ENTERTAINMENT

By sharing her story, Columbus jazz singer Jess Baldwin also found her 'voice'

Peter Tonguette
Special to The Columbus Dispatch
Singer Jess Baldwin

It takes courage for any artist to step on stage.

Singers must hit the right notes; actors have to hit the right marks.

For central Ohio jazz and soul singer Jess Baldwin, though, performing for the public represents a special sort of fearlessness.

The 40-year-old native of Bluefield, West Virginia, grew up in a household that did not encourage self-expression.

“There were some mental health issues in my family, and we were also a very religious family,” said Baldwin, who will perform Thursday at Natalie’s Coal-Fired Pizza and Live Music in Worthington.

As a youth, Baldwin said, she felt the pressure to suppress her feelings for the benefit of others.

“The religious messaging often was that self-sacrifice was the way to be a good person,” she said. “That (is) part of why I didn’t write music for a long time, I think — just because that required me feeling like I actually was allowed to have a voice.”

Baldwin, who received music degrees from Alderson Broaddus University in Philippi, West Virginia, and Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, initially pursued a career in music education, offering private voice and piano lessons in Marietta, where she moved in 2006.

Slowly but surely, she began performing herself — first covers of songs by others and, in time, her own original songs.

“I started realizing that part of what I loved doing is connecting with people on a pretty intimate level,” she said. “That also included me sharing about myself and my story through music.”

In 2019, Baldwin moved to Columbus to become part of the area jazz scene, though, due to the pandemic, Thursday’s concert will be her first since last summer.

“It’s been a minute,” she said.

See Jess Baldwin at Natalie's on Thursday

Reflecting an announcement made Tuesday, Natalie’s is requiring proof of a completed vaccination (or a negative COVID-19 test result 48 hours before entry) to attend. The venue is also strongly recommending all attendees to wear masks except while eating or drinking. The venue’s website, www.nataliescoalfiredpizza.com, should be consulted for the latest policies.

Baldwin will perform with bassist Will Strickler, drummer Andy Hall and guitarist Ryan Kennedy. As part of a “2021 Summer in Ohio Tour,” the quartet will also perform in Marietta on Friday and Tiffin on Saturday.

Past and difficult emotions color Baldwin's latest album

All three concerts will preview selections from her forthcoming debut record, tentatively titled “Anima,” the production of which is being supported by a Kickstarter campaign to raise $10,000.

Songs to be performed Thursday include personal testaments such as “Home.”

“It has some vignettes of some of the actual feelings of developmental and religious trauma, and then recovering from those and finding my own space, my own home within myself,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin will also perform several covers, including her arrangement of “Over the Rainbow” that is likely to sound more soulful than the tune listeners will recognize from “The Wizard of Oz.”

“The original has such a hopeful tone to it,” Baldwin said. “Being in that space of wanting to be wherever over the rainbow is might feel a little melancholy, a little murky, even as you’re trying to be hopeful about what might be on the other side.”

For Baldwin, though, there’s nothing but hope about the next step in her career: With her album close to being fully funded on Kickstarter, she hopes to be recording as early as next month for an anticipated release in January.

Whether in concert or in a recording, Baldwin is glad to have reached a place where she can express who she is by singing for others.

“Other people ... come up and they (say), ‘Thank you so much — that is exactly what I’ve gone through,’” she said. “That makes it very much worth it.”

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Singer Jess Baldwin

Where: Natalie’s Coal-Fired Pizza and Live Music, 5601 N. High St., Worthington

Contact: 614-436-2625, www.nataliescoalfiredpizza.com

When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday

Tickets: $15