Remembering jazz singer John Minnock with final album 'A Different Riff'

This was shaping up to be a banner year for Boston singer John Minnock. He had finished a new album, “A Different Riff: Minnock Sings Shire," that found him collaborating with noted film and theater composer David Shire as well as soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. A release party was set for the famed Birdland Jazz Club in Manhattan.

But instead of introducing Minnock’s moving, creative yet unpretentious singing to new audiences, the record is coming out on Friday, April 26, as a memorial. Minnock died unexpectedly on Feb. 26 at the age of 64 after a short illness.

For years, Minnock worked in finance by day and sang cabaret at night at spots like the now-defunct Encore Lounge in Boston’s  Theater District. “He had that gritty sound, and he also had these soft sweet notes as well as these big long notes he could call,” says singer Lynda D'Amour, who frequently performed with Minnock. “He knew exactly when to bring what color into each song.”

“He never got lost, he never let anything throw him, he was so happy to let all of the players play out of their own personality,” adds pianist Bill Duffy, a longtime Minnock accompanist who arranged many of the tracks on “A Different Riff.”

Minnock began performing about a decade ago in Manhattan, the cabaret capital of the world. Filling prestigious rooms in New York is a tall task even for singers with longtime followings. Duffy remembers that when Minnock first started appearing at the Metropolitan Room, the singer would bring tickets to hotel concierges to give to their guests. “John was so ambitious and so clear about what he wanted from the business, and from his time on the planet,” says D’Amour.

In 2016, at 56, Minnock released his debut recording. Hoping for more attention for his sophomore effort, he hired jazz publicist Lydia Liebman, who in turn introduced him to her parents. Her father, Dave Liebman, would go on to play on and produce Minnock’s records, while her mother, Caris Liebman, would give Minnock lessons.

Dave Liebman has worked with a panoply of other legendary jazz musicians, but rarely recorded or played with vocalists. “The thing about John that I liked right away was his very husky voice,” he says. “It really would go right through you. And he took his craft and his art very seriously. His singing has a lot of shades.”

Liebman says that when singers enter the world of jazz it can be “a minefield” if their vocal instrument doesn’t mesh with the other musicians. But with Minnock, “it’s not just that he’s singing — he’s part of the front line, bringing the songs to the world through his voice and his phrasing.”

Minnock’s 2020 release, “Herring Cove,” was the first of his three records for the noted Dot Time label. Named after a beach in Provincetown, it was a concept record about being an openly gay jazz singer. Working with writing partner Erick Holmberg, Minnock penned original material about the LGBTQ experience, and even turned Cher’s gay anthem “If I Could Turn Back Time” into convincing jazz material.

The recording also had a pair of songs composed by Shire, including a tale of marriage equality, “After All These Years,” that hadn’t previously been recorded. The two had connected when Shire went to one of Minnock’s New York shows. Shire also penned the title track for Minnock’s 2022 album “Simplicity.”

“No one in theater sings like John,” says Shire, who adds he was initially surprised that a jazz singer would know his work. Shire helped score “Apocalypse Now” and “Saturday Night Fever,” had his songs recorded by Barbra Streisand and Billy Preston, and earned Oscar and Grammy awards and Emmy and Tony nominations. But he also had an entire file of jazz songs he says he had long tried to get recorded until Minnock included them as part of “A Different Riff.” The melody of the swinging and funny “Only Jazz” was first written when Shire, now 86, was in college, with new lyrics written for Minnock. The title track was composed for the album. “It’s quite a thrill,” says Shire, noting that this is the first time a vocalist has done an entire album of his music.

Shire co-produced “A Different Riff” with Liebman. The composer says at first Minnock recorded one of his songs, “I Don’t Remember Christmas,” as a straight jazz song. “He started hot and played the whole thing at one level. I explained that it’s a show song with a story, and you have to build from being cool to being curious.” Minnock went back and nailed the delivery, Shire says.

Minnock died just as he was making progress on using his voice as a jazz instrument, says Caris Liebman. “John wanted to be even more creative in his improvisation. After our last lesson, we were talking and I told him I was so excited for his new record because I thought it would set him apart. And then a week later he was gone.”