Is it ever too late to become a professional jazz performer?
Apparently not. Rochelle House began her music career while studying at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, California, in the 1980s. Then, she raised her four children. In fact, she’s still doing that – is a mother’s work ever done?
She had options, she says: “I thought about all the different things that I could be: a teacher, a therapist, a corporate ladder climber.
“But I knew that I was coming into the game at an age when many people are changing their careers. They have grown mature enough to realize that they should be doing what they are called to do, rather than what seemed like the appropriate choice.
“So since I was starting my career about 20 years later I should make my career change now. Do what I really wanted to be doing now.
House now performs regularly at jazz venues around Seattle. In 2005, she made her debut CD, Dreams of Love, with Marc Seales as co-producer. In addition to being one of the finest jazz pianists in the region, Seales is a professor of music at the University of Washington.
The disc even earned House a vocalist-of-the-year nomination in the 2006 Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards, as well as a spot on the roster of the Earshot Jazz Festival.
Now, House has established herself on the local scene, in part through her own record label, House Records . House established it to release Dreams of Love, and has now begun to produce music by emerging local artists. She also has her own Orchard School of Music where she teaches singing to all types of singers.
It is in the spirit of programs like that that House crafts her music, she says. Jazz can be, she firmly believes, more than just beautiful art; it can also be a positive force in the world. As one of her compositions puts it: Every child born has come to save the world,Ask any little boy or any little girl. Maybe we should show them how.Maybe we should show them howto save the world.
“Music affects people, emotionally and spiritually, and at an unconscious level,” House says. “Politics is the public face. Politicians can’t really speak their minds. They are trying too hard to not ruffle any feathers. Singers can speak to the people and get a message across that might not be possible by any other means. That’s what I think anyway. Art is really what changes beliefs.