Voice in tune: Singing, teaching jazz vocals drives Vicky Mountain

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Jazz vocalist Vicky Mountain performs at a house concert, Sept. 14, 2014 in Plymouth, Minn.
Yi-Chin Lee/MPR News

The pathway to one's true calling can take a lot of twists and turns.

Example? Vicky Mountain. Playing a witch in a production of Macbeth helped her get a toehold in the Twin Cities music scene.

"The wailing and shrieking that I did caught the attention of some of my musician friends, and we started a band," she recalled.

These days, jazz vocal virtuoso Mountain uses her voice to perform and to teach voice students at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis.

Learning how to sing jazz, she says, means setting aside time to noodle, explore and discover what the voice, the instrument, can do.

Listen to the audio above to meet Vicky Mountain.

Video: Mountain sings "Big City Blues" at a house concert in Plymouth, Minn., on Sept. 14, 2014.