Kayla Arthur, 2020 graduate of Philadelphia’s High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) is heading to Berkelee School of Music this Fall on a full scholarship for jazz vocal studies. She began studying jazz seriously three years ago at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts. Kayla says, “I had listened to jazz before because of my parents introducing [me] to different genres but I never considered singing jazz before.”
Kayla, whose mother, Erika Arthur, is a church choir director and father, Kevin Arthur, is a renown bassist and music producer, remembers choir rehearsals with a lot of older people, and “dad operating the [backing] track to the song” while she sang at her middle school talent show. She enthusiastically recalls a myriad of rich artistic expressions growing up including music, art and poetry.
Amazingly, it wasn’t until Kayla began training at the Clef Club that she was introduced to the experience of music collaboration with instrumentalists. She shares, “when I was first at the Clef Club it was really different,” this was her first experience of “learning how to talk to people and communicate [musical] ideas.” Very different from working with a backing track. During her studies at the Clef Cub she was introduced to scatting, improvisation, breathing techniques, and the concept of treat singing with the musician like a conversation, which was a new and fun concept to her. “I just kind of found magic in that,” she says.
Kayla extends special shout outs to her Clef Club teachers including Marcell Bellinger, Henri McMillan, Jr., Sherry Butler, Raimundo Santos, and Lovett Hines. Coming from a musical family and her time at the Clef Club is what led Kayla to pursue vocal jazz studies as a career. With her dad being a Clef Club alumnus himself, Kayla shares, “my dad has been my primary inspiration when it came to want to be a musician as a career.”
Kayla expresses that, God has given her the gift of song and that resonated most with her heart. The warmth, tone and sincerity of her instrument as a vocalist promises a strong future in the jazz world. Kayla sees herself as a performer, writer and arranger, “I really just want to do music for the rest of my life,” Kayla says.