The Music That Made 2023 Special (Pt 2) – Let's Hear it for the Ladies

 My original plan was not to isolate the recordings made by women into a separate post but these albums are so good that I could not resist. 

Jo Lawry – "Acrobats" (Whirlwind Recordings) –  What a real treat is this most delightful of Trio albums.  Here, Ms. Lawry's voice is supported, pushed, prodded, cushioned by the excellent playing of bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Allison Miller.  The title track, composed by fellow Australian Gian Slater, perfectly describes not only the lives of musicians in the 21st Century but also the exploratory nature of this program.  The majority of the program is made of "standards" but there is absolutely nothing standard about this album.  This listener found himself exclusively listening to the album over the course of a full week.  Never too late to take the leap into this album!!

For more information, go to https://www.jolawry.net/. Check out and/ or purchase the album by going to https://jolawry-whirlwind.bandcamp.com/album/acrobats. 

Here's the Trio "Taking a Chance on Love":

Nicole Zuraitis – "How Love Begins" (OutsideIn Music) –  The genesis of singer, songwriter, and pianist Zuratis's fifth album as a leader was a meeting with bassist Christian McBride in 2018 who heard her playing in a New York City piano bar and said "we should do something together".  The results of the duo working out the details amidst the Pandemic slowdown are a pure delight. Ms. Zuraitis's vocal work is the most assured of her career and co-Producer McBride makes sure we also hear what a fine pianist she is.  With her husband Dan Pugach on drums, the sound is filled out by guitarist Gilad Hekselman, Maya Kronfeld on keys, and Mr. McBride's bass pushing the proceedings forward, this program is quite strong and quite listenable.

For more information, go to www.nicolezmusic.com/. Give a listen at https://outsideinmusic.bandcamp.com/album/how-love-begins. 

Listen to "Let Me Love You":

Magos Herrera – "Aire" (Sunnyside Records) – 2023 was the year this listener truly discovered the brilliant and adventurous Mexican-born vocalist Magos Herrera.  I had heard of her before but this year, a deeper dive was called for.  What a supple, emotional, and often stunning voice –– when she inhabits the song, you may not understand the words but, pay attention, you'll get the message.  Surrounded by her "working" trio of guitarist Vinicius Gomes, bassist Sam Minaie, and drummer Alex Kautz plus a slew of guests (including an "orchestra" conducted by Eric and Colin Jacobsen), this music sounds alive, full of possibility, aware of the sufferings of the heart but open to hope.  The 12-song program includes classic songs, originals, brilliant arrangements, and that marvelous voice.

For more information, go to www.magosherrera.com. To hear more and to purchase the album, go to https://magosherrera.bandcamp.com/album/aire.  

Here's the title track:

Edward Simon, Featuring Magos Herrera – "Femeninas" (ArtistShare) – Right around the same date "Aire" was issued came the new ArtistShare project from pianist Edward Simon.  Subtitled "Songs of Latin American Women", the program is that and more. Ms. Herrera joins Simon, bassist Reuben Rogers, drummer Adam Cruz, and percussionist Luis Quintero (plus guest Romero Lubambo playing guitar on several tracks) performing a 11-song program of works associated with Joyce Moreno (Brazil), Elizabeth (Chile), Chabuca Granda (Perú), Violetta Parra (Chile), Marta Valdés (Cuba), Rosa Passos (Brazil), and Georgina Hassan (Argentina).  The excellent arrangements, the splendid musicianship, and the wonderful vocals makes this a "project for the ages".  

For more information, go to www.edwardsimon.com/projects/femeninas. 

Watch Mr. Simon and Ms. Herrera perform two pieces from the "Femeninas" project:

Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loueke – "Lean In" (Edition Records) – This is an intimate collection of songs from two fine musicians who have known each other several decades. Basically a duo album (there are several guest contributors) but the focus of the music is on the interplay of the voice and guitar. Both leaders brought music to the sessions yet the program feels and sounds organic.  Mr. Loueke's guitar work is superlative throughout as are Ms. Parlato's vocals –– it's amazing how rhythmical this music is, how percussive the guitar work can be, and how sweet the results are.  Let's hope this is just the first Editions Recording of this splendid duo.

For more information, go to  https://gretchenparlato.bandcamp.com/album/lean-in. 

 

Listen to the delightfully sweet "Nonvignon":

Pt. 3 will include the rest of the list but, for now, there's much to explore here.

