10 Questions with Tecora Rogers

10 Questions with Tecora Rogers

Date Posted: January 09 2010

Written By: chicago jazz

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Gospel, Blues, Jazz and more that pretty much describes Chicago vocalist Tecora Rogers repertoire list. This Chicagoan has roots in Chicago but most of her performances these days are in other countries.

Audiences in Russia, Italy, cities in Europe and even Singapore have heard and seen Tecora perform her unique vocal stylings. Chicago Jazz Magazine recently sat down with Tecora to discuss how she has managed to develop her music and her career not only in Chicago but throughout the world.

CJM: When did you first become interested in becoming a vocalist?

Tecora Rogers: Well, I guess I just have to take it back to church. I was in the choir at my church, I grew up in church. I think I've been a member of the choir for as long as I can remember. In fact, I can't remember going to church and not being in the choir. I was really young.

I can remember being in the little kids choir at church. That is probably what got me interested in becoming a vocalist. A few years later I remember my sixth grade teacher standing next to me when we were singing the national anthem, and she told me I had a nice voice. I think that's probably the first time someone outside of my church telling me they thought I had a nice voice.

I never really had any formal training either during those years. The director of my choir at church was like any other church director, and they would just tell us to sing real loud. I don't know how familiar you are with the Baptist church, but when I was a kid in church we would have choir rehearsal once a week.

Than there was always some sort of programs going on, and so when I was a kid I was probably in church at least four or five days a week. Also each time I was there I was singing so I got a lot of practice during those years. It is probably why I can sing for hours and hours at a time without my voice ever becoming strained.


CJM: Singing so much gospel music at an early age did it naturally push you into jazz?

Tecora Rogers: My mother did not allow me to do any other music other than gospel. I could barely even listen to a radio in the house unless it was on a gospel station. So I really liked that music, but she was just really strict, and you just didn't mess with my mother. The only time I got to listen to other music was when I was out. I did not sing any other music probably until I was nearing thirty. I was grew up in an environment where my voice was a gift from God, and if I used it for anything else, I'd lose it.

When you grow up like that, that's what you believe. So it took me a long time to move away from that. I didn't get in to blues. In fact I didn't care a lot for blues, because it was just so depressing. And gospel is so uplifting, you are happy, its good music. But once I started singing jazz, it almost took over. In fact, at the rate that I learned the jazz standards, I ended up knowing more jazz music than gospel.

CJM: Take me back, so if you didn't really start singing jazz until thirty, what transpired for you to realize that you aren't going to lose your voice if you start singing jazz?

Tecora Rogers: I always liked jazz, it wasn't like I was in a cocoon. I was singing more R&B before I started singing jazz. That didn't hit me the way jazz did. I was in the era of Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, all of those. I was exposed to the music, and I liked it. There was something about jazz that became apart of my soul. It was like gospel was, but more. Once I started singing jazz, it just became apart of me. I wondered why I didn’t start doing this long ago. It takes me back to the fact I was kind of brainwashed. Once I started, I was out of the country. I sat in at a club in Singapore, I was actually there for work. My husband was with me, and I was actually taking a client out for drinks. We were walking, and I heard this woman singing, and I said “That's some good music in there, lets stop here.”
My husband told them I was a vocalist. The woman who was performing said, “People always come in here and always say they sing, and when I give them the mic it’s a disaster.” We were sitting next to the stage, and she was singing Stand By Me. When she got to the bridge, she said now I hear we have a singer in the audience, and hands me the mic, or holds it down to me, doesn't even hand it to me. I began to sing the bridge, and everybody loved it. A woman in the audience was from the Regent Hotel Singapore, and asked me if I would be interested in doing three months at the hotel. I said sure, I knew some jazz songs at that point but I didn't really have a repertoire. I didn’t tell her that however. When I returned home from the business trip I really pulled my repertoire together. I started performing at the Regent Hotel in November of that year and did that for three months. That led to another contract, and I ended up never going back to work.


CJM: Had you ever performed out of the country before this gig?

Tecora Rogers: At my day job I was the director of this division called Transition. The company I worked with did outsourcing and I was upfront with them when I took that job. I told them that I would need to take all six weeks of my vacation at once because in my twenties I was touring doing gospel every year. The job I had loved me, and so they had no reason not to allow me to go on tour and take the vacation time.


CJM: How did you get your first gig and what was it the experience like to perform outside the United States?

