Music is communication. Jazz music is a conversation more intimate than most. For partners, a married couple like Dorian Devins and Lou Rainone, it creates a chance to understand each other that is foreign to most relationships. Dorian is the vocalist and Lou is the pianist in the jazz duo Dorian and Lou.

Dorian and Lou both grew up with music in their families.

Lou began music lessons in elementary school. He played guitar in bands, but as he grew, he continued to take formal classical piano lessons and ultimately pursued a classical music degree at Towson State University in Maryland. “I transitioned into playing jazz during my college years. I still got the degree, but I was playing jazz,” said Lou. “That was where my heart went.”

Like any language, it takes practice to become fluent. “I began playing six nights a week in clubs,” Lou said, “playing jazz in Baltimore.” Lou lived for the music. He taught lessons during the day, guiding students to the grammar and vocabulary of music. At night, he formed complex statements in the clubs of Baltimore. Eventually, he was drawn to the heart of the discussion – New York City.

Dorian’s father introduced her to music early, taking clarinet and piano lessons as a child, but what she remembers most is learning how to listen.

“My parents were both very musical and I grew up with all kinds of music,” said Dorian. “They used to take me to the orchestra and my dad would take me to the pit during the break, and he made sure I knew how to identify every instrument and its sound.”

She moved to Southern Pines with her mom for high school, and after graduating from Pinecrest, Dorian traveled. “I moved to Boston for a year and then I went overseas for a year or two traveling around and then I came back.”

She listened to her heart. “I ended up in New York to find myself and decide what I wanted to do.” What she heard was music.

Even in her travels, she worked in a record store for a stint, but in New York, she kept finding herself where the music happened. “I worked at Lincoln Center, I worked for the head photographer for Rolling Stone for a while. So I had a lot of kind of music adjacent jobs.”

She didn’t consider herself a musician, far from it. “I thought I couldn’t sing. I wouldn’t even sing Happy Birthday.” But she had a voice. She landed a job at a radio station that began as a substitute DJ, but eventually turned into her own interview show.

“I was getting hired to moderate panels,” she recalls, “Which is all well and good, but when I found myself in front of a live audience, I was scared – terrified.”

So what did she do to get over her fear? Sing. She stood up in front of people to do something she thought she couldn’t do, but Karaoke is no ordinary activity. She heard the call, and kept getting up on stage. The musicians around her noticed an affinity.

She grew confident in her stage presence and her skill and began speaking to instrumentalists, like Lou.

“I met him and he was playing for a friend of mine and then we would just see each other around,” Dorian recalls. “Like if the jazz foundation had a jam session.”

So began their conversation. They became friends, moved in together and married over the next 9 years. During that time, they developed an on-stage partnership. “I’d say around once we started living together,” she said, “I pretty much exclusively worked with him.” In various arrangements of trios or ensembles. “Sometimes a bigger band all together. Like there’s a trumpet player there who created a nine-piece – the rhythm section, five horns and me. I was basically singing as one of the horns and Lou is the piano player on that. But he had other side jobs and I did other stuff, too.” That’s New York City. The best jazz musicians in the world – and they all play together.

But life events can change our trajectory. When Dorian’s mother passed, the couple began coming back to Dorian’s high school home in North Carolina, and then later, COVID conditions in New York kept them here. They’ve found it speaks to them, and has created new opportunities for their music.

“It makes my music grow because I’m covering more ground musically. Where there used to be a bass player and maybe a drummer and a horn player there,” Lou explains, “here we are playing with only piano and voice.”

Moving into an area familiar with singer-songwriters and rock bands, they found a different gigging climate than in New York, where jazz is woven into the language of the city. “But then places got very jazz curious and some places started hiring us,” Dorian said. “I’ll say, the owners and managers of places are a lot nicer.”

The dialogue with the audience has grown and expanded their library. “People will recommend songs and we’ll try them. I won’t say drastically, but we’ve changed our repertoire, adding a couple of songs here and there. I put a Patsy Cline in now I have five Patsy Cline songs. People love Patsy Cline. Elvis – a couple of Elvis songs. We’ve got a Soundgarden song. It depends on the audience. And the audiences are very sweet. Even people you can tell don’t generally hear music like what we do.”

The couple say they feel settled in to North Carolina now, and look forward to writing music again. “There’s a lot of inspiration around, certainly, a lot of inspiration. I think it’s good to have nature immediately around you.”

They’ll continue the conversation on stage and in their creation. “It’s like a different language. It’s like you’re communicating, but in a different language – a different language in a different place. Music reaches different parts of you than just words. It’s an interesting way to communicate.”

“Well, it’s a bond, and it’s always been there. I met her while I was playing, and it’s been a big part of our relationship. I can’t imagine any other way. I’ve had relationships where there’s no music at all within the two people,” Lou said. “This is a special relationship that we have.”