It’s been less than a year since City Winery Philadelphia last hosted Stella Cole, the 27-year-old vocalist who made a name for herself doing interpretations of jazz standards and selections from the Great American Songbook on TikTok during Lockdown, earning praise from James Taylor, Michael Bublé, Meghan Trainor, and more. At the time, September of last year, the singer was touring behind It’s Magic, her sophomore full-length and Decca Records US debut, a collection of classic love songs produced by Grammy-winner Matt Pierson (Samara Joy, Brad Mehldau) and featuring string arrangements by Grammy-winning pianist and arranger Alan Broadbent (Natalie Cole, Diana Krall).
This July, Decca released Live At Café Carlyle, Stella Cole’s first-ever live album, recorded during Cole’s sold-out engagement at the famous New York jazz club, featuring live favorites of hers like “Love Walked In,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” and “Till There Was You.” Well, Stella Cole will be returning to City Winery Philadelphia on September 5th for the second night of her upcoming tour. I recently got a chance to chat with Stella via Zoom, where she told me about the live album (and her thoughts on live albums in general), playing live (and touring in general), and some of her favorite things that fans might not guess (including a very recently lost legend).
Izzy Cihak: Last month you released your first live album, Live At Café Carlyle. How did the idea for that come about?
Stella Cole: I’ve always wanted to do a live album. Some of my favorite albums by my favorite jazz singers are live albums. I love Sinatra at the Sands. I love Sarah Vaughan’s At Mister Kelly’s; that’s one of my favorite albums of all time. I love Judy Garland’s Carnegie Hall album. Barbra Streisand – Live at the Bon Soir; I’m obsessed, I had that hanging up in my room for years.
I love live albums. You can be such a perfectionist, and things sound so polished in the studio, and I feel like a live album is like, “Oh, that’s what that was actually like to see that artist and be in the room with them.” So yeah, I’ve always wanted to do it, and the Carlyle was sort of the dream location for it, and it’s crazy we got to do it there.
Izzy: I agree with the live album thing. Growing up, live albums were always my favorite, because studio albums are curated in a certain way, but so are live performances, but it gives you a greater span of the artist’s work.
Stella: Exactly! They’re the coolest. I was just watching this Sarah Vaughan trio performance from Copenhagen in 1965 on YouTube the other night, and it’s so funny to watch her little stage banter. She’s talking about being jet-lagged (“We missed our gig last night; our flights were delayed.”), and there was this sort of awkward moment where she was like, “I don’t know, guys, I’m just talking out of jet lag.” I was like, “Wow! She’s just like me!” You know what I mean? I feel like we wouldn’t have gotten that listening to Sarah Vaughan with an orchestra in a studio. You’re getting a little bit of their personality, which is so cool.
Izzy: And the album’s most recent single is “I Happen To Like New York,” which I know is a Cole Porter song, but Judy Garland — who I know is like your biggest influence — did a famous version of it, so I’m curious how you originally discovered that song and what made you want to do your own take on it?
Stella: I think I originally discovered it listening to Bobby Short at the Café Carlyle. I love songs about New York, but I’ve never wanted to do “New York, New York,” because it feels a little too on the nose. But “I Happen To Like New York” is perfect because it’s just so short and sweet, and it doesn’t even sound like a song. The lyrics are always my favorite part of a song, and it’s so simple it makes the lyrics really stand out. People are listening to the lyrics so much that they’re laughing during the song. I wanted to pay tribute to both Bobby Short — who is the Carlyle, synonymous with the Carlyle — and New York, which is the city I’ve gotten to live in for five years now, and I had always dreamt of living here.
Izzy: The album was released by Decca Records, which is obviously a legendary label, who you’ve been with for a little while now. How has it been working with them and getting to be a part of that family?
Stella: It’s been amazing! Decca and Verve have kind of merged… They call it the Verve Label Group now, so they’re different labels, but a lot of the same teams. Decca/Verve has this vault, The Verve Vault, where they have a gigantic wall of…
Izzy: Oh, yeah! I saw a video of you with that…
Stella: Yes! The Verve vinyl room is so cool, seeing the history of the label and being able to be a part of something with that much history. I mean, every artist you can think of back in the day was recording with Decca and Verve. And it’s been great. You hear horror stories about working with major labels, so I was honestly a little bit nervous, like, “Oh god, does this mean I’m like signing away all of my art, and people are gonna be yelling at me to make pop songs, and they’re not gonna let me out of the record contract?” But the Decca team has been so artistically supportive of anything I want to do. And it’s just so nice to have that resource behind you. Like, if you wanna do an elaborate album shoot, you can; you don’t have to pay for it. The support has really helped bring my artistic vision to the next level, and I feel really lucky about that.
Izzy: Obviously your musical career started out on social media, but you seemed to transition pretty seamlessly into a successful and respected live performer, which I feel like isn’t always the case when people start out like doing it in their room, and then they get to a live show and it’s very different. Do you think any of that comes from your background in theatre, or has performing for people just always come naturally for you?
Stella: Definitely the theatre thing. I mean, I’ve been performing my whole life on stages. I think part of the confusion that can come for people is maybe their whole life they’ve just been writing songs on their piano in their room, and then they have to go perform for thousands of people! And performing for thousands of people is what I knew how to do; the singing into my phone thing was more difficult for me [laughs]. I mean, I wasn’t performing for thousands of people all the time when I was 14, but that wasn’t something that was scary, because that’s what I always wanted to do on Broadway. The playing myself part was the scariest part, finding a character that was Stella Cole, that is like me, but not all the parts of me; that was the trickier part. I’ve also taken a very old school approach in my touring. A lot of people now only tour for a year after they’ve released an album, and I’ve been touring nearly constantly for the last three years, just now slowing down a bit. I think a lot of young artists don’t get to have those years of experience.
