HORN OF PLENTY - RISING JAZZ STAR JAZZMEIA …I thought about Miles Davis and John Coltrane," continues 'Jazz' ... Round,' and Rose Royce's Norman Whitfield ... OF PLENTY - RISING

HORN OF PLENTY - RISING JAZZ STAR JAZZMEIA HORN TALKS.

Written by Charles WaringFriday, 09 June 2017 13:48 - Last Updated Saturday, 17 June 2017 13:31

"Jazzmeia has one of the best voices I've heard in over 40 years" - Jon Hendricks

"My heart skipped a beat... I didn't know what to do. I was just kind of screaming for days."These are the words of JAZZMEIA HORN, arguably the most exciting new vocalist in jazz right now. She isn't recollecting anerve-shredding nightmare or reliving a traumatic experience that changed her life but isexplaining how she felt when her producer, Chris Dunn, at Concord Records, told her that theywere going to release her debut album,'A Social Call,'on the re-launched Prestige imprint, one of the leading modern jazz labels of the 1950s and'60s. "I thought about Miles Davis and John Coltrane,"continues 'Jazz' (as she's known to her friends and familiars), "who were both artists on Prestige. It was super-heavy thing being on Prestige so I didn't knowhow to carry myself...it was very exciting."

Just 26-years-old, Dallas-born Jazzmeia Horn shows an astonishing maturity on 'A Social Call,'channelling the spirit of classic horn-like vocalists like Sarah Vaughan (her idol) and BettyCarter but fusing those influences with her own contemporary style and sensibility to arrive atsomething that is simultaneously traditional and modern. She succeeds in marrying virtuosicskill with a soulful sensitivity, achieving a perfect union of technique and deep feeling. Herrepertoire on the album ranges from straight-ahead swingers ('Tight' and 'I Remember You')and luminous ballads ('The Peacocks') to sanctified gospel-inflected soul-jazz numbers

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('Moanin'' and a medley that includes 'Wade In The Water') to classic '70s R&B songs - thelatter are represented by a wonderful take on the Stylistics' Thom Bell and Linda Creed-written'People Make The World Go Round,' and Rose Royce's Norman Whitfield-penned 'I'm GoingDown' (which was also a '90s hit for Mary J Blige). What unites her disparate material is hersupple, athletic voice combined with her unique storytelling abilities.

Accompanying Jazzmeia is an ace group of musicians, including bassist Ben Williams, pianistVictor Gould, drummer Jerome Jennings, and saxophonist, Stacy Dillard. Together, they makea beautiful and inspiring noise. The singer's deal with Concord (Prestige's parent company) wasa direct result of her winning the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition- in fact, it was part of the prize, along with a cheque for $25,000.

Two years on, and Jazzmeia Horn - who balances a music career with looking after her twoyoung children - is beginning to make some noise internationally, thanks to her sensationaldebut album. The British public have a chance to see her in person in November when she willperform at Ronnie Scott's as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Here, she talks at length ona range of subjects with SJF's Charles Waring...

