KURATED NO. 231
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Endings Rarely Are by Natasha D’Agostino
PLAYLISTS
Endings Rarely Are on YouTube and Spotify
ONE SONG
Field of Green – an original composition
THREE LIVE VIDEO SONGS PLAYLIST
Featuring D’Agostino and Chris Fraser on YouTube
Body and Soul
It Could Happen to You
I’ll Be Seeing You
Q + A: Karin Plato Interviews D’Agostino
The two Vancouver jazz singers played together and Plato interviewed D’Agostino on the eve of her first appearance at the Vancouver’s jazz festival in 2017.
More on Natasha D’Agostino
Visit Kurated No. 208 to read an excerpt on the artist in the book Journeys to the Bandstand by Vancouver jazz writer Chris Wong
On Instagram
D’Agostino’s Instagram shared her passions – friends, family, music, feminism and more.
A shot of D’Agostino in 2015 from her Instagram page
[ED. NOTE] It’s unspeakably tragic and sad when a young life is lost. The talented Vancouver singer Natasha D’Agostino was on the cusp of a promising career in music when she was killed in a car accident on January 6, 2019. She was 26. A recent graduate from Capilano University’s music program, she had just released her first album Endings Rarely Are. I learned about her in Journeys to the Bandstand a new and expertly written, comprehensive 600-page book on the history of jazz in Vancouver written my friend and colleague Chris Wong.
D’Agostino is a singer-songwriter and a person worth knowing about and remembering. The following Kurated post offers a snapshot of this progressive and searching artist. You can read a comprehensive profile of her in Chris’ book as well as in an excerpt in Kurated No. 208.
If you’d like to buy a copy of Journeys to the Bandstand: Thirty Jazz Lives in Vancouver click here.
A STAR WAS BORN
Vancouver jazz singer’s career ended just as it was starting
My jazz vocabulary is modest; it includes a subjective appreciation of great singing coloured not only by a superior voice and delivery but, importantly, the emotion it conveys and, often, the quality of the lyric.
Natasha D’Agostino, a superb alto, covered all three. Her colleagues readily praised her innate sense of supple and on point phrasing. Fellow songstress Karin Plato wrote in a 2017 blog, “I adore the timbre of her voice.” And she asked, “Is it possible she already had (and has) the true instinct of a jazz musician; the listening and responding, waiting and communicating with fellow musicians so that “it” is no longer just about the individual?”
Plato and D’Agostino perform circa 2017
And while she displayed an easy grasp of jazz standards, adding to her bona fides was an equal talent for songwriting. “… the highlight of the album are D’Agostino’s originals,” wrote Whole Note magazine’s Raul da Gama in a 2018 review of her only album. He pointed to her “wonderful control not only of narrative and emotion but also of lyricism and texture of word and line, which boasts some beautifully controlled singing in the deft tapering of quiet dynamics.”
Her Instagram entry on Dec. 31, 2018
D’Agostino began sharing images, books and writings on Instagram in 2012. This entry was one of her last. Six days later she was gone.
“2018 taught me how to see goals all the way through to the finish line, and it also taught me to slow down. It brought me some of my favourite books ever written. It encouraged me to create, and to find new hobbies. It taught me to tell the people in my life that I love them. A lot.
“It taught me that life is short, and gave me a glimpse of how precious and unpredictable it can be. I’m thankful for a year filled with so many opportunities to reflect on what it means to be human, and I’m even more thankful for the wonderful humans that made my year so full. Bring it on, 2019!”
Browsing through her entries you’ll catch sight of a vibrant and intelligent woman sharing her passions and insights – friends, family, music, feminism and more. Her album’s title, Endings Rarely Are, speaks for itself. As with all people who exit the material world, they are with us and not. Those of us still above ground have love and memories to hold our departed close. With Natasha D’Agostino we have the lasting resonance of her pure spirit through an unforgettable voice.
If you haven’t already, give her a listen.
30 November 2024
