Life’s a gig “Life’s a gig, it don’t pay much but it costs a lot.” I said that at a party one evening, whispered it imitating Miles Davis. We all laughed. Truth is, life has offered me a lot. All I’ve ever wanted was to sing this beautiful music and make a living from it. I never thought I would also find family. Community. This album is meant to represent exactly that. Just family coming together singin tunes we’ve sung countless times before. I feel truly blessed to know Chris McCarthy (piano) and Kayla Williams (Viola - Jolene & Fall in Love With Me in Fall). They both carry this music with such integrity and ease. I want to flower my family with love. Arleen Simmons Gould and Hollis Gould are directly responsible for the voice that you hear on this album. Without their support and unending love, well, this gig called “life” would be undesirable, and without swing. My brother Victor Gould, also my favorite musician and composer, handed me my first Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong album- the rest is history. He is not just my confidant, but he paved the path forme, as well. From middle school in Simi Valley, California to the New York Jazz scene, his extraordinary expertise and reputation has inspired me. Life’s a Gig. A pretty damn good gig.

—Vanisha Gould


Our first duo session was September 2016. I had just moved to New York City three weeks prior. One of the tune’s we tried that first session was Vanisha’s classic “Now That You’re Here,” and the lyrics represent how I felt then, and still feel about all the possibilities of playing together: “Now that you’re here, we should get to know each other. A life time of love is something we should both discover. Believe me my dear, if I had known you were here, we would have started this thing long ago.” I only wish we had started playing sooner. Seven years and thousands of playing hours later, you’re holding our first record. Every gig big or small has deepened our musical connection and led to this collection of our favorite tunes. These songs in Vanisha’s voice become stories you can’t look away from. Every musical choice I make when we play together is an attempt to complement the genius in every note sung. With Vanisha, the duo format is where I can be most free and myself, with ideals of beauty and swing shared coequally. Thank you to Jordi Pujol for believing in this project, to
for her unwavering support and beautiful playing on “Jolene” and “Fall in Love With Me in Fall,” to my family for everything, to every venue that ever had us perform so we could hone our craft, and to Vanisha for being a musical partner for the ages. Life’s a gig worth playing when you’re on it.

—Chris McCarthy