Jazz/Contemporary Vocalist
London, UK
Elly looked for a word. She heard it in her father’s record collection. Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McRae. But as a six-year-old the word eluded her.
At eleven she felt the word listening to Jewel, Bob Dylan, Carol King, Janis Joplin, Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin. Although she couldn’t articulate it she knew what she wanted to be.
By thirteen Elly fronted the Tasmanian Youth Big Band as vocalist. At last, things fell into place. She heard, felt, and sang what she had been looking for. All who were in the audience knew they were in the company of a young woman going places. A young woman who is simply exceptional. Finally, Elly has her word.
“I want to be exceptional, it’s not good enough just to sing well,” said Elly.
“Listening to all those singers and musicians across so many styles I always came back to the ones who had feeling. I made a choice about the style of jazz I like and that includes swing, bossa nova, and ballads.
“When I perform I go into another world, a moment to moment place where I am there for the music and feeling. I love lyrics and telling a story.
“Sometimes the lyrics and the story are important like a sax or trumpet you are the lead instrument although always a part of the band and texture of sound. I can do this with jazz and I am very happy.
“There are no worries, no cares, no doubts just an overwhelming sense of happiness and acceptance. If I have a good gig I can be happy for hours afterwards. I think I use performance as a way of expressing myself to the point where if I am not doing it I feel emotionally and creatively blocked.”
Elly met with early success. She moved to Brisbane for further study; Bachelor of Music, majoring in jazz voice at the Qld Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University.
While still studying she entered the James Morrison, Generations in Jazz Vocal Scholarship and sealed a win performing two songs; a ballad The Masquerade is Over and a sassy swing version of Duke Ellington’s Squeeze Me.
“I entered because it is one of the only awards given to jazz vocalists in Australia under the age of 21 and I wanted to see if I could do it,” Elly said.
“James Morrison made it clear to me, you have to establish yourself wherever you are. My goal was to record a jazz album.
“Apparently only five percent of the world’s population listens to jazz. With this statistic I looked at how to reach a larger audience.
“Instead of a purely original album, which would not sell as well, I recorded standards from the American Songbook, plus two originals, and an arrangement of a contemporary tune that most people would know even if they are not jazz listeners.”
Elly’s self-titled debut album won an Australian Jazz Bell Award in 2011 in the category Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album. Some may sit back and let things take care of themselves. That’s not how this lady works.
“I would like more opportunities to record and write original material. It isn’t about winning awards but about striving to get better every day.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the best I can be and be true to the jazz art form. I am going to the USA for the Stanford song writing workshop and then on to New York.”
Back now in Australia Elly crosses the country honing her craft appearing in major jazz clubs and festivals. She released a second album Oranges and Sunshine with four original tracks along with new arrangements of old favourites. This was a watershed moment in her career. While it gathered decent reviews, it didn’t sell as well as her debut album. With a pure and versatile voice Elly can cross genre’s and is not stuck completely in the jazz style but it became clear she was being boxed in by her own success. Not able to break out of the box started to take its toll.
In a bold move Elly stepped away from jazz, picked up her guitar and ukulele joining three female musician friends and created the contemporary indie-folk outfit My Nightingale. The name came from a poem written by holocaust survivor Rose Ausländer. Elly read the poem while in Boston. As a country girl originally from the North West coast of Tasmania, the poem pulled deeply at Elly’s connection to her home.
A real shift occurred when her beloved Lapoinya forest was under threat. Elly’s family along with influential environmentalists such as former Senator and Greens Leader Bob Brown actively moved into the forest to protect it from unrestrained clearance. The battle was lost, the forest is gone. Stuck in the US Elly watched outraged, feeling helpless. She responded as best she could by writing a song called Sacred.
With the challenges of travelling back and forth across hemispheres, moves in and out of music styles, managing a long-distance relationship, and a vocal injury Elly knew she had to re-evaluate.
“I knew I needed time to make repairs. It began to dawn on me what was important. Yes, music is one, but the love and happiness from family and friends, and living responsibly to the environment make life exceptional,” said Elly.
The courage to make change has done the trick. She has drawn life closer and tighter with a new determination as life aligns once more with a couple of big announcements in the wind.
First, Elly is back in the recording studio, stronger than ever, laying down fourteen tracks for a scheduled 2019 national album release The Composers Voice: Celebrating Australian women composers in collaboration with jazz vocalist, Elly Hoyt.
Comprised entirely of original compositions The Composer’s Voice explores personal stories of women in music from discovery, obstacles and overcoming. It is a diverse and powerhouse group of Australian composers including Andrea Keller, Georgia Weber, Gian Slater, Kristin Berardi, Louise Denson, Martha Bartz, Nat Bartsch, Shannon Barnett, Sonya Horbelt, Sandy Evans, Sharny Russell and Tamara Murphy.
The second announcement is tied into a favourite set of lyrics from Bob Dylan’s To Make You Feel My Love.
As Elly says “I can’t move away from the beauty of …”
When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love
“These lyrics give a sense of fragility yet strength. They describe love as such a powerful entity and the knowledge that love can heal.
“Life can hurt but you would go to the end of the earth for someone you love.”
While London isn’t exactly the end of the earth Elly and her partner take up residence there entering a new stage of their lives together.
London make welcome the exceptional Elly Hoyt.
Elly live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UljBz4RUNk
For more visit: http://www.ellyhoyt.com.au
