Marin Jazz continues its newer collaboration with Larkspur’s Lark Theater this Saturday, March 21, as jazz musician Roberta Donnay & The Prohibition Mob take the stage at 7:30pm.
While there are many forms and interpretations of jazz, Donnay, a self-proclaimed “jazz head,” has found her voice in the earliest versions of jazz music.
Speaking from her home in Mill Valley, Donnay says, “I grew up listening to Billie Holiday and George Gershwin and all kinds of stuff. And then I heard Bessie Smith because I wanted to hear who Billie was listening to.” She adds, “I just got into that whole era, and it was so magical. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was just completely different because it’s before the American Songbook.” She was hooked.
Donnay grew up in the Washington, DC area and moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in music. But that path was a bit different from the paths many professional musicians are able to follow today. She explains that music classes just “weren’t something we could do” as a child, and everything she learned was self-taught, including guitar. The singer-songwriter route was the way she thought she was headed; alas, her attraction to the earliest jazz kept pulling her towards that sound.
“I was singing jazz since I was a little kid. And that was my first real love, jazz, and blues was like, that was my home,” Donnay says. From there, “I studied kind of more modern jazz and Brazilian jazz before that, and I’d studied a little bit of bebop.” All of this adds to her excitement for the March 21 show. This is because Marin Jazz shows act as fundraisers where 100% of the proceeds go to their “Future Stars” after school programs throughout Marin County.
It’s clear Donnay is moved by the intent of Marin Jazz, as she pauses with intention when starting to talk about their events benefitting local youth. “Having art. Oh my God … and that’s why I’m really excited about the show, because they’re doing a benefit to raise money for arts and music in the schools. I’m totally down with that,” she notes.
Donnay’s group, The Prohibition Mob, was formed in 2011 and signed with Motema Music, releasing “A Little Sugar” in 2012 and “Bathtub Gin” in 2015. They were then signed to Blujazz for the 2018 album, My Heart Belongs to Satchmo. The band has performed at a wide range of venues and festivals, including Birdland NYC, the Exit Zero Jazz Fest, San Jose Jazz, Jacksonville Jazz and the Berkshires Jazz Fest, in addition to appearing as guest artists at the Monterey Jazz Festival and Montreux Jazz Festival, among others.
As to what people can expect at the show, Donnay once again becomes clearly excited by what she brings to the stage. “It’s kind of like a theater performance,” she enthuses. “Years ago, I created a character from that era, like the 1920s, ’30s, like a gun moll kind of character from New York.”
When asked how or, better, why the need for this character, Donnay says it kind of came together in pieces, over time. She explains, “All the women that I had studied, they all had similar beginnings. Like, they were dancing on the street, and then they started singing, and then it was [strange] how a lot of stories were similar, and it was similar in a way to mine.”
For the March 21 gig at The Lark, the Prohibition Mob will be a 7-piece, including Donnay, with Mike Rinta on trombone, Michael Whiteley on piano, Mark Williams on bass, Mark Lee on drums, Danny Caron on guitar and Dave Johnson on trumpet.
For more information, check out marinjazz.com and robertadonnay.com.
