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Drawing from a multihued palate of 60s cool jazz, bossa nova, New Orleans swing, and bittersweet piano ballads, Boise, Idaho artist Vashti Summervill delivers a finely crafted set of original songs on her debut album as a solo artist. At turns languid and sweetly swinging, Summervill’s luminous, honeyed voice dances through a melodic rainbow immaculately arranged by an array of top-notch musicians. Hypnotic, beguiling, and eminently timeless, Put My Love in a Picture will enchant both serious students of the jazz canon and folks who just dig a good tune equally. 

While Summervill is classically trained (holding both a BA and MM in vocal performance) and has lived a life steeped in music, she had not been drawn to write her own songs until early 2017. After college, she spent several years as a musical theater performer, including stints at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle Civic Light Opera, Bumbershoot, and the Oregon Cabaret Theatre. After arriving in Boise, she began teaching music, and founded both the Open Door Children’s Theater and Open Door Music Studio. She also co-founded and co-directed the BIG (Boise Intergenerational) Choir for nine seasons. 

Driven to uplift those around her, Summervill is also the founder of Family Healing Pathways, providing coaching and therapeutic consulting for parents. She is the co-chair of the St. Luke’s Pediatric Family Advisory Council – representing families with children hospitalized due to a mental health crisis – and has served on the board of the Idaho Suicide Prevention Coalition. 

As is sometimes the case with reluctant creatives, it soon came clear that the Muse was tired of waiting. Summervill was asked to participate in an event called “Sisters in Songwriting” being staged for the Idaho Songwriters Association. While mulling over the request she was announced as participating. “I felt stuck” she relates.  “I wrote five songs in six weeks for that show.”

Always a lover of jazz standards, Summervill began studying with pianist Jonny May (Lin Manuel Miranda.) It would not be hyperbole to say their work together changed her life. “I am finally finding my own voice” she says. “I have had to work hard to un-program some of the stuff that was drilled into me from so much formal study.” 

To help realize her vision, Summervill turned to some of the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Produced by Sophie Price, the record features performances by pianist Marina Albero (L’Arpeggiata), bassists Dean Schmidt (Pat Boone) and Paul Gabrielson (Mingus Big Band), and drummer Ben Smith (HEART). RL Heyer handled guitar, while saxophonist Sam Landsman and trumpeter Jerome Smith (Arturo Sandoval) provided eloquent brass.  

Put My Love in a Picture was born in a time when the world is hard and sad. While undeniably uplifting, the record is not built on unmoored positivity. “In the midst of all that is going on in the world, I am trying to dwell in possibility and my music helps me to do just that” she explains. Put My Love in a Picture is an entreaty to finding empathy; both for the self and for others. “This journey of being human is not for the weak!” says Summervill. “You can view any interaction as an opportunity to connect and make the world feel gentler for whoever crosses your path. So, while we acknowledge the trials humanity is facing and imagine better days, we must look at ways we can participate in bringing those days to fruition. The album is an expression of how I hold all of this and work with it in my own life. Life is hard for everyone. Yet sometimes what is possible is closer than we think.”

A record of compassion and insight wrapped in glowing melody, Put My Love in a Picture pulls in the listen and gently sets them at ease. Timeless yet very much of the moment, the record is a welcome oasis of gentle humanity is the ever-churning sea of contemporary reality.