The Majesty of Magos, the Power of Expression, the Songs of Women

 Over the past month, I have listened to four different albums featuring vocalist, composer, and activist Magos Herrera. 2018 saw the release of "Dreamers" (Sony Music/Mexico), her brilliant collaboration with Brooklyn Rider while December 2020 was the release date for "Con Alma: An Operatic Tableau on Isolation" (National Sawdust Tracks), Ms. Herrera's album with Italian-born composer Paola Prestini. The newer albums are reviewed below.

For those who don't know Magos Herrera, she's a native of Mexico City who came to the United States in 1992 to study at The Musicians Institute in Los Angeles.  She continued her studies in Boston, MA, before returning to Mexico.  Her first four albums as a solo artist were recorded in her home city. In 2008, Ms. Herrera moved to New York City and, one year later, released "Distancia" on Sunnyside Records––two years later, she followed up with "México Azul" for the same label.  Since then, she was 1/2 of the duo Magos & Limón (Spanish  guitarist Javier Limón) that recorded two albums for Sony Music.  What stands out for this listener includes her persuasive contralto voice, how she inhabits each song whether she's singing in Spanish, Portuguese, or English, and how she obliterates "borders" in her music (is she a jazz singer, a classical chanteuse, or a folk artist? Yes, all that and more.

"Aire" is her 11th album as a leader, her third for Sunnyside, the first release for that label in 12 years.  With her regular working trio of Vinicius Gomes (acoustic guitar), Sam Minaie (bass), and Alex Kautz (drums and percussion) plus guest Ingrid Jensen (trumpet and flugelhorn on two tracks), Dori Caymmi (voice on "Samba em Preludio"), and Gonzalo Grau (percussion on three tracks). The Knights, the 21-member chamber orchestra (see personnel below) also appear on 10 of the 12 tracks playing arrangements by Mr. Grau, by Argentinean pianist Diego Schissi, and the great Brazilian composer and arranger Jaques Morelenbaum ("Samba em Preludio"). The material includes five originals by Ms. Herrera as well as compositions by Chilean folklorist Violetta Parra (1917-1967), by Ariel Ramírez & Félix Luna, by Guinga & César Pinheiro, by Danilo Moraes & Paulo Cesar de Carvahlo, and by Vinicius de Moraes & Baden Powell. 

Photo: Shervin Lainez

There's so many reasons to listen to "Aire", not the least of which is how strong these songs are and how the vocalist works with both the trio and the orchestra.  Whether it's the dancing rhythms of the title track that opens the album (Grau's arrangement is both lavish and supportive) or the gentle swaying of "Samba em Preludio" (the blend of 79-year old Caymmi's handsome voice with the supple quality of Ms. Herreras voice is charming and touching), the music touches the heart.  Quiet guitar introduces Violetta Parra's "Gracias a la Vida" but note how Schissi's arrangement first introduces the reeds and then the strings move around under the voice. Add Ingrid Jensen's occasional trumpet responses to the vocal rises above the orchestra and the piece has a "magical-realism".  Guinga's "Passarinhadeira" (finch) is just voice and guitar––Ms. Herrera sings so gently over Gomes's finger-picked acoustic guitar that one must lean into the song.  Schissi's handsome string writing behind the wordless vocal on the short "Papalote Intro" leads the listener into Ms. Herrera's original piece. Gomes's delightful guitar solo follows the theme with The Knights' caressing sounds swimming around beneath him. They do the same for Ms. Herrera's wordless vocal improvisation.

The album closes with "Healer", a piece dedicated to and featuring the voice Maria Sabina (1894-1985), the Mexican shaman, in the opening moment.  Ms. Sabina not only used herbs, peyote, and mushrooms but also the voice to heal people. Ms. Herrera uses her voice to deliver the message of healing through music and the celebration of life.  The blend of percussion, voices, guitars, and The Knights brings "Aire" to a magical and delightful close.

Magos Herrera has created a panacea to the fear and worries of the past few years, music to escape the myriad voices of argument and disagreement of people who use words to hurt and stress their superiority.  Can music heal our souls?  Ms. Herrera believes so and this magnificent album serves as her proof!

For more information, go to www.magosherrera.com.  To hear and to purchase the album, go to https://magosherrera.bandcamp.com/album/aire.

