Jazzmeia Horn: A Social Call

Concord Records is doing jazz a great service by producing albums by the winners of the Thelonious Monk Competitions. Marquis Hill and Ben Williams have been recent beneficiaries, and now here’s a debut recording by vocalist Jazzmeia Horn, and it’s a delight. She teams up with Stacy Dillard/sax, Ben Williams/b, Jerome Jennings/dr, Victor Gould/p,Josh Evans/tp, Frank Lacy/tb and delivers rich and soulful interpretations of standards. Her voice mixes a rich R&B feel of Ruth Brown with the flexibility and clarity of Ella Fitzgerald as she sings and scats on the nimble read of Betty Carter’s “Tight” and cool and slinky with Williams’ bass on “East of the Sun.” She is able to wade in and out with the horns on a loose soul funk on “People Make the World Go Round” and is luminescent with a piano duet with Gould on Jimmy Rowles’ “The Peacocks.” She shows her wide range by going through a kaleidoscope of colors on a medley of “ Afro Blue/Eye See You/Wade in the Water” that takes you from rumbling percussion to free form poetry to Sunday Church testifying. She sounds confident and believable in all environments, including her own skin, always  a good sign. Any trips to LA coming up?

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