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Your debut album, 'Social Call,' has just been released. What's the response been like sofar? It's been really, really, really beautiful. We've got good responses all around, and some of themost endearing ones have come from the average person who enjoys music. A lot of peoplehave said to me that the album is very timely and a lot of the elders feel like the music is in goodhands. A lot of the younger people, people my age, said I didn't like jazz before I heard youralbum. I didn't understand it, it was too intellectual, but you make it so that everybody canunderstand it. So I am really elated. I didn't really realise it was going to bring together the oldschool and the new school, the older and the newer generation of people together, and that'sexactly what has happened. It's so exciting. A lot of the critics in the really big newspapers here,like in the New York Times, The New Yorker, and the New York Amsterdam News, have allreally had wonderful things to say. My publicist sent me a quote sheet about two days ago andthere were probably thirty quotes. I didn't think that this was what was going to happen and I'mstill trying to take it all in. What were your hopes and ambitions for the album, then, if you weren't expecting thissort of adulation? I was hoping that the younger generation would kind of wake up and smell the coffee and thesame thing with the older generation of people. I didn't think that was going to happen but thatwas definitely my hope. It really was just a dream. I thought, what if I could really appeal to bothsides and bring them together. I didn't necessarily think that problems were going to be solvedor anything like that, but it definitely has brought us together and ... the rest is history! (Laughs). Do you think that there's a division between the old school and the new school in jazz? Yes, absolutely. I definitely know that. I've even heard a lot of my peers and colleagues when Iwas in college before I was married with children, say, "oh man, oh, they ain't got it, they can'tphrase that anymore, they're too old, nobody comes up in jam sessions and nobody caresabout anything anymore." I would hear things like that and then I have a different way of livingand a different way of singing and a different way of feeling than a lot of the younger generationthat are my counterparts. I gel with both sides, I'm kind of in between. So for me, I also got achance and opportunity to hear the elders speak and when they speak, they say things like "oh,you guys don't listen, you're hard-headed" and they'd say things that are true but notunderstanding that they could learn from us. And I think that we forget that we could learn fromthem because they've seen and done so many things in life that we haven't experienced orhaven't had the opportunity to experience yet. And then vice versa. We have so much that wecan teach them like, for example, how to create a Facebook page or advertise on a Twitteraccount. There's still a lot we can learn from each other, but there's a huge gap, but I'm reallyexcited about what 'A Social Call' is doing. I don't want to jinx it but 'A Social Call' has made thegenerations merge. How did it feel to be in the studio recording your first LP? I was definitely excited but I was very nervous, too, because that was the first time that all of themusicians in the band had played together. I had played with each one individually before but itwas the first time that we had all come together and played music. What was your co-producer, Chris Dunn, like to work with? He was great. He had great energy. Everything was "is this is how you like it, do you want it thisway?" And then if there were moments that he felt that needed to be redone, he didn't overrun itwith his own interpretation or didn't make me feel my ideas weren't worth time. He never mademe feel uncomfortable. The music industry can be difficult for a woman. Men sometimes canmake women feel a certain way because of the persona that they have or the way they carrythemselves. Sometimes they don't even notice that they're doing it, but it's intuitive andbecomes part of their being. There was none of that with Chris or any of the musicians on thealbum. The producer, the musicians, and the engineers were all like, "hey, you're the boss lady,let us know what you need is to do." It was just complete support. So it made it much easier.

