September was a bigger month than most for Perpie.
The Nigeria-born and raised, Calgary-based saxophonist, who makes jazz that blends the echoes of Lagos with a little bit of Coltrane, hosted the third of what she called The Gateway concerts in front of more than 500 people at the Bella Concert Hall at the end of September.
The events featured a jazz orchestra and children's choir, filling out Perpie's spare, elegant sound in a way that she said was as overwhelming as it was satisfying.
"Basically, I performed works from my debut album with a jazz orchestra," she said. "I rewrote music for the orchestra and children’s choir. It came off amazing.
"The music does change when you perform it with an orchestra," she added."There’s less room for freedom or spontaneity or improvisation. You have to write charts for the orchestra - then stay true to form.
"It creates a big, rich sound."
Then, the night after her big Bella gig, Perpie was named a winner of a Calgary Music Award, for Jazz Recording of the Year, for "The Landing (1803)", the lead track from her debut album Ije-Awele.
"It was such an honour," she said. "I feel humbled – it was just amazing to be recognized."
All of it is that much more remarkable given that Perpie – her first name is Perpetual – is relatively new to the musical life.
She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, the fourth child of five raised by a single mom, where the kids used to be woken up in the morning by country music.
"She would wake us up with Dolly Parton or Jim Reeves or Don Williams," she said. "You would hear it from your bedroom while you were still dreaming. I would wake up to that warm, raspy voice of Jim Reeves, or Dolly – every single morning.
"That's how it all started."
There was also gospel music she learned in church, and the music of Fela Kuti, the Nigerian "king of afrobeat."
However, before she discovered her own musical voice, Perpie went to university in Lagos, where she studied chemistry, with an eye toward becoming a doctor.
"I was doing well in chemistry but funding for it was difficult to come by," she said.
She found her way to the music department, where they discovered a promising vocalist and musician – and the fees were covered, so she stayed, and released some songs on Spotify in 2016 and 2017.
In 2019, she relocated to Calgary, just in time to run into the pandemic – but she was named the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society's New Canadian Artist at the 2021 Mayor's Lunch for Arts Champions and performed at the JazzYYC Summer Festival, at Arts Commons and the Woezo Africa Cultural Festival, in addition to being named a Compelling Calgarian by the Herald.
She's raising her son and her musical profile in Calgary, which she said has helped her to grow musically.
"I don't know any other Canadian city," she said. "For the first two years here, I knew nobody, but it now feels like I've seen most of my creative growth here.
"Calgary is such a good, positive creative hub and crucial part of my growth – there are a lot of opportunities, and a real diversity of audiences – and of musicians. I've had the pleasure of working with different musicians, who don't just play bebop – they're able to integrate my traditional African music as well.
"Having musicians to create that music with you," she said, "is special."
