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Tucker loves Ella Fitzgerald, but if she’s been influenced by any singer that maybe called a jazz singer, it’s Dina Washington. "She’s got that kind of deep gospel blues thing that she’s just able to throw in tastefully--not to excess. I'm not a huge improviser, but I’m really inspired by listening to her. I love Nancy Wilson, and I love Sarah Von. I've listened to her since I was in college. But Mel Torme is my favorite singer. I guess our paths maybe somewhat similar in that he started out as a standard singer, and evolved into a true improviser and a true jazz singer. I don’t know if I ever see myself going quite as far as he did in exploring the genre, but he does provide that inspiration to me; to know that it's possible to make that shift--that transition."

Tucker arrived in Nashville, Tennessee, about five years ago to pursue music. She started out singing in the church when her father got her and her six siblings together and stuck them behind a microphone. Her mother taught them harmony, and that's where Tucker cut her musical teeth. “The church is proving ground; it prepares you for almost anything, and that's my musical foundation,“ said Tucker in an interview with The World From Here. Singing runs definitely Tucker’s family. That's her families stock and trade.

Tucker is also very passionate about story telling. She is involved in film and writes as well. "I can tell stories with music and with film." In mostly anything she pursues, there’s a sort of the common thread that unites it all. That’s what she says life is in and of itself. "It is a story. There's narrative in everything."

The World is full of great singers in a class of their own, and Jazz singer Dara Tucker, is definitely classified among the great jazz singers of the world. Even though jazz is technically Tucker’s style, her voice can easily fit any genre of music........

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A Great Jazz Singer and More

Growing up Tucker loved old musicals. If there was a fuzzy AM radio station playing really corny music of the 50, Tucker said she would find it. She spent a lot of time hunting through different radio stations looking for the music that she loved. "I wasn't actually allowed to listen to secular music growing up; it was something to do on the down low." While she grew up with all kinds of amazing music around her, she somehow ended up locking in on jazz music. "Jazz is kind of an amalgam of the corny stuff. I don’t want to call it corny, but it’s the Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, the Nat King Cole stuff, but then, it also had that element of soul and blues, and at its roots, it's black music."

"That's what I grew up singing. That was in me; it was undeniable. Fusing those two forms of music together was eye-opening. I've been introduced to so much, even since I've been here in Nashville. I came here as strictly a standard singer from the tradition of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney where you really don't hear a lot of improvisation. You more just hear the melody sung sort of straight, and maybe a few liberties are taken here and there. But just being exposed to the people and environments that I’ve been exposed to, has enabled me to explore the genre of jazz music."

Posted: February 18th, 2010

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"I love the melody that distinguishes me from a true jazz singer. A jazz singer begins with the concept of improvisation. You may not hear them sing the melody straight at all. But when you hear me sing, you probably hear it sung straight at lease one-time. For me, what I’m attempting to access is what I grew up with; it’s that soulful spiritual thing that comes from a deep place--you can't teach that. It can be conveyed whether you are singing spiritual music or if you're singing secular or what ever it is. I've had people tell me that they really felt that they were touched after they heard me sing, whether I was singing about God or not. You can find something in that music that can speak to people on a deeper level."

In reference to the songs on her new CD title "Dara Tucker: All Right Now", Dara said, the songs from that era came from a pure place. They were first poetry and then they were set to music. "You begin with the songs, and the songs that speak to me, come from a pure place. I was raised not only in the church, but in the Word of Faith Church. Everything you say has meaning; the words you speak have power, they carry something. You don’t just sing or say something without thought behind it. You really focus on what it is that you're actually communicating. I tend to gravitate towards songs with a strong message; something that I can identify with, that I lock into, something that resonates with my spirit. When you leave my concerts, I want you to feel good. I want you to feel better than when you came."

Tucker says she is still a work in progress; she's been exploring some deeper things spiritually; really trying to get to the core of why she is here. "The focus is to find out why I am on the earth, and to embrace what it is-- the good and bad stuff. Hopefully the bad stuff will get better. But everything that's there is there for a reason. So I'm really attempting to just kind of go with the flow and say: let the river lead you where it's trying to take you without to many diversions. It's just a time of growth, exploitation and revelation. It is a really an exciting time in my life."