Izzy: And, on that note, what can be expected of the live show when you return to City Winery Philadelphia? I was bummed to miss you there last time, but I will definitely be there this time.
Stella: I honestly change the setlist last-minute all the time, so who’s to say [laughs]? I will definitely be playing songs from It’s Magic and Live At Café Carlyle. I usually open and close with the same songs… I won’t say, but there’s some consistency [laughs]. I sing the songs that I know people want me to sing. “Moon River” and “Over the Rainbow” are always in there. At this point, my trio and I are like a very well-oiled machine. I can be on stage and name a song and that’s what we do. I think that’s a hallmark of the jazz trio thing, not like classical music. Whenever we perform for an orchestra, we’re like, “Okay, we actually have to walk in and plan what we’re going to do!” With us, it’s just spontaneous. And I think people like that. We try songs a lot that we’ve never done before on stage in front of people! Why not? There’re so many good songs to choose from! We like to keep it loose, and I’m very talkative and yappy during the shows. I make a lot of jokes and am rather ridiculous. People aren’t always expecting that. I’m excited! It’ll be great to get back out on the road after having a couple months off.
Izzy: Your upcoming dates include a number of City Winery shows, and I know you’ve played a number in the past. And like you just said, you like to be yappy, and they are conducive to that. So, I’m curious how you like playing their rooms specifically?
Stella: City Winerys feel very comfortable. All of them have the same sort of energy; you know exactly what you’re getting at a City Winery, which is nice. And I love their hummus! That’s such a weird thing to say, but I’m always excited about the hummus platter [laughs]. They have such good hummus and pita bread there, so every time I go to a City Winery, I know what I’ll be having pre-show! But it’s nice. I think it captures a nice amount of the jazz club vibe of it all, while being a little bit bigger.
Izzy: It’s interesting that you said that you’d just started slowing down on touring, because you do have kind of a ton of upcoming dates, both here and overseas. Are there any gigs you’re especially excited about?
Stella: Of course! We’re going to Europe for a couple weeks this fall. I’m always excited about Europe. Who wouldn’t be? It’s awesome over there. They’ve got a lot figured out that we don’t, in terms of walkable cities and beautiful streets and clothes and all of it. And then this Christmas I’m doing a Christmas tour again; I’ve done that for the last three years. And we’re doing a show in New York! I live in New York, and I’ve not done a Christmas show here yet, so I’m so excited! We’re playing Town Hall with an orchestra! It’s gonna be awesome! That’s the show I’m looking forward to the most right now, because I love to play with an orchestra and I love this city.
Izzy: Not to detract from your music, but obviously we all know how much you love jazz standards and classic Hollywood soundtracks, but I’m curious if you’re a passionate fan of anything musical or cinematic that you think fans might not expect?
Stella: That’s a good question! I’m a big fan of movies, and I do like newer movies. I talk about movies from the ‘40s all the time, but I do watch things that are in the current world [laughs]: movies, TV shows, etc…. I’ve been in a big podcast era… Oh, I know something that people will not expect from me! I listen to modern artists all the time, like Rachael & Vilray, AiRN, Raye, and Olivia Dean, but those are all people I would say are very inspired by the same stuff that I’m inspired by, but a really out-of-leftfield one is [laughs] Ella Langley, that Southern girl who’s like, “He’s choosin’ Texas, I can…” I’m loving her! Unironically, I think this is great music, and I’m obsessed, and I’m sure all the jazz boys reading this will judge me for that, but I don’t care [laughs]. I love it, I think it’s so fun!
I grew up on country music like Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Dolly, so I love all that stuff! And I think it’s so fun to see a modern pop artist interpreting that kind of music and going back to it. It’s been very inspiring as I look to my next album, where I hope to have more original songs, and do more standards alongside my own songs that are inspired by standards. My new album is not gonna sound like an Ella Langley album, but I am loving her and I don’t think fans would expect that. I was home for a few weeks this summer and my mom and I were listening to all of that. It’s just fun! And when I listen to jazz, sometimes I’m just thinking too much about, “Oh, what is he doing there?” “Oh, what is that?” “Oh, that’s an interesting bassline!” When I’m listening to Ella Langley, I’m like no thoughts, just vibes, just good summer vibes!
Izzy: Finally, like I said, you have a ton of upcoming live dates, national and international, stretching to the year’s end, but you have a few somewhat sizable gaps in there. How are you hoping and planning to spend the time in between live runs?
Stella: I’ve had a lovely summer of just reconnecting with myself, getting to spend a ton of time with family, like nearly a month with my parents and my brother. I’m obsessed with my family… and getting to just live in New York again. I’ve been journaling, I’ve been cold plunging, I’ve been actually focusing on mental health and figuring out how my brain works and stuff that I’ve definitely been neglecting. When you’re on tour constantly, there’s no time to think about that stuff. You’re just thinking about how to wake up on time to get to the plane and then get to soundcheck and, “What am I gonna eat for lunch?” and, “How am I gonna find a vegetable in this random Ohio town?” So, it’s been really nice. I have been doing some songwriting sessions this summer, which has been really fun, meeting with other artists, collaborating with people. And I’m hoping to do more of that in the fall… and just relaxing, being a person again, if that makes sense. I don’t think your twenties are necessarily the time when you have to have the most work-life balanced life, but I really push it to an extreme of just working, working, working, so it’s been nice to have a little bit of a life again [laughs].
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