Our second women in entertainment feature of 2016 focuses on Boca Gambale, Canadian born singer and songwriter, wife of jazz legend Frank Gambale and lead vocalist of the smooth jazz fusion band Soulmine.
I first met this amazing artist almost 20 years ago when I was writing for my first major publication, Music Connection Magazine. I received an assignment to review a show at The Temple Bar, a legendary LA music venue in Santa Monica. At the time she was performing with a trio called Boca. I immediately fell in love with her music and had this to say about the performance: “Boca has the whole package that includes solid songwriting, looks, voice and killer arrangements. This rising artist has a promising future.”
Boca is the youngest of four children and had a deep desire to play the piano at an early age. Her father recognized his daughter’s innate talent and found her a private teacher, setting her career path into motion. From the time she was 10, Boca composed songs that gave voice to her inner-most thoughts and allowed her to explore her innate sense of rhythm.
Life’s negative circumstances fueled Boca’s artistry and her need to escape into the world of music and expression, and she began to sing. Her strong, confident voice suggested a singer who was much older than 13 and she began to perform professionally at both corporate and public functions like the Young Teens Woman’s Awareness Conference and the CHIN Radio Benefit for the Homeless. She continued to perform and write with original groups in the Toronto are all through her high school years. “It gave me the opportunity for self expression and helped me determine my own sound,” explained Boca.
She attended the highly acclaimed Jazz Program at Humber College School of Creative and Performing Arts in Toronto, graduating with high honors. Although she was initially accepted to study voice and classical theory background, she thrived on studying composition and arrangement and spent her free time performing and recording with the school’s premier 13-piece R&B funk ensemble. She also began to sing and dance with various authentic Latin jazz groups, performing in many summer festivals, including the Harbourfront Latin Jazz Series in Toronto, the Concert of Colors in Detroit and the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles, where she displayed her chops comfortably in three to four languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and African dialects.
Boca feels that songwriting is a direct channel to the heart, that to enter the realm of musical creation is to tap an endless flow of inspiration. Boca’s songs provide her with an intense experience of catharsis and release. “It’s a process of osmosis” she explains, “I deal with raw emotion. That’s where the strength and power is.” Her creative strength lies in her intuitive approach. When she writes, she allows an emotional propulsion to lead her to the final result. Each song is imbued with her fiery, yet subtle energy. “The best compliment someone can give me about my music, is that they feel it,” she says. Boca blends elements of blues and jazz into an organic , soulful mix. The sound is accessible and passionate, what she likes to call “a little bit a this, a little bit a that, mixed with a lotta somethin’ somethin’, and then you get me!”
She released her first CD, Edge of the Night in 2005, joining forces with long time friend and Juno Award winning producer Marco Luciani, who co-wrote the song “Overdrive” on the multi-platinum Dirty Dancing. The CD received rave reviews from both the press and fans, and her single “Morning, Noon and Night” received steady airplay on smooth jazz stations. The title track was also chosen as the featured theme song for the documentary Unsung Heroes, and was produced by Antonio Soave (Capistrano Films) and Doug Deluca ( Producer- Jimmy Kimmel Live), with instrumental score by Bruce Miller (composer of the theme song from TV’s Frasier. She also performed on Canada AM, the Canadian version of Good Morning America.
It was shortly after this that Boca first met Gambale at the renowned Baked Potato jazz venue in Los Angeles. She began touring with his band in the summer of 2010 throughout Europe, performing to large audiences and delivering memorable shows. Their first CD together, Frank Gambale Soulmine feat. Boca was released in 2012.
When asked about her work on Soulmine, Boca replied,” Soulmine is a reflection of all the best parts of me. It is always an enormous pleasure for me to record an album. To write and record an album with such a phenomenal talent as Frank, and write about life, love and hope . . . is exceeding my expectations of ‘love in action.’ My present life is nothing short of being ‘in dreams awake’”
Boca is currently working on her sophomore solo release, as well as the next Soulmine album with Frank Gambale, set to be released in the summer of 2016. Upcoming shows include appearances at The Baked Potato and Catalina Bar and Grill in Los Angeles, as well as concerts in Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and China.
For more info about this amazing artist, check her out on Facebook and her soon to be updated website.