Antoinette Montague Embodies 'Jazz Woman To The Rescue'

As the youngest of seven growing up in Newark, New Jersey, Antoinette Montague would often spend her days listening to her mother sing. She remembers her sounding like Ella Fitzgerald—during her time, “The Queen of Jazz.”

It was those intimate concerts Ms. Montague witnessed as a child that pointed her down the career path of a jazz singer, carrying out her lifetime dream of performing, creating albums and making her mark on the genre.

“Being able to actually live the fantasy … is what I’m about,” Ms. Montague said last week during a telephone interview from her home in Connecticut. “You have to, at some point, focus on your passion.”

On Saturday night, Ms. Montague will open the fourth annual Parlor Jazz/Art of Song concert series at the Bridgehampton Museum Archives building, following in the footsteps of other jazz greats alongside pianist Jane Hastay, bassist Peter Martin Weiss and saxophonist Richie Scollo.

“What’s happened with [jazz], over the years, is it had to grow,” Ms. Montague said of the genre’s popularity resurgence. “But it still needs to be where all people live because jazz is very democratic. There are moments when you just feel it, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s original to the moment.”

Throughout her childhood and teen years, Ms. Montague’s music collection included the likes of Nat King Cole, The Ink Spots and Paul Robeson. She would visit the Newark Public Library on weekends just to listen to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington records. It wouldn't be until the 1990s that she found herself a mentor in Grammy-nominated jazz singer Etta Jones. Up until that point, she was performing concerts while studying at Seton Hall University in New Jersey–when she wasn’t sitting in on shows at local jazz clubs, where she sat, listened and learned.

Those days are long gone. Ms. Montague has traveled the globe, from Russia to Israel to South Korea, performing on stages big and small. One of her main focuses today is keeping jazz music alive and on the radar for younger audiences, much like the girl she once was.

Her current show “Jazz Woman to the Rescue” does just that, she said. A mixture of songs from her two albums, covers of tunes by Marvin Gaye, her mentor, Ms. Jones, and other jazz legends, as well as a taste of freestyle and rhythm and blues is a way for Ms. Montague to pay it forward and educate, she said.

“'Jazz Woman to the Rescue' speaks to put art and music back in the schools so that jazz can evolve and continue to grow,” Ms. Montague said. “It’s evolving, but it must encourage the public to take a stand so that we can continue to thrive. It’s bigger than me. It’s humbling.”

Antoinette Montague will perform “Jazz Woman to the Rescue” on Saturday, November 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Museum Archives building, as part of the fourth annual Parlor Jazz/Art of Song concert series. Tickets are $25 and $15 for museum members. Concerts will continue with Pamela Luss on January 14; Lisa Gary on February 6; Ada Rovatti on March 21; Darcey on April 18; and Houston Person on May 9. For more information, call (631) 537-1088 or visit bridgehamptonhistoricalsociety.org/parlor.html.