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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, August 9, 2013 | 14 Jen Chapin brings her folk style to jazz festival by Dominik Kurek Oakville Beaver Staff Artscene "Connected to your Community" The Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival draws crowds from near and far to see and hear some established professional musicians. This year's event, taking place Aug. 9-10, will feature Grammy Award-nominated musicians and Canadian award-winners as well as some rising talent on five stages throughout Friday evening and all day Saturday. One headliner says she will strike an emotional chord with those who want it or provide an easy listening experience to others at the Towne Square Stage when she performs on Saturday night. "My shows are intense if you're really digging in and immersing yourself. But you could also just be talking to your friend and say, `oh, that's pleasant'," said Jen Chapin who will play from 8-9:30 p.m. "What we do is not reinventing music or songs. But, it's different nonetheless... It's dynamic. We have a big spectrum of sound and emotion within our three instruments. It has very intimate, quiet, almost still moments and kind of rollicking moments, sometimes within the same song." The New York City-based singer-songwriter says her style of music is what she calls urban folk soul, but it has jazz elements as it's influenced by the genre. Chapin performs on lead vocals and guitar in her trio, which also features her husband Stephan Crump on acoustic bass, and Jamie Fox on guitar. The trio will be joined by special guest performer Chris Brown on keyboards at the Oakville festival. Her set will include songs from her latest album Reckoning, as well as covers and tracks from previous CDs. The album is also the first one she wrote since becoming a mother. Her previous two CD releases featured cover tunes. She said her music asks questions, but they also have humour. "As a lyricist, I tend to ask questions, whether literally or conceptually in songs, such as who are we, what is it like to have this kind of life, can we imagine having this kind of life and can we do better?" she said. The new album is about her life now. The NYC-based singer/songwriter Jen Chapin will be one of the headliners Saturday night during the Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival happening this weekend (Aug. 9-10). | photo by G.E. Masana ­ special to the Beaver ., LABOUR DAY WEEKEND August 30th to September 2nd, 2013 App Sponsors Presents The 18th Annual married mother of two children (aged four and eight) has to balance her home life as a parent with her career as a musician and as an activist who is concerned about food securities. The song Feed Your Baby is about the food justice movement. "Basically, it's about how hard it is to feed your baby, how all these logistical elements -- aside from cash -- of transportation and availability of nutritious food is not to be taken for granted," she said. However, the mother also has to worry about feeding a picky child and balance that. It's no wonder Chapin became a folk musician as she's the daughter of the late, great folk rocker Harry Chapin. Her father and uncles would often play together. She also grew up in a time listening to bands such as The Weavers and was around the time when the American folk music revival was at its peak in the mid 1960s. "I was just having people in the family who make a life in music. Seeing that and seeing music of meaning where the lyrics are probing into questions of who we are, that definitely was an example, though not an immediate one," she said. It took Chapin a long time to commit to mu- sic and consider herself as a musician. Prior to attending Berklee School for music, she attended Brown University and earned a degree in international relations. Now, she and her husband are musicians and their children are growing up in a similar environment and on occasion travel to shows with their parents. Since her career began, Chapin said the music industry has changed. People used to buy CDs and see shows. Now, they no longer do as they have access to entertainment from home especially with social media. But the music industry is not the only one affected, she said. "A lot of things are changing in life and a lot of careers have seen mechanization or digitization or whichever, and people have had the rug pulled out from under them," she said. The song Reckoning questions music as a career choice. "It's about taking stock and accounting for what's been going and acknowledging how illogical it is to pursue a career in music and how you get so many signals to stop... But you just keep going because ultimately it's good," she said. The jazz festival is free to attend. For more information, visit www.oakvillejazz.com. A Fundraising Initiative of The Rotary Club of Burlington Lakeshore Spencer Smith Park, Burlington CanadasLargestRibfest.com You may not be a jazz musician, but you can look like one at this year's Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival., running Friday and Saturday (Aug. 9-10). TD Bank Group is offering jazz festival attendees a chance to live a musician's dream and star on their own CD case. There will be a music photo studio, complete with a photographer, lighting, backdrop, genre-specific props Become your own jazz legend and instruments where people will be able to customize their own CD covers. Participants will be able to share their CD cover photo through social media during the festival and take a printed copy home. The photo booth will be located at George Street and Lakeshore Road (in front of Towne Square). The festival runs from 6-11 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday.