Rebecca Jenkins, one of Canada’s most beloved and accomplished actresses, returns to her jazz roots with the release of Blue Skies. Co-produced by Jenkins with Joel Bakan (writer of The Corporationbook and film)Jenkins lends her pure and soulful voice, and her original phrasing and interpretations, to some of the most celebrated standards in jazz music including such unforgettable tracks as Moon River, God Bless the Child and the enchanting title track Blue Skies.
Jenkins burst onto the Canadian film scene with her best actress Genie Award-winning performance as a 1940s jazz singer in Anne Wheeler's Bye Bye Blues. Her soulful and charismatic singing and acting in that film launched a career that has included numerous critically-acclaimed and award-winning roles in Canadian and American film and television. She has starred in CBC television’s Black Harbour series, alongside Oscar winners Tim Robbins (Bob Roberts) and Kevin Spacey (Darrow), and in, among other things, CBS's "And Never Let Her Go", "Guilty Hearts", "Catch A Falling Star"; Disney's "Angels in the Infield"; ABC's "The Ruby Silver" and “10.5”; and NBC's "Bad Prospects", "Till Death Do Us Part", and “Harvest for the Heart".
As a singer, Jenkins toured and recorded as back-up vocalist with the Parachute Club and Jane Siberry. Over the years she has performed original and other material, including the jazz repertoire, in front of symphony orchestras, on radio shows (among other things, she co-hosted and performed songs on CBC Radio’s Quiet There’s a Lady On Stage, broadcast from the Glenn Gould theatre), at music festivals, on compilation albums (such as Bruce Cockburn’s Kick at the Darkness), at clubs and concert halls, and for film and television soundtracks.
Her original song Something’s Coming, which she performed on the soundtrack of feature film Wilby Wonderful, in which she also starred, was nominated for a
Genie Award for best original song. She also co-wrote and performed, with Aaron Davis, the title track to “The Sunrise”, a television adaptation of a
Margaret Atwood short story, in which she starred and was nominated for a Gemini Award.
The Critics Speak :
Rebecca's voice, with its bright, clear tone, is nicely framed and supported by Joel's inconspicuous, Charlie Christian-like guitar and some perfectly understated horn solos. I really like the way Rebecca swung the tunes, loved the bits of scatting and the bossa nova-styled Astrid Gilberto-like arrangements (though Rebecca's voice is far better than Gilberto's). I though the bravest thing Rebecca did was to take on the two Billie Holidays, especially songs so fully identified with her. "In My Solitude" was the one number that I didn't think fully worked--picking up the tempo, submerging the voice in the instruments at the beginning of the arrangement. But I loved "God Bless the Child," which Rebecca made uniquely her own. In fact I love almost all of the album, which I've now listened to about 5 times. Didn't
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