Jane Hart Brendle learned to play on her great-grand-father’s violin in the fifth grade at Charlotte’s Double Oaks Elementary School. That same year, busing began in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and in the years that followed, Brendle bounced from school to school — a fact she believes lends to her musical experience a depth she might not otherwise have achieved. “I feel like every one of my teachers nurtured different types of music I wanted to play," she says. "I don’t even know if they knew they were doing that.”

Today, Brendle uses her varied music education in a range of local performance opportunities. She has been a member of the Charlotte Symphony since 1995, and occasionally joins the chamber musicians who play Music at St. Peter’s. She also adds a dynamic touch to Carolina Strings, the Hodges Taylor Ensemble and multimedia works such as David Crowe’s “The Mill Village.”

Brendle’s favorite composers are Bach and Beethoven. “I feel a special connection to the music of these two composers,” she says. “Their compositions, the way voices are interwoven, and the way harmonies and melodies are crafted speaks to me on a deep emotional level.”

In addition to a classical repertoire, Brendle enjoys alternative jazz, and plays with Petri Dish, an “experimental, free-improvisational” group, and with Big Octave, which has a steady gig at Blue each Thursday. While violins and jazz may seem an unusual mix, Brendle says there is a long list of jazz violinists who have recorded over the years. “It’s just that not many classically trained violinsts play jazz,” she notes.

“I weave my voice into what I’m playing, weaving in and out of the texture,” she adds. “With jazz, I’m either playing a big, exciting, energetic solo or something quiet  — or I’m staying out of the way so someone else can do that. With the Symphony, I’m just melding into a whole section. It should be a big, round sound.”

When she’s not performing, Brendle is the quintiessential music teacher, having taught at Winthrop University, Davidson College, Queens University and UNC Charlotte. She has also coached the Charlotte Junior Youth Orchestra.  “ The pleasure of teaching comes when I can tell a student something that helped me, and see it, in return, help the student,” she says.

As an artist, Brendle’s inspiration comes “simply from the chance to play music I love. Also, the sound of the violin making music with others, and in the case of playing with ensembles, the feeling of being part of something bigger than a single voice.”

Current sound:
Classical and jazz.

Three musicians who have influenced her:
Beethoven, Bach and her husband, jazz musician Ron Brendle.

Releases:
Played on Claire Ritter’s soon-to-be released suite based on works by Georgia O’Keefe; Rick Spreitzer’s From the Bottom; and pianist Ann Trenning’s All One World. Several years ago, she arranged “Greensleeves” for A Queen City Christmas CD, which may become a WTVI special.

Instruments:
Classical and electric violin.

Find her online at:
carolinastrings.com and charlottesymphony.org.

The Diva:
Sibyl Lee-English

Sibyl Lee-English’s distinctively strong, yet feminine, voice is reminiscent of the great classic American rhythm and blues singers. Picture the Aretha Franklin of the Queen City.

Lee-English's journey toward the stage began when she was a child. Her father was an original member of The Tams, an internationally known, classic R&B and "beach music" band formed in 1960. Her mother taught English and drama, often acting in community theater, as Lee-English watched with a fascination that spurred her own desires and landed her first small role performing with her mom in A Member of the Wedding at the Hickory Community Theatre. At age 3, Lee-English won $500 in a talent contest and, without formal music training, has been performing ever since. She starred as "Rachel" for four years in the nationally acclaimed, off-Broadway gospel production of A Good Man is Hard to Find.

Today, Lee-English sings for private events and works as a playwright and poet. She is also leader of the women’s personal empowerment group Sibella Circle International. Some women might be stretched thin by so many endeavors, but not Lee-English. “I’m being all the woman I can be and should be and want to be,” she says.

The creative crossover seems to nurture Lee-English’s spirit and inspire even more ideas. “I love it when I get a bug,” she says. “Because I do so many things, I have to wait on it. I don’t paint all the time, but there’s a piece that comes to my soul, and I have to paint that. I can’t do anything else until I do. When it comes to performance — stage or theater —there’s a bug that comes with that, too.”

Lee-English’s most fulfilling moments are realized when she is able to share her talents. “I believe in giving love, light and joy,” she says. "When I sing, it’s a gift to my audience. I know that because I have a great audience, and there’s something I give them that they enjoy. Whether I sing in front of one person or 10,000, it’s the same to me. If I’m there, I’ll be there, present and fully. They are all important.”

Current sound:
Jazz and soul; Southern and sizzlin’.

Three musicians who have influenced her:
Barbra Streisand, Patti LaBelle and Dionne Warwick.

Releases:
Lady in Waiting and other singles. Currently working on It’s a Woman’s Thing , her first full-length CD to be recorded in front of a studio audience.

Find her online at:
everysongisawoman.com.

The Best Friend:
Kim Carper

With Kim Carper, it’s all about ambiance. Her warm, easy-going personality radiates from the stage. You can hear Carper with her band, the Kim Carper Trio, crooning silky, fun or subtly sexy jazz standards in several local venues each week, as well as at numerous festivals and special events throughout the year.