The Knights:

Colin and Eric Jacobsen - artistic directors

Wayne du Maine - conductor

Colin Jacobsen, Christina Courtin, Abi Fayette, Alex Fortes, Kristi Hellberg, Nannte Iwata, Yaira Matyakubova - violin

Mario Goto, Celia Hatton - viola

Gabriel Cabezas, Jia Kim - cello

Grey Fulmer - bass

Alex Sopp - flute

Michelle Farah - oboe

Agnes Marchione - clarinet

Edward Burns - bassoon

Karl Kramer-Johansen - horn

Micah Killian - trumpet

Dave Nelson - trombone

Megan Conley - harp

Blair McMillen - piano

license

Listen to "Choro de Lua":

Venezuelan-born pianist and composer Edward Simon first met Magos Herrera in 2017 when he, his trio members (bassist Joe Martin and drummer Adam Cruz) and the vocalist performed together in a 2017 tribute concert honoring the great Argentine vocalist Mercedes Sosa (1935-2009).  That planted the seed in the pianist's mind to create a follow-up to his 2016 Sunnyside Records album "Latin American Songbook".  This time, Simon with Herrera and the Trio, would focus on Latin American women composers and performers. In addition, the ensemble (with bassist Reuben Rogers replacing Martin and now including  and guest percussionist Luis Quintero) worked on a commission that Simon received from the Chamber Music's New Jazz Works––"Latino Soy" is a three-movement piece, two movements featuring lyrics sung and spoken by Ms. Herrera.

"Femeninas: Songs of Latin American Women" (artistShare)  is an 11-song, 63-minute, program that pays tribute to artists such as Joyce Moreno (Brazil), Elizabeth (Chile), Chabuca Granda (Perú), Violetta Parra (Chile), Marta Valdés (Cuba), Rosa Passos (Brazil), and Georgina Hassan (Argentina).  Opening with Ms. Moreno's "Feminina", the music jumps out of the speakers on the lively rhythms created by the trio plus the crisp acoustic guitar of Romero Lubambo (one of his two appearances on the album).  After Ms. Herrera delivers the lyrics, composed as a question to a Mother as to what "female" means, Rogers takes a delightful, melodic, solo and Quintero adds a short solo. That leads into Ms. Morris's lovely ballad "Décimas"–Simon's arrangement does not stray too far from the original until he pushes the tempo in the second half of the piece. Again, Roger's melodic bass lines stand out not only as foundational but in counterpoint to the vocal. 

Simon's suite, "Latino Soy", takes up 1/3rd of the album's running time. "Naked Sky" features original English lyrics by Ms. Herrera. The music slowly builds up behind the vocal into a fast bolero––Cruz's drumming and brush work stand out as do the richly melodic solo Simon creates.  "Buleria" is even quicker, with the feel of flamenco (Simon's piano captures the feel of a guitarist). The break in the middle for drums, handclaps, and percussion sets up a powerful with Ms. Herrera's wordless vocal soaring above the ensemble. Here, the overdubbing creates a responsive chorus that is hypnotic, mesmerizing.  The final section, "Mujer Remolino", takes its title from one of the nicknames of the shaman Maria Sabina (see above)––the words translate to "Whirlwind Woman".  The medium-tempo piece opens up to a long, twisting, rhythmical, piano solo. After a break where Ms. Herrera joins in on wordless vocal, she then begins to read the words of one of the Mexican shaman's healing ceremonies.

Other highlights include the stunning "Gracias de la Vida" ("Here's to Life") from the pen of Ms. Parra. After the voice and piano move through the verses, Cruz enters to "converse" with Simon during his solo. Rogers joins them for the final verse of the song.  The song then breaks into double-time, a dramatic close to quite a dramatic piece.  Lubambo returns for Ms. Passos "Dunas" (lyrics by Fernando de Oliviera), a delicious Bossa Nova with a pleasing solo from Simon. 

The program closes with "Hacia Donde" ("where" or "wherever"), a lovely ballad composed by Ms. Valdés (born 1928) for voice and piano.  One may not understand Spanish but you cannot miss the pensive mood of the singer and the gentle, "formal", piano in the background that carries that introspective and emotional mood throughout the performance.  

When you sit and listen through "Femeninas" several times, you can really hear how the pairing of Magos Herrera and Edward Simon is magic. One feels, actually intuits, that they have worked together for many years.  Yet, that's just part of the magic of this project. The rhythm section is powerful, able to "groove" and support in equal measure. Simon's piano work is clear, his phrases articulate, and his arrangements intelligent and respectful.  Ms. Herrera's voice is so wondrous, her ability to express emotions and transport listeners beyond the mundane explains why every project she is involved with is worth investigating.  

