PSU Magazine Fall 1999

SHE GOES C andlelight glows in the rich wood paneling of Portland's Heathman Hotel bar. A dozen patrons scattered at small tables under the crystal chandelier watch as Mary Kadderly '85 steps to the microphone, closes her eyes,_and launches into a steamy rendition of "Baby, You Got What It Takes." The bluesy voice draws passersby into the room as they look for the source of the sultry sound. Kadderly has poured her elegant voice onto the Portland jazz scene for nearly 20 years, appearing at virtually every star spot in the jazz constella– tion: the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, Jazz Quarry, Jazz De Opus, and-at roughly two or three gigs a week-more venues that she can easily recall. Her latest recording, "I Go Zoom," was nominated for the 1999 blues/jazz album of the year by the Northwest Music Awards nominating committee. Her CD is appropriately titled. The ever energetic Kadderly undeniably goes zoom. Offstage she's charismatic with a megawatt smile-like Julia Roberts, as if you and Julia had been friends since kindergarten. And her energy translates into a hectic sched– ule. Kadderly performs two or three nights a week, appears in television, radio and print commercials, teaches music theory at Portland Community College, and offers private voice and piano lessons. And she can recount her life story in 20 minutes fl at. 14 PSU MAGAZI E FALL 1999 BY Melissa Steineger MARY KADDERLY, jazz diva, lives her passion. "Listening to music was a big tradi– tion when I was growing up," double– times Kadderly, who grew up in Lake Oswego and Raleigh Hills. "We listened to everything from Mahalia Jackson to Mario Lanza." Her singing career started on a whim at a party when the teenaged Kadderly stepped to the microphone and sang "Making Whoopee." "I could barely get through it," Kadderly recalls, "but hearing my voice through the speakers was such a thrill." Eager fo r more, the fresh-faced Beaverton High School grad with no training or musical experience simply called PSU vocal instructor Sue McBerry and asked if McBerry would give her vo ice lessons. McBerry, then at PSU, recommended that the musi– cal novice ga in some knowledge first. "Sue said, 'Take piano for a year, and call me back,'" recalls Kadderly. "I did, and when I called her back, she was so surprised I'd done what she asked that she took me on as a student." While taking lessons, Kadderly also started singing with a jazz band and hanging out at Jazz Quarry, the heart– beat of the local scene. It was an education on all fronts. McBerry helped train her voice to hand le the rise and fa ll of the jazz lex icon. Singing with the band taught her to communicate with an audience. And informal conversations between sets with Portland 's jazz community exposed her to everything else. Kadderly for a time detoured into modeling, but in 1981 she entered PSU and quickly began her music career in earnest. As she struggled to fit her love of jazz into PSU's at-the– time classical-only music program, Kadderly experimented with other classes, including theater. "Bingo," she says of her first acting class. "I'd found my thing." Despite her experience singing for audiences, Kadderly found the key to developing her stage presence in the training she rece ived in PSU's theater classes. She also found a second career. A local advertising agency, in pursuit of a "well-assured female voice,'' called PSU's Theater Department, and a member recommended Kadderly. While her singing voice can be tenderly vulnerable, Kadderly's speaking voice is the definition of "well-assured." She got the part, which was saying something as simple as, "See that!" It was so well– received, she was besieged with offers for more. Radio, print, and television commercials have been mainstays of her bank account ever since. B ut it is music that draws her. Jazz, blues, and even some pop. "I Go Zoom," uses all three styles in nine original songs. The title song successfully defies grav ity, forcing listeners to get up and dance, or at lea t tap their feet. Kadderly wrote lyrics and music either solo or in collaboration fo r all the selections. --