Guitar and Vocal Duo Ave—Nothing to Fix

By Chris Manson April 5 , 2007 Issue

Ave vocalist Lori Irlbeck’s musical vocabulary was limited to soundtrack recordings and ‘80s synthesizer rock before classical guitar master Jimmy Chandler introduced her to jazz standards. “She didn’t know those songs,” Chandler says. “Fly Me to the Moon, Night and Day, My Funny Valentine…” Irlbeck took to them quickly, and now the duo are working up some Brazilian jazz standards by the great composer Antonio Carlos Jobim (Black Orpheus, The Girl from Ipanema).

“Jobim would probably be one of the most recorded people in all the world,” Chandler says. “If you go anywhere in South America, he’s a hero.” Ave (pronounced AH-vay, Latin for hello and goodbye) are also exploring some of the bossa nova tunes Jobim introduced to the United States in the 1950s, “as fast as Lori can learn ‘em.”

We’re in the Brazilian Secret Cafe in the old Studio 824 location on Gulf Shore Drive. Ave has been performing here for a few weeks, enjoying a warm reception and the tastiest (only?) Brazilian barbecue in town. Chandler and Irlbeck are playing with Besame Mucho. They want to do it “other than the standard way,” Chandler says. He tries a couple of different things before settling on a Spanish style that blends nicely with Irlbeck’s vocal.

Chandler has a master’s degree in classical guitar and is well known to students at Okaloosa-Walton College, where he has “been teaching forever and ever.” He isn’t a Florida native per se, but Chandler has been living here longer than anywhere else. He still teaches about 80 students four days a week. In addition, he tries to bring in an international artist to perform every semester. “If you’re not exposed to the arts, you don’t know what they are,” Chandler says.

Irlbeck took guitar lessons from Chandler a couple years ago. They formed the duo last November. “It’s been a lot of fun putting this together,” Chandler says. “I’ve loved Brazilian guitar music for years. Lori is learning to sing in Portuguese, and we’re looking to add a lot of samba and bossa nova.”

The singer was born in an elevator in Fort Walton Beach’s White-Wilson Hospital (“I’m just impatient, I guess,” Irlbeck says). “When I was going to Crestview High School, I was always in chorus and things like that. I did pretty well in state competitions and took voice classes at OWC.” She spent some time in Seattle singing at weddings, retirements, and funerals.

Chandler and Irlbeck have more than 60 tunes in their repertoire. Along with the Jobim material, there are songs by Elton John, James Taylor, and the Beatles — Chandler’s arrangement of In My Life is remarkable, and I don’t recognize Here, There and Everywhere until Irlbeck sings. There’s also Leon Russell’s This Masquerade, which Irlbeck is especially fond of singing. “We play a lot of things that people around here don’t typically play,” Irlbeck says. They hope to add the Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life as their show closer.

Chandler contributes imaginative arrangements of familiar material. Paul Simon’s Scarborough Fair hooks up with a 1500s renaissance composition. The Beatles’ Blackbird opens with a Bach prelude. Ave also includes material by their friend Fred Domulot — a Pensacola-based drummer who tours all over the country — and a songwriter with whom I am not familiar, Jonathan Coulton.

“He does comical songs,” Irlbeck says of New Yorker Coulton. “You’ll be bopping along to this beautiful song, and then he mentions killer robots and half-pony/half-monkey monsters.” They play a couple verses of a Coulton’s Laptop. Irlbeck sings the humorous lyrics with the conviction she would apply to an all-time standard.

“I think Lori has a perfectly suited voice for this style of music,” Chandler says. “As an educator, I’m always looking for something to fix. With her, I haven’t found anything to fix yet. Brazilian melodies can be very complex. She just hears the melody, and before long she’s got it. On the old jazz standards, she’ll hear it, find a key she likes, and we’ll arrange it and do it.”

“But I can go all-country if I need to,” Irlbeck says, laughing.

“Me, too,” Chandler says. “I grew up in Mississippi.” Chandler plays a little bit of Guy Clark’s L.A. Freeway (“Is that the guy from Hee-Haw?” Irlbeck asks). He calls Clark “a good storyteller in a desperado kind of way, but I’m not sure how it fits a Brazilian restaurant.” Right now the focus is on Brazilian music, both classic and contemporary. Chandler has a huge wish list of songs he wants to do. Irlbeck is a confessed “Rennie”—that is, she loves to attend Renaissance festivals—and hopes to take on some Celtic music.

Ave will perform at Arts Quest in May. The Brazilian Secret Cafe gigs continue Friday evenings from 6 to 9:30 p.m., and Sundays beginning around 11 a.m. “This is a nice, quiet, soothing place. The music goes along with the atmosphere,” Chandler says. Tonight there’s not much of a crowd. Chandler and Irlbeck are essentially rehearsing for each other, although the restaurant staff and I like what we’re hearing. Irlbeck sings Jobim’s Chega de Saudade (No More Blues) in English as Chandler provides accompaniment that enhances the mood of the song’s lyrics.

“I’ve never heard him play anything garish,” Irlbeck observes.

They take a pass at Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend and one of my favorite Elton John-Bernie Taupin compositions, Your Song. Irlbeck gets a slight case of the giggles, but the staff applauds afterwards. “My phrasing is different because I didn’t grow up listening to these songs,” she says. She is currently pursuing a degree in special education and plans to teach reading. This excellent vocalist has already gotten a more than adequate musical education from her Ave collaborator.

Chris Recommends:
Warren Zevon: Stand in the Fire (Rhino)
Maria Muldaur: Heart of Mine—Love Songs of Bob Dylan (Telarc)
Clipse: Hell Hath No Fury (Re-Up Gang)
Ludacris: Release Therapy (Def Jam)
Chris Knight: The Trailer Tapes (Drifter’s Church)

(Top)

Back to Musician Profiles