Fiona Ross celebrates Father’s Day early with her gorgeous and personal single and video For My Dad — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
A highlight of the award-winning jazz artist’s latest album Fierce and Non-Compliant, For My Dad is one of two pared-down productions that were completed in a stairwell.
“I wanted the production to reflect the honesty of the song: raw and real,” Ross confides. “This album ended up being a really personal journey, and this song just happened. I was going through my songwriting book and found a list of chords. I had no idea what they were for, and they had no lyrics with them. So I turned them into a song for my dad.
“Finding the album cover photo of me as a child made me reflect on my childhood and my upbringing,” she continues. “My parents always wanted me to be an artist, and my whole childhood was based on that. My mum wanted me to be the next Julie Andrews, even sending me to the same school, and my dad wanted me to be some kind of Judy Garland/Bette Davis combo. Now that I am finally doing my thing, I do find it sad that they can’t see it.”
Based in London and resonating throughout the international scene, Ross is known for her illustrative songwriting and unique fingerprint of sound that blends a Latin Jazz with vintage club styles, plus a touch of neo-soul for good measure. Fierce and Non-Compliant is not merely a sonic sojourn into her songwriting journal, but also her notes as an esteemed jazz journalist. “I’ve interviewed some incredible people,” she shares, including Maxine Gordon, Steve Gadd, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lynne Carrington, and Kyle Eastwood, to name a few. “I’d wanted to include some people on the album that have really inspired me as a person and as an artist. I was truly blown away they said yes.”
Since the age of two, there has rarely been a day for the award winning vocalist, pianist, composer, producer, educator, and journalist that hasn’t centred around music. Highlights include fibbing her age at 14 years old to elbow her way onto jazz club stages throughout London on weekends, and attending England’s prestigious Arts Educational School. As head of British Academy of New Music for nearly a decade, Ross is credited for having a hand in training the likes of Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, and Jess Glynne.
Ross has previously released Black, White and a Little Bit of Grey, Just Me (and sometimes someone else), and A Twist of Blue. But Fierce and Non-Compliant has been the contemporary virtuoso’s most challenging artistry yet, she says. This album “has been a huge challenge on many levels. I have reached into places I have just not been before … It has been emotional!”
Watch For My Dad above and connect with Fiona Ross via her website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
