By Cameron Mellin
The audience is told to close their eyes, to sit back and simply listen to the words as Lynn Veronneau, lead singer of acoustic combo Veronneau, takes them somewhere far away with her beautiful rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “Wave.” “I want you to travel with me in the song.” says Veronneau.
With multilingual lyrics and a sound ranging from bossa nova to jazz and samba, a night with the D.C.-area band is nothing short of an adventure. The music is “rich and complex but at the same time very simple,” according to Lynn. “I think we are able to peel away at the music and just expose beyond the noise, expose the beauty of the melodies,” she says.
With Lynn’s voice, that beauty isn’t hard to find, nor is the intimacy of the band’s styling and performance. Lynn, along with her husband and “musical soulmate,” Ken Avis, formed the band in 2010 after a “meeting of the musical minds.” Later, the pair added esteemed guitarist David Rosenblatt to the fold and released their debut album, “Joie de Vivre (Joy of Living),” soon after in 2011. The collection climbed all the way to No. 9 on the Jazzweek World Music Chart and brought Veronneau’s chemistry, born out of the “simplicity of the voice and guitar approach,” to the forefront.
Raised in Quebec, Lynn’s classical training and international influence has paid dividends for a group able to span cultures and genres. “We try to shake things up [by] arranging music in a bossa nova style, and we fish out some jams that originated in Brazil but are translated in [French].” To Veronneau, “It’s really considered global music. We’re very moved by the songs that we choose … and one of the songs we do in particular [‘La Mer’] is my mom’s favorite tune.”
The intimacy and truth of the band’s performance is what sets Veronneau apart in the jazz world. The musical stylings of bossa nova and samba are both rich in passion, and Lynn is tasked with conveying such emotional scope simply through changes in tone and melody. She often finds herself the “lead arranger” of the band’s original music while guitarists David and Ken do the “lyric heavy-lifting.”
The group’s team effort is evident when the three take the stage, working off one another and radiating their passion for a musical style beloved in the D.C. area due to the famed Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd album “Jazz Samba.” “We’ve found that people just love the sound.‘Jazz Samba’ really put it on the map, and the album was recorded in Washington, D.C.”
In fact Veronneau paid tribute to the classic’s 50th anniversary with their second album, 2012’s “Jazz Samba Project,” a work that paid homage to the original’s musicians and explored the sound’s roots while topping off at No. 4 on the US Roots Jazz Chart.
It was Sinatra who said, “You can’t deny, don’t try to fight the rising sea.” Veronneau is certainly rising, and with Lynn leading the way, best to catch the Veronneau wave next Wednesday eve—this time under the quiet nights and stars of Alexandria.
Lee District Nights presents Veronneau
Wednesday, June 17
Lee District Park Amphitheater
6601 Telegraph Road, Franconia, 22310
