Interview

In the four years since she turned the brooding bohemian Claire Fisher of HBO's Six Feet Under into a hipster icon, Lauren Ambrose has been prolific on stage (as Juliet and Ophelia in two seasons at The Public Theater's Shakespeare In The Park, and more recently on Broadway with Ionesco's Exit The King) and on the big screen (Cold Souls, Where The Wild Things Are). But, this Sunday, with a group of musicians from the Blue Ribbon Boys, The Two Man Gentlemen Band, and other Berkshires-based players she's been jamming with for the past month, the operatically-trained Ambrose will make her NYC singing debut at Joe's Pub as Lauren Ambrose & The Leisure Class. "We'll play standards and covers of rock 'n roll songs in our style," says Ambrose, meaning Ragtime, Louis Armstrong-style jazz. If you can score a ticket to the already sold out show, be sure to listen for the band's two original songs, "My Love, How Could You?" ("A really beautiful slow jam") and the "jazzy, old-timey" "Reefer." If not, no worries–they might be back sometime soon. "These guys are really like gypsies on the road all the time," she says. "So I guess that's where the idea of The Leisure Class came about because it's truly a leisure pursuit."


SLENSKE: You've actually been singing for quite a while?

AMBROSE: Yeah, I've always sung, and I always try to find a way for music to be in my life. I don't know this whole band just came about organically up in the Berkshires. All these guys are in a million different bands and I've sang with some of them in the Blue Ribbon Boys which is a little country band up there.

SLENSKE: But this is more jazz?

AMBROSE: Yeah, I'd call it hot jazz, Ragtime, Dixieland, there's a definite Louis Armstrong influence, Django. It was just kind of what we were all interested in playing. The idea is that we're doing it just for the joy of the actual physical experience. We may record something just for the fun of it, but the idea is just to be truly joyful and truly fun, especially for me, because I take myself too seriously all the time [laughs]. It's no pressure really, it's just an experiment, because I come from a classical music background these guys come from playing country and old time stuff.

SLENSKE: And The Leisure Class is totally new?

AMBROSE: Yeah, we played one warm-up gig at this bar that was kinda like that bar in The Blues Brothers with the chicken wire. This place called The Brick House, in Housatonic. I really can't believe we're going to play for people in New York City. I'm terrified, but it's a small enough room. But it's really just supposed to be for the fun of it.

SLENSKE: Are you working on anything new outside the band? Stage work?

AMBROSE: I don't know yet. In this economic climate it's a mystery on what will and what won't come together. I think I need a little break. I've got a two-year old. I'll be part of The Leisure Class for a while.