major impact on my tastes and style. Of course, I started in music very young, mostly choir/small group singing, but later got into drama and musical theatre.


4. Music/personal turning point? That was probably meeting my husband, Pat Reeder, at a Dallas broadcast services (jingle) company where we both were working. We started writing topical humor together, for radio stations and later online, and he’s the one who really encouraged me to MAKE RECORDS and helped in so many ways, such as forming our indie label, Eclectus Records. If it weren’t for him, I don’t know how I would have built the library of work I have! Maybe something, but certainly not all this. It probably wouldn’t have happened.


5. The first musical project of my own that I was really proud of was a live comedy/music show I wrote and performed called MY SHIP HAS SAILED. It was about the messages young women get about never showing any age and had parody songs about Botox, anti-aging products, plastic surgery, etc. So much fun! I performed it for general audiences and also women’s events, and the women would just fall down laughing --- especially for the song about Botox.

 
This was actually my second turning point, as it was my first project with Brian Piper, who played keyboards for the show. Brian went on to produce, arrange and play on all of my albums and has been instrumental in developing my overall sound. He was a family friend whose parents both worked in the commercial music business with my dad. He's also one of the most sought-after pianists in Texas and was honored as Dallas Jazz Musician of the Year. One thing that pleased me a lot about that show was how many people told me they expected a comedy show but were blown away by how good the music was. 


6. My musical heroes (Ella, Peggy Lee, Keely Smith, Julie London, etc.) are mostly all dearly departed, as they were before my time and recorded during the ‘30s-’40s-’50s. But looking at today, I love The Manhattan Transfer, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Feinstein (for his work preserving the Great American Songbook), and, really, just about everyone who tries to do justice to great songs without using Autotune.


7. As for musical education, in school I learned by doing, singing in choirs and school productions. I taught myself to read music at home with piano books and took some basic music theory later on. I insisted on starting voice lessons in high school –- though my dad really didn’t want me to have classical voice training, thinking it would “ruin” me for jazz and popular singing; he was wrong. Still, it wasn’t until later that I found the voice teacher who understood my particular voice and helped me unlock some doors!


8. Since vintage jazz is such a niche, I’ve continued to have a day job through the years, but it’s one that complements my music nicely. As a topical humor writer, I’ve written and sung numerous funny song parodies for radio. Sure wish I could’ve retained the rights to those, as they have dropped off the face of the Earth – although one, a parody of “Santa Baby” with Brian, is on YouTube. I love my writing and any creative work; it’s not just to pay the bills.

 
9. Currently, I have a new CD coming out; this is kind of a departure from the collections I usually do that feature great but obscure songs. These tracks are brand new treatments of songs that fans have specifically requested that I do. That’s why this album is called...YOU ASKED FOR IT.


Even though these are mostly more familiar standards, I’ve mixed it up a bit with very different arrangements and with the inclusion of verses that most people have never heard. For a really different approach to a familiar song, check out my lounge jazz version of “Goldfinger” (yes, an actual request!) I also have a film noir-inspired video coming soon. That was the advance single, and I'm very honored that Koop Kooper of the international radio show and podcast "Cocktail Nation" named it one of his "Best of the Best of 2022." 

 
10. Right now I’m marking time a bit, curious to hear back about this project from my audience, which has really opened up now with distribution to Japan and South Korea, which I hope to visit. I’m thrilled by the great reviews and the airplay YOU ASKED FOR IT is already receiving, and am musing about what to record next. I'm working on two different projects, but they're both still in the "secret planning" stages. 1. Laura Ainsworth, born in Los Angeles.