Catching up with Julie Monley during Women’s History Month

Denver native Julie Monley has been in the business for over forty years belting out great jazz tunes. Whether you catch her at the Muse Performance Space, La Cour or any other venue around town, you will know why she won a best jazz vocalist prize during her time living in Paris.

I reached out to her recently and asked her some questions regarding her love of jazz, some of her sheroes, her thoughts on jazz and more.

What were your first thoughts on Jazz?

“Jazz in the beginning was just a word for me. It sounded like something serious that I could attach myself to. I wanted to work hard at something because I had never excelled in school. Jazz musicians appeared to me to be people who taught themselves. That appealed to me because I was sort of a loner. I did work hard in all sorts of strange ways. Making myself sing along to LP’s for a certain amount of time every day using timers.”

“I tried to memorize horn lines and solos. I got rid of all my LP ‘s that were not what I considered jazz. I made myself go to jam sessions and sit in. Usually very painful experiences. But I was in training. A real idealist in my own strange way.”

“My true formal training in music came much later at Metropolitan State where I finished a music degree in 2014. But I think my purist jazz moments and feelings have come out of those early boot camp years that I made up for myself. I really had a burning desire, which to me is the single most important thing.”

Who are some of your jazz Sheroes?

My favorites include Marlena Shaw, Sarah Vaughn and especially Betty Carter. For a long time I wanted to BE Elis Regina or maybe Lannie Hall, I would only sing Brazilian.

What else would you like people to know about you?

“I lived for a time in Portland Oregon and worked at the Helm, a Local jazz club there. I was 21 years old then. Nancy King was a regular there as was Jim Pepper. That club was very inspirational for me.”

More in depth information about Julie is at her website.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tOV7y94DY