Smooth as satin

L to R: Liz Tansey, Karen Bell, Donna Green and Ilana Waldston rehearse at Green's house.

By Michael Gibbons 

Not a lot of people are fortunate enough to live their dreams. For many, childhood aspirations take a backseat to life’s many cares and responsibilities. The Satin Dolls are an exception and they’re so happy about it they could sing.

For Donna Green, the originator of the group, that realization became crystal clear at a party. 
    

“At the end of the night, a bunch of women were hanging out in the kitchen, drinking wine. Four or five of them were lamenting: ‘As soon as I retire, as soon as my kids are gone, as soon as I have time…’ All these fantasies, if they had the time, if they had the energy, the will, the desire to go on and do these things they’ve always wanted to do,” Green said. “The Satin Dolls have gone and done that. We’ve pursued a dream that women talk about doing.”

For the Satin Dolls, that dream means being able to perform as part of an all-female vocal jazz quartet. The members are Green, Ilana Waldston, Karen Bell and Liz Tansey. All women are in their mid-40s to mid-50s and three out of the four are mothers. Green formed the original foursome about 12 years ago from the members of a parent-teacher choir at Montcrest School in Toronto.

They all have to balance the various parts of their professional and personal lives to be in the group. The quartet performs at private and community events. They’ve sold out venues across Toronto, including well-known clubs like Hugh’s Room and the Trane Studio.

Listen to the Satin Dolls' rendition of the 1945 hit Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy




Balancing music with the rest of their lives can get hectic at times, but the women manage.

“One of the women might be arranging for somebody else to take care of all the kid stuff at home while she takes off to meet us up at this gig… so it’s a constant juggling of our personal lives,” Green said.

For the Dolls, singing isn’t just a hobby. It’s a way of life.

“Singing is the main joy in my life,” said Tansey, the newest member of the group. “When the music’s right and I’m singing and people are listening… I just feel completely plugged in to the universe.”

For one member of the group, music symbolizes freedom. Bell spent 25 years in a relationship with a man who did not celebrate music. In fact, he did not want her to perform in bands at all. This was a sacrifice for Bell, who had been performing musically since she was five. Her husband allowed her to sing in the Amadeus Choir in Toronto, but she did not perform in bands.

“He was very jealous and insecure,” Bell said. “He didn’t like me singing in bars… and he didn’t want people looking at me.”

Bell still managed to use her singing as an outlet. She sang with her children and along to recordings at home. After her divorce, she dove headfirst back into the world of musical performance. Today, like the rest of the Satin Dolls, Bell performs in several music groups and can express herself artistically without any barriers.

“I feel very blessed and very lucky,” she said. “It’s like I’m afraid I’m going to wake up and it’s all a dream,” she said.
          
Vocal jazz is about taking several different voices and blending them into one sound. For the Dolls, this can occasionally be challenging. They sometimes disagree about arrangements and timing, but the group weathers any issues that arise between them.


“Whenever you’re creating something, there are going to be differences of opinion,” Waldston said. “But the fact of the matter is we get along well and we’re just not afraid to express our opinions as long as it’s in a respectful fashion. We work it out.”


Another challenge in the group has to do with a member’s disability. Green suffers from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which causes her to be visually impaired. While this can create problems for the group’s stage choreography, the Dolls find ways to work around Green’s condition. They incorporate movements such as locking arms in order to guide Green to where she needs to go. Green has also noticed that her disability can be a positive for her, musically.


“It makes for pretty sharp ears,” she said. “Pitch changes, timing changes, if there’s not a blend happening somewhere, I hear it all the time.”


Satin Dolls are four women from four diverse backgrounds, but they’ve managed to find each other, live their dreams and make music that they find rewarding.


“You can’t make that sound by yourself,” Waldston said. “When it clicks, when it’s in the pocket and it’s working, it’s yummy. It’s absolutely yummy.”