Valle, with her R&B/pop/soul musical style, will be taking the stage at the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival for the second year in a row.
Denise Valle performs at the Summer Solstice Party at the Remai Modern on Saturday, June 22, 2019. Alexa Lawlor / jpg
The first time Denise Valle performed at the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival — on the free stage in the park in 2018 — the Saskatoon-based singer-songwriter wore an outfit given to her by her mother.
Out in the audience along the river, her family was there to see her sing.
“My grandma was there — that was a really big deal, she lives in California,” Valle said. “That was really special. She’d never really heard me sing before.”
Valle’s music is fusion, and a soulful fusion at that. Her songs encompass elements of soul, R&B and old-school Motown styles she grew up with. As Valle puts it, she’s only been pursuing music as more than just a hobby for a couple of years.
This year, with the free stage now moved onto the big main stage in the Bessborough Gardens, Valle is back performing at the festival. And she’s very aware of the size of the new venue.
“As you start to develop more of a desire to be onstage and performing, you begin to have venues you check off as goals or dreams,” Valle said. “Each year has really been like a check mark of a dream come true.”
Music has always been a part of her life, dating back to her early years growing up in what she referred to as a “Latin household.” Valle’s parents are originally from El Salvador, and then moved to California — where Valle was born — before moving again to Rosthern, Sask. when Valle was still a baby.
Valle said she fondly remembers days when her parents woke her in the morning for a “cleaning day” in the house, and the music was already blaring to make the task fun instead of a chore.
“My mom always said if she had music playing it made that task bearable and fun,” she said. “I find myself always having it on throughout my day. I just love it. It’s a soundtrack to everything.”
Valle said she tries to pay tribute in her songs to the music she grew up with — the music her parents always played when they were cleaning the house or dancing around the living room. She has a hard time pinning down her own genre, but wanted to fuse the “old soul vibe” she grew up with and newer R&B/pop styles, she said.
“To be able to blend those styles, that’s what you’ll see in the live shows.”
Valle took music lessons during her childhood and picked up more music education and performing experience at Rosthern Junior College — well known for its performing arts programs. But it wasn’t until a couple of years ago and some successful concerts in Saskatoon that she really started to consider a music career as a possibility.
Since then, she has been on a steady upward trajectory in the Saskatoon music scene: she performed on the free stage at last year’s jazz festival; she’ll be there again this year on the bigger stage; her new single, Lesser Love, just debuted in May; and she’s working on getting music together for an album release.
She also sang at the Remai Modern’s recent Summer Solstice Party — with Questlove of The Roots stepping in late in the evening as a DJ.
Valle is just scraping the surface of a performing career, but that doesn’t mean her aspirations are small. If all goes well, the jazz festival could be the first of many steps toward a successful music career.
“I can’t travel to the entire world — but my music can,” she said. “I really want to focus to record something, to express … and hopefully have more opportunities to travel the world and share that music with people.”