Janiece Jaffe & Monika Herzig – Both Sides of Joni

   The Both Sides of Joni Project was the product of a period of soul searching during the Covid Summer of 2020.  Vocalist Janiece Jaffe started listening closely to Joni Mitchell’s music and lyrics with her jazz vocalist ears and found truth and wisdom that inspired her and that she wanted to share with the world to inspire others. She studied the words more deeply and got the urge to re-imagine them in jazz arrangements.  “I could almost ‘Hear’ them!” Together with friend and collaborator Monika Herzig, they spent many summer days of 2020 in the barn with keyboard and masks working out arrangements and rediscovering Joni’s music.  In March 2021, the arrangements were premiered at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis to most enthusiastic response. Many audience members came together for the first time in over a year and the messages of overcoming challenges, endurance, rebellion, love, and regret rang deep. They decided to record the musicwith a group of outstanding musicians and with community support from a successful Kickstarter Campaign. Just days after the completion of the Master Recording, Janiece left this world unexpectedly after heart surgery. T From the Liner Notes: This album is, first and foremost, about relationships: between Janiece and Monika; between the stretch of time that gave rise to Joni’s songs and the ones we’re living through now; and, most of all, between Janiece and these lyrics. She sings them in a pure and transparent voice, sometimes overdubbing the harmonies she once only imagined, and she moves through a variety of moods: reflective on “Both Sides Now”; startlingly direct on “Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow”; with swinging aplomb on “My Old Man”; longingly, on “River,” her yearning teased out by Dutton’s violin; and, in the middle of “The Hissing of Summer Lawns,” seizing upon the word “darkness,” and then sings wordlessly, in the improvisational style...

MARINA PAKOWSKI – INNER URGE

Already known as an accomplished classical pianist, Marina Pacowski displays her engaging jazz vocal skills on her warmly delivered debut album, 2023’s Inner Urge. Born in France, Pacowski (who also teaches classical piano on the faculty of the Conservatory Maurice Ravel) has won accolades for her piano playing, including a 2017 Best Collaborative Music Award from the International Society of Bassists. That brought her to the attention of bassist/composer Frank Proto, who wrote a “Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra” specifically for her and which they recorded in 2018. Along the way, she developed a passion for jazz singing and eventually moved to Los Angeles to better pursue her career. Here, she is joined by an all-star cadre of improvisers, including pianist Josh Nelson, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Ron McCurdy. We also get vibrant contributions by drummer Peter Erskine, trumpeter Carl Saunders, saxophonist Joel Frahm, and others. Vocally, Pacowski has a light touch, favoring a soft, unaffected tone reminiscent of stylists like Chet Baker, Helen Merrill, or Astrid Gilberto. Also evocative of Baker is Pacowksi’s penchant for vocal scat improvisation, as on her breezy rendition of “Donna Lee” and “Taking a Chance on Love.” We also get nice renditions of standards like “East of the Sun,” “Moon and Sand,” and “I’m Old Fashioned.” This is straight-ahead acoustic jazz, reminiscent of the lyrical West Coast style of the 1950s and early ’60s, done in a brightly swinging style. By: Matt Collar for “All...

JOANIE PALLATTO – ACCIDENTAL MELODY

ACCIDENTAL MELODY is the fourth album Singer and Songwriter JOANIE PALLATTO has recorded with all original music on Southport Records. The album presents 13 original tunes composed by Pallatto with five tracks co-written by her husband BRADLEY PARKER-SPARROW and “You Think You Know” with modern jazz guitar virtuoso FAREED HAQUE. “Accidental Melody” features some of Chicago’s finest musicians, including JOHN CHRISTENSEN (acoustic bass), ERIC HINES (percussion), JUAN PASTOR (cajon and percussion), BRADLEY PARKER-SPARROW (piano), and FAREED HAQUE. Pallatto and Haque co-produced “Accidental Melody.” Pallatto says “I wrote the song ‘A Shooting Star’ for Fareed, to show my deepest love and respect for his musicality. His perspective and opinions about the arrangements and the flow of the music is always spot on. We have recorded together for the past 30 years. Together, we agreed that the material on this album called for a more intimate feel, so we tracked the songs with mostly acoustic instrumentation. Fareed put together a perfect band, with John, Eric, and Juan, all super musicians that I performed with for the first...

EMILIE CLAIRE BARLOW – SPARK BIRD

During the dark isolation days of the coronavirus pandemic, award-winning Canadian songstress Emilie-Claire Barlow found herself at an artistic crossroads. She questioned if she would ever want to make another record to add to her impressive 12-album oeuvre. She hadn’t been able to tour and she wasn’t aroused to assemble a new collection of songs. In her 25-year career of delivering a distinctive and accessible style of vocal jazz, Barlow has accrued a remarkable resume of critical success, including seven Juno nominations, with two jazz vocal Juno awards—2013’s best Jazz Vocal Recording for her all-French song collection Seule ce soir and her Clear Day collaboration with the Metropole Orkest winning the same award in 2016. Also in 2013, Barlow scored a Felix Award for Seule ce soir as ADISQ’s Album of the Year—Jazz Interpretation. Previously, she had been named Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2008 National Jazz Awards. So, despite the pause time of recent years, you can’t fully quiet a vital creative artist. Case in point: Barlow’s return to action with her brilliant new album, Spark Bird, that she co-produced with her partner Steve Webster. After a five-year hiatus from releasing a full album, this year finds Barlow in fine Spark Bird shape to wing her career to a new plateau. Little did she guess during the dark times that a daily visit from a yellow-winged cacique that is native to the southern Pacific Coast of Mexico would inspire her to dedicate an entire album of songs to birds of all shapes and varieties. Released on her own independent label, Empress Music Group, which she founded in 2005, Spark Bird takes flight in its entirety on March 31. As Barlow writes in her liner notes, “A bird arrives and changes everything.” Before its debut, she is offering a cascade of singles, beginning January 20 and continuing every two weeks until the release date. “Birds have the power to completely transport me,” says Barlow,...

The Vocal Sound Of Jazz

Now in  our 44th  year The Vocal Sound of Jazz is broadcast every Saturday night at 8pm EST on Southeastern Virginia’s NPR affiliate WHRV-FM 89.5. The program (as well as years of archived programs and playlist information) is available on demand anytime the day of the broadcast and thereafter.  Listen online at whro.org or listen on demand anytime at...

2nd Annual “Vocal Jazz Summit”

It was a privilege to be part of such a wonderful event. Great music and discussion in the wonderful atmosphere of Virginia Beach’s Zeiders American Dream Theatre – a very special...