Making it her own

[buzzenator]

We also remember that her high school Jazz leader, Brian Logan, stated that when she first tried out to be the jazz vocalist, he gave her some sheet music to look over. As I recall, he stated that she crumbled it up. He remembers the incident fondly as if to say that she has a very determined view of things...

Not sure I agree with this interpretation. Reviewing the story (below), it sounds to me like he possibly thought she wasn't going to work out because she returned a few days later with the sheet music in a ball. He probably expected a young vocalist to have to refer to the sheet music while performing and was taken aback she hadn't been delicately handling it.

..."I thought, 'I'm listening to a veteran, not some kid. Who is this?' " Logan tracked Reinhart down a few days later and he invited her to sing with the school's well-regarded jazz band, which, he noted, doesn't always have a singer unless there happens to be a very decent one in the school who can handle the gig. But when she came back after a few days with the sheet music all crumpled up into a ball, he was wary, and before handing her the microphone he asked Haley to stand next to him and sing a bit with the band without amplifying her voice. "She sang for about eight seconds and I stopped the band, told her to grab the microphone and said, 'Let's do this for real,' " he explained. "She didn't have any music in front of her and she sang as well the first time as she did the last time."

I'm not sure I agree with your reinterpretation...

He is recalling the introduction to Haley and her becoming the jazz vocalist. He is not sharing the story because she was difficult or a show-off. He is not sharing the story to say she had memorized the music in a short time and proved it by putting it into a ball...as if to perform some music trick. I think the point he is making is that she already had an extensive background and probably knew the song they were going to play. She may not have liked the version he had on paper or didn't need to see it while singing, and hence crumpled it up to show that she could sing it with her own style and improvisation. This is the Haley we know...one who rarely does a song the same way twice. The one who hears a few notes and takes right off in the direction she wants to go. So play your piece and I'll show you how I interpret the vocals...JMHO, but it matches up with the Haley we know today.