Shaynee Rainbolt grew up in Albany, not far from Solano Avenue’s boutiques, restaurants and Tibetan tchotchke shops. With no jazz club to be found there, it’s all the more amazing Rainbolt grew up to become a jazz singer par excellence.
Now the New York-based Jewish chanteuse returns to her native East Bay for a show at Oakland jazz nightspot Yoshi’s on Sept. 15.
Though a fixture on the Manhattan jazz circuit, this will be no ordinary concert for Rainbolt. She
will perform songs by Gina and Russell Garcia, the latter a veteran film scorer and composer of jazz
classics recorded by stars such as Anita O’Day and Frances Faye.
Even better, the 92-year-old, Oakland-born Russell will accompany her as conductor of an ensemble that includes his trademark four trombones.
“Russell writes these gorgeous melodies,” Rainbolt says, “but [his music] is also very sophisticated.”
Rainbolt recently recorded “Charmed Life,” an album of songs written and arranged by Garcia. Though he lives in New Zealand, Garcia comes to California often, which is where he met and worked with his new admirer.
Rainbolt herself has plenty of wandering in her background. Her mother was born in Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia, into a Sephardic Jewish family. Worried about the coming Nazi invasion, Rainbolt’s grandfather spirited the family out of the country.
“They stuffed my mother’s doll with money and jewelry, pretended to go on a picnic and never went back,” Rainbolt recounts. “She was told not to lose her doll or say she was Jewish. They hid in the hills, and were eventually caught by Italians.”
Though confined in a prison camp in southern Italy, the family was ultimately saved from the death camps by the Haven Project, which took part in the liberation of Europe. After the war, her mother’s family ended up in, of all places, North Hollywood. Rainbolt’s father, a World War II Navy vet, later met and married her mother.
Rainbolt spent her early years in Southern California, but moved to Albany for middle and high school. Her family attended Berkeley’s Congregation Beth El, and she joined the B’nai B’rith Girls. Rainbolt played sax in the school marching band, and developed a love of musical theater and singing, which she later studied at S.F. State.
She went on to earn a master’s in arts administration from Golden Gate University and became a manager of other performers. But all those years, she wanted to be up on that stage herself.
Finally she made up her mind to just do it. She started getting work locally, playing the Plush Room, Razz and other local venues, as well as recording a pair of CDs. Eventually she relocated to New York City, the heart of the jazz world.
“No matter what,” she says, “people love this music, and it will stay alive, but you have to look for it. Jazz is a constantly evolving thing.”
She met Garcia after writing him an e-mail asking to learn more about his music. He wrote back, saying, “Anyone who likes my music is a friend of mine,” and later sent her a large package of sheet music.
“I realized I had a gold mine,” she recalls. “I didn’t know if I would add [his songs] to my repertoire or not — I just knew we had this special connection.”
After the show, Rainbolt returns to her home in Manhattan. Not only is she close to the jazz scene there, she’s also close to the Jewish culture she loves.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am that I can turn the corner and in 10 minutes I can be at Zabar’s,” she says. “There’s nothing like living in a city where I call up and say, ‘Deliver me a quarter-pound of whitefish and a dozen bagels.'”
Shaynee Rainbolt performs 8 p.m. Sept. 15 at Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. Tickets: $16. Information: (510) 238-9200 or www.yoshis.com.