Vocalist Vanisha Gould recently joined Tilles Center for an interview that touched upon Jazz Fest, composing, and influences (musical and non musical). Originally hailing from California’s Simi Valley, Gould moved to New York in 2015, where she developed a unique sound that combines her soulful singing with the stylings of jazz masters including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, and Ella Fitzgerald. 

In 2021 Gould released her debut album, In Her Words, a collaboration with fellow jazz vocalist Lucy Yeghiazaryan. In 2024, Gould released Life’s a Gig with pianist Chris McCarthy and latest record She’s Not Shiny, She’s Not Smooth.

“She’s not shiny, she’s not smooth – but the light, it reflects every ridge in her being…” Gould writes of her latest record. “Those are the first lines introducing this album and introducing myself. I am not perfect. This album is not perfect. But it is completely me, with all sharp and smooth edges. My lisp, my woes, along with my joy, all enunciated. This is me.”

Vanisha Gould will perform at Tilles Jazz Fest on July 19th.

Read our interview with Gould

Do you want to start by talking about your background in music, anyone or anything that inspired you to pursue music and jazz professionally?

I have always loved to sing. Music was always in the household. My brother, Victor Gould, started playing piano first. When he got into jazz, I got into jazz. The rest is history. I love Ella [Fitzgerald] and Sarah Vaughn. We just had it in the household all of the time. Nancy Wilson and Nina Simone. We had a lot of musical theater in the household as well. My dad was into Johnny Cash and Motown. My mom was into gospel. We just had a lot of music in our household. So when my brother went to arts high school, I just followed him. I was like, well, I want to go to arts high school too. He went to Berklee [College of Music], I went to Berklee. Then he moved to New York and then I moved to New York. i I just honestly just followed Victor everywhere. And I came to New York and stole all of his friends, I’d go into all of the venues and be like, “Hey, I know I’m Victor’s sister. Hey, I’m Victor’s little sister. Can I have the gig?”

My brother’s my hero and I love his writing and to this day he’s one of my favorite composers.

Musically I love Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. That goes without saying. And then with those that are alive today, I just adore Cecile McLorin Salvant.

I adore Samara [Joy]. I love Jazzmeia [Horn]. We went to school together. I think she’s fabulous–she’s a powerhouse. Lucy Yeghiazaryan. She’s one of my favorite performers and I think she’s very powerful on a microphone.

I just love jazz. I love storytelling, and I love writing.

To that point, can you talk a little about what it means to be a storyteller? What it means to you and your music?

I’m a huge lover of movies. I love trying to fit a 150 page feature film script onto a 32 bar song. I just love the arc of a character. I love the complexities of human emotion and anything that we go through. There’s love, of course. There’s also divorce. There’s death. There’s flirtation. All of these little things that we go through. As a black woman and as a black person, we can talk about struggle all day long. But there’s also the many fun things that we go through too, right? There’s looking across the room, that glance before an actual relationship starts. I love exploring that. Or that final ending, the painful moment you realize you might be losing the love of your life. Maybe you have lost feeling for that person.I love exploring all those feelings, those human complexities, all that. I love putting that into a song.

There are so many different stories that are floating up in the air. I like trying to catch those, putting them into  song and seeing what resonates with the audience.

I think all of that is fun.

And to that point, you have a few records out. Can you talk about your latest record, She’s Not Shiny, She’s Not Smooth, and the meaning behind those words?

Yeah, that came from me trying to grapple with the idea that maybe perfection is not just not attainable, but that it’s perfectly okay that it’s unattainable. It’s beautiful–i’m not perfect and i’m never going to be. I put it all in an album. I tried to emphasize it in a way that the album isn’t perfect. My range isn’t large. Here you go, life. Here you go, world. She’s not shiny, she’s not smooth. There you go.

I’m also an aspiring musician. I currently study jazz bass. And so I have to ask: what are the attributes you look for in a bass player? What are the things you like and dislike? And what do you think I should work on as someone studying jazz and music?

Just be really, really, really good. Listen to everyone who’s good and transcribe them. Listen to the best and transcribe them. Someone was asking me how to get a gig somewhere and they were asking me for the little tricks on how to get a gig somewhere. There’s no magic–just be really, really, really, good. It’s math. 2 plus 2 is 4–there’s no magic in the universe just be really damn good and that’s all.

That makes sense. And I guess one of the blessings of being at music school and then being in New York is there’s just so many really, really good people to transcribe and listen to.

I think what’s beautiful about it is there is magic to it right. Everyone in New York is really, really, really, really really good. There are those few who are really, really, really, good and kind. I think the magic is the kindness. It’s easy to be really, really good and arrogant. People want to be on tour with people who are extremely talented on their instruments and also kind.

So if you are kind and also talented, people will want to bring you on tour because you’ll make the band leader feel good. And that’s a great combination.

And is there anything you’re looking forward to musically this year, other than the jazz festival here?

I want to write more. I want to explore what I was describing a few seconds ago, digging into the collective, seeing what other stories I can come up with. There’s so many obvious stories like love, but you can dig into the sub-genres of love. I want to see what I can come up with, I just want to write and write and write and write, and collaborate more with more musicians.

That’s my hope.

Awesome. And before we wrap up our interview is there anything else you want to share with our readers?

I’m just really excited. I’m really excited for the summer. I’m really excited for this festival. It’s going to be really great. The musicians are amazing. I’m really excited for the band. They’ve been a great team. It’s going to be a great day, going to be really fun.

Thanks for joining us. We’re looking forward to hearing you at Tilles Jazz Fest on July 19th.

Awesome. Me too. Thank you so much.

Vanisha Gould will perform at Tilles Jazz Fest on July 19th. Purchase tickets by clicking on the link below.

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Tilles Jazz Fest will take place on Saturday, July 19. Produced by Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center. The one-day event will take place on four indoor and outdoor stages across the beautiful Long Island University Post campus, including Tilles Center’s Concert Hall, with performances starting at 1pm and swinging into the night! Get tickets on our website, over-the-phone (at (516) 806-0342), or in-person through our box office.