Tecora Rogers: Well I was at the hair dresser, and my pager went off, so I called the number back and it happened to be this woman who lived around the corner from me. Her sister was a vocalist who used to perform with the Clara Ward Singers, a famous gospel group. She had a contact in Switzerland who called to see if she would be interested in putting a gospel group together to tour Europe. She called me to see if I would be interested in going on the tour and of course I said yes. That’s haw I actually got started touring.

The very first tour we did lasted seven weeks. I couldn't believe it. I was dying. (laughs) It was really really tough because the tour wasn't put together really well. Although we would get paid we had to also pay for our own meals and because we had no idea where we were we always ended up eating at the hotels which were the most expensive places. Most of the money I made went back into meals and other expenses. I didn't know how to pack, and we had to carry all our bags, it was unbelievable. A lot of the churches in Europe are very cold in the winter because they are very old. The Catholic cathedrals weren't built for people to sit in for hours at a time. We would go to perform in these churches and they would be freezing, it was wild! With every experience you have, you learn something so the next year I knew how to pack and the tour manager built the meals into the package.


CJM: Now you are obviously touring and putting tours together yourself with your own groups. Do you think it is important and does it help you as a artist to perform in other countries rather then just in Chicago?

Teocra Rogers: A primary reason is that people know me now outside of Chicago. It is really tough for me to get work only in Chicago. Chicago is just saturated with a lot of great singers it's difficult to pick up gigs here, plain and simple. In order for me to sustain myself, I go on these tours. The biggest problem is that when I'm gone for a long time, I lose ground at home. I'm almost grasping for a ledge on a smooth wall in Chicago. I'm almost to the top, and than I go on tour and I'm back at the bottom here. That's been my biggest challenge here. It's not so much that I want to go, but because I have performed throughout Europe and Russia people know me in those country’s and they call me for tours. I'm getting ready to go to Israel and I will be back in Russia next year as well. My name has gotten out there on that circuit which is great. I got three tours already scheduled for next year. I would love to be able to do more at home, it's pretty nailed down. It's tough to break in and get involved with some of the established places here. I've almost given it up.

CJM: From my experience actually traveling and performing in other states and country’s actually help to build more of a buzz in your hometown when you come back and perform. Have you found that to be true?

Tecora Roger: Yeah, and the thing is too I just don't really like doing the clubs. My background as be discussed earlier is very heavily placed in the church. When I was younger I didn't really frequent clubs. I don’t really like performing in clubs especially not all the time so when I do things here in Chicago, they are usually private engagements or something along those lines. I enjoy that much more than just doing a club.

CJM: Are you able to support yourself with all the traveling and performing?

Tecora Rogers: I am actually making much more money doing a tour than I could playing here in Chicago. Plus I’m getting much fairly well known outside of the U.S. as well. I'm getting a pretty good name in Russia, I'm always on T.V. so I am becoming pretty familiar to the people there. I also have some interest in a Russian record company that would like me to do a recording in the next year so I am working on that. I guess you go where you get attention. That's what is happening in Russia.

CJM: You mentioned Russia, I think you are performing and teaching fairly regularly in Russia. How did that come about?

Tecora Rogers: A friend of mine told me that a woman was looking to bring someone over to Russia who could teach and perform gospel music. This friend of mine was unable to do it so she referred the contact over to me. That is how I began traveling to teach and perform in Russia. The first time I went to Russia it was for three weeks. I worked with three different choirs and taught them fifteen songs each. Just about everyone in the choir didn’t speak a word of English. The rehearsals were from 6pm-11pm everyday but all of the choir members wanted private lessons in addition to the rehearsals at night. So I ended up working from 10am – 11pm everyday teaching private lessons during the day and the choirs at night. The members would beg me for private lessons so what was I going to do because I was only there for three weeks. It was an unbelievable experience.

CJM: Are you heading back to Russia in 2010?

Tecora Rogers: This coming year I am scheduled to go over to Russia four times. Actually in January I will be heading to Tele Aviv and then to Russia. The exciting thing is that no3 times and I am getting ready to leave and head to Tele Aviv and then off to Russia. Normally I go by myself but this coming year I am able to bring my band with for the fist time. I have always used local musicians who are not bad musicians plus I have my charts but it is still different. When you are playing with experienced musicians in the states you can sort of feel where they are going to go in the tune and all the musicians work together. In Russia the locals don’t have that same feel. If it isn’t on the chart they don’t follow you. You have to be very careful that the charts reflect real endings. It will be great to have my regular band with me this next trip.

For more information on Tecora Rogers visit: www.tecorarogers.com

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