"Femeninas" will be released on June 8, 2023––go to www.edwardsimon.com/projects/femeninas to find out more.

Listen to and watch "Gracias a la Vida":

Large Ensembles and Real Life (Part 1)

 

Brazilian native (Sao Paulo), saxophonist, composer, and arranger Felipe Salles came to the United States in 1995. Since then, he has worked with and led several different-sized ensembles and has taught at the University of Massachusetts/ Amherst for 13 years.  As a composer, he's been quite interested in the Immigrant experience in the United States––in 2020, Tapestry Records issued "The New Immigrant Experience", his second album with his large band, the Interconnections Ensemble (their 2018 release, "The Lullabye Project", was based around tunes from the composer's Brazilian upbringing). The "...Immigrant Experience" is a multi-media project that combines Salles's powerful compositions with interviews featuring immigrants to the US as part of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).  The stories within the music are heart-breaking, emotional, stunning, and question the attitudes of politicians around the country who hold the future of these people hostage.

The 19-member Ensemble's latest project is "Home is Here" (Tapestry Records) and finds Salles writing intricate and vibrant pieces for eight guest artists, all of whom left their countries of origin to pursue their artistic dreams in the US.  The album opens with "Re-Invention", a vehicle for Paquito D'Rivera, the oldest guest in the project who, arguably, had the hardest journey to citizenship.  Listen below to how Salles blends Cuban rhythms into the body of the piece plus uses the ensemble to paint an evocative portrait. Rivera's joyous clarinet solo (like most if not all of his solos) dances with glee through the musical landscape. "World Citizen" finds Terry, the other Cuban ex-pat, in a less formal setting, one in which the drums and percussion push the proceedings forward.  The sensuous feel gives the soloists (bass trombonist Angel Subero and alto saxophonist Terry) just the right cushion (the setting for the sax solo has more fire but is positively effective).

The two tracks with vocals are quite different. Ms. Rei's moves easily through "Meridian 63", the mid-tempo "bouncing rhythm" supporting her voice as do the brass on the verse. Jonathan Ball's rollicking soprano sax gives the vocalist to scat along with the reeds and brass.  Quiet flutes lead the group in on "Two Worlds Together", a "dark" ballad featuring Ms. Herrera. Note how Salles uses the sections to provide a gentle response to the huskiness of the wordless vocal. However, the emotion displayed by Ms. Herrera gives Tyler Burchfield's bass clarinet solo its focal point while freeing up the vibraphone playing of Luke Glavanovits.  

"Home is Here" comes to a close with "Storytelling". After a quiet opening, the rhythm section propels the piece forward with tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana leading the ensemble through the theme.  At the close of guitarist Kevin Grudeki's solo, the ensemble drops out and Ms. Aldana steps out for a short, lovely, solo.  She then leads the band back in to support her soaring and exuberant solo.  The full-throated music reminds the listener that many musicians from other parts of the world, including Felipe Salles, have made their mark in this "Promised Land" thankful for the artistic freedom that the United States provides, finding their voice in the Creative Music. We listeners are thankful for the many sounds these artists have brought to our lives.  

For more information, go to www.sallesjazz.com.

Here's the opening track:

Personnel: 

Felipe Salles conductor and composer, soprano saxophone on one track;

Saxophones and woodwinds; Jonathan Ball, John Mastroianni, Mike Caudill, Carl Clements, Tyler Burchfield; 

Trumpets and flugelhorns; Don Clough, Jeff Holmes, Seth Bailey, Bill Fanning, Jerry Sabatini; 

Trombones; Clayton DeWalt, Randy Pingrey, Bob Pilkington, Angel Subero; 

Nando Michelin, piano

Kevin Grudecki, guitar

Luke Glavanovits, vibraphone

Keala Kaumeheiwa, bass

Bertram Lehmann,  drums/percussion.

Guests:

Paquito D'Rivera (Cuba) – clarinet & alto saxophone

Sofia Rei (Argentina) – voice

Jacques Schwarz-Bart (Guadeloupe/France) – tenor saxophone

Nadje Noordhuis (Australia) – flugelhorn

Magos Herrera (Mexico) – voice

Yosvany Terry (Cuba) – alto saxophone & shekere

Chico Pinheiro (Brazil) – guitar

Melissa Aldana (Chile) – tenor saxophone