When Rebecca Wittman takes the stage to perform in a jazz concert at the Blue Heron on Saturday, it will be latest step in a long artistic journey that has led the gifted chanteuse both in and out of the spotlight throughout her eventful life.
Wittman, who moved to Vashon six years ago, is known to many Islanders as a clothing designer, a talented writer whose columns sometimes grace the pages of The Beachcomber and a tireless volunteer for Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Museum.
But what many Islanders don’t know is that singing was Wittman’s first passion and means of artistic expression and that for many years, she carved out a career as a jazz singer in Seattle, raising the roof at nightclubs, festivals, sports arenas and recording studios.
Her concert on Saturday — which came about after VAA’s executive director Molly Reed heard Wittman sing at a house concert — will be a return to those roots.
“I’ve always followed my creative muse and it has taken me down some alleyways,” Wittman said recently in a phone interview. “I’ve had curiosities about so many different mediums and I’ve given myself permission to follow them all and get inside them.”
But singing was Wittman’s first love, beginning with a childhood on a ranch in Idaho that was filled with voice lessons and public performances at weddings, funerals and talent shows.
She also studied opera in college before deciding to switch gears and work in the fashion industry — a career she pursued for several years before she decided to give music one more try.
Her professional music career in Seattle lasted almost a decade, and she joked that she nearly made a career of singing the National Anthem for Sonics, Mariners and Sounders games. She also sang countless commercial jingles and did backup vocals for many projects, including soundtracks for Jack McGovern Music Hall’s shows.
And while Wittman hasn’t sung professionally in recent years, she’s always kept her voice in shape, performing occasional house concerts and studying with acclaimed Seattle jazz singer Greta Matassa.
She’s also kept in close touch with some of the Northwest’s top jazz players, several of whom will join her onstage at the Blue Heron.
“I’m so privileged to have five really phenomenal musicians who will drop everything and come to Vashon,” Wittman said. “They show up and knock your socks off.”
Bill Anschell will play piano at the concert, and Rich Cole will play saxophone. Bassist Chris Symer, guitarist Milo Peter and drummer Jose Martinez will round out the band, and there will also be a special guest appearance by Wittman’s brother, fiddler John Peter Wittman.
Wittman said she has come up with a diverse set list that runs the gamut from jazz and pop standards to show tunes — a group of songs that Wittman said is deep inside her musical “comfort zone.”
“The bottom line for me is it that it is fun to introduce that part of myself to the Island,” Wittman added. “It was all of me for such a period of time.”
Rebecca Wittman, the latest singer in Vashon Allied Art’s Panache Jazz Series, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, at Blue Heron Art Center. Tickets are $16 and $19 and can be purchased at Blue Heron, Heron’s Nest, Books by the Way and www.brownpapertickets.com.
