Meet Down for the Count's musicians: Elise Roth
When did you first get involved with Down for the Count?
I joined Down for the Count just in the last month, right in time for the Christmas tour.
Elise (second from left) and our other vocalists in rehearsal for our upcoming Swing Into Christmas tour!
What were your first experiences of jazz and swing music?
I grew up listening to it, old CDs and tapes. My father was a journalist so he often brought stuff back home. I remember he did a story about the last surviving Andrews sister who passed away, and brought home their Capitol collection CD, and I listened to that thing to death. I think I could sing every part on it, and I just thought ‘wow this music is amazing, what a shame no one is performing this these days!’ - that was when I was a teenager.
I just kept listening to it and enjoying it, especially Artie Shaw. I had found a CD at a rental house we went to in New Hampshire, and I just became obsessed with Moonray and Nightmare, and some other songs that his band played regularly. Then I went to school for opera. I thought I’d do classical singing, because I thought whilst this other kind of singing is great, no one really does it. Then in my graduate school career, in my first month they were allowing classical singers to audition for their big band show, because they were honouring a particular alumnus. So, I auditioned and I got a song in the show, and it was with a 18-piece big band and I had no idea how to use a microphone, my hands were drifting all over the place. It was from then when I thought ‘oh, this happens, this is a possibility!’. A trombone player in the band then asked me to join his band, and I ended up singing big band music for about six years with his band before starting my own.
I just love the music so much, and singing that really true 40s sounds makes me truly happy. I’ve sung with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the States a couple of times, and a couple other orchestras - I’m basically happy to represent the music when it is being done so faithfully.
Who are your musical influences?
Like I said, I listened to The Andrews Sisters a lot growing up. I also, with that Artie Shaw CD, found my top singer, Helen Forrest. If you can think of any band from the 40s that had a girl singer, she’s probably been one of them, because she sang for so many of those groups and was basically the big band girl singer sound. I have always loved her voice and I always look to her for inspiration for songs, and ways to sing. Her phrasing is just so exquisite.
Further on, I always get comparisons to Judy Garland, so I’ve embraced that - though not her later life career or decisions. So, mostly early Judy Garland is what I love, because it feels very comfortable in my voice. As well as some earlier singers, such as Annette Hanshaw from the 20s. She was so popular that she retired at age 28, and her tagline for all of her songs was ‘that’s all’, which I think was quite fitting.
Then of course, in terms of a more hot band jazz singer, Ivy Anderson. She sang with the Duke Ellington Orchestra a lot in the early years. Certain recordings of theirs such as It Don’t Mean a Thing were originated by her.
What is your favourite jazz song/album/recording?
That changes all the time based on what I like to sing. That’s the beauty of it, you can do a song a completely different way every time you sing it.
My current excitement is Happy as the Day is Long by the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. That one just has this amazing reed section solo, which is so exciting you can’t not be dancing around to it!
What projects are you involved in outside of Down for the Count?
I have my own bands, I have a 6-piece 1920s and 30s band called Elise Roth & her High Standards, and I also have a 9-piece swing band called Elise Roth & her Harvard Squares. We perform pretty regularly for dancers. I do more vintage events with the smaller band, like I am doing Halloween coming up, which I am always excited about.
I also do voiceover work, so I have a couple books coming in the next couple months. It’s the only reason I have to wake up before noon, but I don’t mind it I swear!
What are your hobbies when you are not performing?
I love sourcing and mending vintage clothing, I like playing video games, and I like riding my bike around and I go to the gym when I can.
What’s your favourite song to perform?
For the Christmas season, I love singing Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, because the original lyrics were incredibly depressing. They were so depressing that Judy’s co-star convinced the songwriters to change the lyrics because she was meant to be singing it to her little sister in the film. The original lyrics were: ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last, next year we may all be living in the past’!
About the author
Ruby Willis is Down for the Count's marketing and communications officer. When she is not writing Facebook posts and making Instagram reels, she is often performing in short films or physical theatre shows.