Every jazz sophisticate recognizes Carper’s musical selections, yet she knows how to keep her repertoire interesting. “I sing mostly standards,” she says. “My favorite thing is riding in the car, listening to the radio station and hearing a song that I just have to sing. These are songs nobody thinks are jazz or blues, and we put our own spin on it. Like Steve Miller or Fleetwood Mac. We adapt songs but keep things in the same jazz style.”

The Cool Girls:
The Near Misses

Etta Lea, her sister, Eva Gael, and their friends Reeve Coobs and Shana Blake are The Near Misses. It’s a band in which every member sings, and group talents include songwriting, electric guitar, acoustic guitar and mandolin, and percussion.

When asked to describe their music, Gael responds, “It’s like you take plain ingredients such as flour and eggs, and you pour them all together and make cheesecake. It’s a flavor sensation.” The other band members laugh and nod in agreement.

Gael's assessment also rings true outside the band. The Near Misses won the “Best Band” Readers' Choice Award in the 2006 Creative Loafing “Best of Charlotte: International Edition,” and the “Best New Band” Readers’ Choice Award in 2005. Band members and fans alike cite the challenging harmonies as crowd pleasers. “Someone will think of one part of a song and there will be three voices singing, and you have to come up with a fourth,” Coobs says of their creative process.

The Misses have other pursuits as well. Lea books shows for The Evening Muse and serves as the primary marketing contact for the band. Coobs works as a nanny and bartends at The Evening Muse. Gael helps build ponds and zoo habitats, often traveling to fulfill her responsibilities. Although she has left the band, founding member Jill Lurie often joins The Near Misses as a special guest. The women practice once or twice a week, and play gigs on the weekends.

The spot-on chemistry among the band members is immediately evident, making it easy to see why The Near Misses are so popular. After shows, they stick around and are the life of the party, especially when the engagement is in a venue they frequent and friends are in the crowd.

Lea, Gael and Coobs agree their dream gig would involve touring Europe. The Near Misses also have a soft spot for festivals and hope to return to booking them once their new CD is complete. In addition, the Misses say they’d like to create a festival of their own. “We would like to put together a ‘FemFest’ to cover the Southeast in a regional, Lilith Fair kind of thing,” Lea says. “But,” she smiles, “we’re not working on it hardcore.”

Current sound:
Known for melodies and harmony. The Near Misses draw upon rock, pop, country and folk.

Three musicians who have influenced them:
Patty Griffin, Gillian Welch and Joe Kuhlmann (band member Etta Lea’s husband, and owner of The Evening Muse).

Releases:
Early Hits, recorded during live performances. Currently working on a studio album.

Song or lyric that best defines their lives:
“We all have a purpose for life until death, and we get closer to it with each passing breath.” — “This is Your Day,” The Near Misses

Find them online at:
thenearmisses.com and myspace.com/thenearmisses

The Wild Child:
Gigi Dover

Everybody in my family is musical,” Gigi Dover says of her history and musical style. The Charlotte native, who recalls reading album lyrics for fun when she was a child, started taking guitar lessons and writing songs at age 13. “I knew music was something I wanted to do but didn’t know how,” she remembers. “Later, I got invited to sing with a band whose members were a lot older than me.”

Dover co-founded and performed with regional band Rank Outsiders for 10 years. She is now lead singer for Gigi Dover and The Big Love, and is married to fellow band member and guitarist, Eric Lovell. The band’s gigs take them far and wide via a Honda Element that serves as their tour bus, and Dover has had to learn the finer points of getting gorgeous in a tight space. “There’s nothing glamorous about it," she says. "I’ve got a small makeup mirror with a light. Everything is really small because you’ve got the gear that takes up the whole thing. The regular part [of preparing for a performance] is making sure the boots and everything are all packed up.”

Now that the band’s new CD, Nouveau, has been released, Dover says the group is planning a year-long promotional tour, adding, “We are also going to work on the Web site. Online traffic is huge. We’re out there like a bag of marbles — everywhere.” The Big Love has already attracted plenty of local attention with this summer's release of Nouveau. In fact, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory proclaimed August 3, 2007, "Gigi Dover Day," with a launch party that night at the Visulite Theatre.

When asked what her dream gig would be, Dover says, “Probably being able to share a bill with someone I really, really admire — like Annie Lennox or Emmylou Harris — people I’ve looked up to a long, long time and I think are awesome. It could be anywhere. It could be right here.” And with that, she waves her hand around the airspace at Smelly Cat Coffeehouse in the NoDa arts district, where we are conducting our interview. Look out, Charlotte. Look out, world!

Current sound:
Funky, Southern, sultry, topped off with a splash of rock and blues.

Three musicians who have influenced her:
Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde. Further proving she’s a wild child, Dover adds a fourth: Ann Wilson, of Heart.

Releases:
Newly released CD, Nouveau. Previous releases include Unpicked Flowers; Gigi; and LIVE2345.

Instruments:
Acoustic and electric guitar.

Song or lyric that best defines her life:
"Home isn't always the house you were born / home is a place where love's light is shown/ everywhere we wander / love will guide us home." — Martin Stephenson

Find her online at:
gigidover.net and myspace.com/gigidoverandthebiglove