Helena Kay might have to rethink her status as a London-based musician now she’s back in Scotland so much.
The Perth-born saxophonist plays a hometown concert at Perth Theatre on Saturday, April 23 as part of a Scottish tour.
Another hometown gig follows during Perth Festival of the Arts in May.
Plus, as a member of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and the featured soloist in violinist-broadcaster Seonaid Aitken’s Chasing Sakura ensemble, Helena is likely to be seeing a lot more of Scotland than has been the case since she left for London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2012.
Her previous trips home haven’t been without incident.
She returned in 2015 to become the first female winner of the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year title.
Two years later her Perth Festival of the Arts concert with pianist Peter Johnstone earned enthusiastic reviews.
In the meantime she has lived and worked in New York and released her first album, Moon Palace with her KIM Trio, which will be joined at Perth Theatre by the same Peter Johnstone.
Started with the violin
Helena’s first instrument was the violin, mainly because that’s what she was given to play at school.
When she heard a saxophone on the radio one day, however, she begged her parents to buy her one.
Eventually, after a sustained campaign, they relented and bought an alto and their “you have to practise” warning soon became redundant.
“My first teacher was into jazz and he steered me towards people like Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley, who I really loved,” says Helena.
“I also liked Art Pepper early on. I liked the feeling he put into his solos. But all the big name alto players – Lee Konitz is another – made me want to improve.”
From school orchestras in Perth & Kinross and a local Perth big band she gravitated towards the neighbouring Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra.
Here she fell under the ultra-enthusiastic influence of Richard Michael, FYJO’s long-serving musical director.
“I played my first solo with FYJO,” she says. “It was nerve-wracking but when Richard points at you, you’ve no choice but to just go with it.
“Scary as that was though, FYJO was a great environment to try things out in because Richard was so encouraging with his ‘There are no mistakes’ mantra.
“I remember sitting down after I’d played and feeling a great relief but also a sense of achievement. It gave me the will to go on and do more.”
Teenage years in music
As well as FYJO, Kay’s teenage years were taken up with rehearsals and concerts with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland and saxophonist Tommy Smith’s Youth Jazz Orchestra, where she and Johnstone were contemporaries, as she worked towards securing a place at the Guildhall.
Winning the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year competition, by now having moved onto the tenor saxophone, was fortuitous.
Part of her prize was a London Jazz Festival appearance later the same year.
Being a recent graduate from the Guildhall and having seen other graduates face a limbo period between study and work, she was pleased to be able to move almost seamlessly from one to the other.
Confidence boosts and early gigs
“Winning the competition was a great confidence boost,” says Helena. “But having something to work towards almost as soon as I finished my course was in some ways more important.
“I actually got another gig at the same festival because I was already appearing there, so I made good contacts as a result.
“I probably got those gigs and the one at Glasgow Jazz Festival, which was also part of the prize, a lot sooner than I would have done otherwise.”
It was at the Guildhall that she met the drummer in her trio, David Ingamells.
The other member, bassist Calum Gourlay is a fellow Scot and a fellow Scottish National Jazz Orchestra member. She’s also looking forward to playing again with Peter Johnstone.
“Pete’s the kind of musician who will make whatever music you put in front of him sound great,” Helena says. “His enthusiasm is infectious. In fact, it’s getting him to stop making the music sound great that can be the problem – but in a good way!”
