One depressing trend emerging from some of my recent artist interviews—specifically those profiling younger women—is a fear that they will become unemployably elderly before reaching middle age. After battling for recognition all through music school, winning industry accolades and rave reviews, female singers and musicians in their twenties worry that turning forty will present a hard stop on ever being booked again. They can’t all be Diana Krall, as double JUNO-winner Caity Gyorgy told me.
They can’t all be Masumi Ormandy, either—but this Japanese jazz songstress should offer hope to any younger diva suffering career fatalism. Ormandy worked as an interpreter of songs, receiving vocal training at conservatories in Japan and the US. After a career break, she co-founded the Pacific Language School with husband Ray and taught English to students of all ages. Finally, at the tender age of 77, she returned to her musical interests and recorded debut jazz album Sunshine in Manhattan.
Making up for lost time, Beyond the Sea is Ormandy’s fifth studio release in seven years, recorded at the age of 84. It continues her love affair with the Great American Songbook—as well as her dalliances with Japanese folk favorites and popular romantic ballads. Ormandy’s voice is sweet, soft, and slightly tremulous, but not frail for, while she may not manage the power that a younger vocal