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How did you get to sign with Concord initially? It was at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. It's not a vocal competition but acompetition where every year they choose a different instrument. In 2015 it just so happenedthat the instrument was voice. There were eleven finalists from around the world and theynarrowed it down to three winners but the first got $25,000 and a recording contract withConcord. So I won that competition and that's how I got the record deal. Who were the judges? Dee Dee Bridgewater, Al Jarreau - God bless his soul - Patti Austin, Luciana Souza, and FreddyCole. And the host was Herbie Hancock and there was an award being given to Quincy Jones,so there were jazz celebrities all over the place. And what did you sing? I did two performances. We had to do a Monk piece and I did 'Evidence' with 'Four In One.' So Ihad the piano player play 'Evidence' and then I sang 'Four In One' because it has very similarchord changes. So I just created an arrangement of merging the two songs that Monk wrote,and I think that's what helped me to win because it was so daring. All the other competitorschose the easier songs, you know like 'Ruby, My Dear.' None of Monk's tunes are easy but theywere easier than 'Four In One...that was pretty hard (laughs). You certainly set yourself a challenge with that one, didn't you? Yeah, but on purpose. I thought, "I must win this competition." And what was it like to win? I didn't actually get a chance to think about it as I had so many bills to pay and I had a new babycoming and I also had a one-year-old. I was really thinking about how the competition, if I wereto win, would better my life and my child's life. So I treated it like a gig instead of a competitionand I was able to completely be myself, which worked out. I knew it was a huge risk but I waswilling to take it because I needed to pay my rent. I thought: Let me just do what I know how todo. I can sing, this is what I was born to do. I was born to sing jazz, let me do this and try to dosomething that is totally outside of my comfort zone but which is going to win me thiscompetition. You were pregnant at the time you were recording your album...How did that affect therecording process? It didn't really bother me much because actually my first child was almost born on stage. Iperformed up until I had the baby with the first and second pregnancies. In the studio I sat downmostly when I felt like I couldn't stand anymore and it wasn't too much strain on my bodybecause it was what I was used to doing. It was really simple. Actually, the children gave memuch more creative ideas in terms of improvisation and arranging. I was able to get out of a boxthat I had been in previously. Before I had children, my thinking on my singing, scatting andstorytelling was one-way but after I became a mother, it completely changed everything. So inthe studio when I was recording my album, I was thinking about the world as a mother and asan artist, musician and a woman of many hats, really, and how that would look like and what itwould be like for the children - and not just my children, but children in general. You just have adifferent perspective. So It changed my perspective and I was able to really get the story, getthe gist, and give my own interpretation and understanding of the story, which became evenmore powerful because I was able to speak it and tell it to the world better than I was able to dobefore. So it was definitely a blessing. What influenced your choice of material? Before I won the competition, I thought the album had to be recorded like ASAP so when I wentin as a finalist I had already decided on what songs I was going to record for the album. Thiswas actually before the songs were recorded. I already had a concept in mind and had decidedwhat musicians I wanted to use. Everything except for the producer and the studio, I alreadyknew. I even knew what the album cover was going to look like. It was like I had overdone it butapproaching that way turned out perfect because I kind of got a chance to really work the tunesand spend more time on them instead of it being a rushed situation. I live everything that I singabout and only try to sing what I'm living about. If it's someone else's project, I'll be a side manor side woman, but still interpret those songs as if I'm living the story. So storytelling is reallyimportant to me. I can really tell a story with these tunes. All of the songs on 'A Social Call'speak to me. It was pretty easy. Is there a theme that ties all the songs together? Love. The entire album is a big love fest (laughs). Love for society, love for life, love for thechildren, love for the Earth, love for music, love for everything that I'm passionate about, whichis all of the above. You know when you love yourself, you have enough love to give someoneelse and you love people and you love the Earth, the planet that you live on. You want to save itso you speak out about things that are bothering you and the people. All those things botherme.

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You cover the Stylistics' early '70s hit, 'People Make The World Go Round.' Do youremember how you first came across that song? I was riding in the car with my grandmother. She had a really small red car and I used to sit inthe middle of the backseat and always looked at the radio station and it was being played. Shewas a nanny and worked for two different families. Sometimes she would take me to work withher, like in the summer when I was out of school. I remember her always coming home andtaking her shoes off and she would say rub grandma's hands or rub grandma's feet for me. Thatsong came on one day and she started crying but she was trying to make sure that I didn't see,that I didn't notice that she was crying, and I did. So I listened to the song and was trying reallyto understand what the tune meant but it wasn't until I was out of junior high school that I reallyunderstood what she was going through as a nanny, that type of labour and not being able to bearound her children all the time and grandchildren in the way that she wanted to be becauseshe had another obligation. And that song speaks about that. You bring a new dimension to it because you begin your version with a spoken narrativeabout the state of the world. That's what I mean when I say I like to tell a story because I have a different voice, and it's adifferent timeframe, so it has to be a little bit different, it can't be completely the same. Do you feel that for you, personally, jazz has to reflect contemporary life and that's whyyou've referenced many of the issues that affect us all? I'm an expression of life, of what I'm going through, and what I've been through in the21st-century and I don't know how else to be. This is the only way I know how to be. Some singers shy away from making the social and political commentary but you don't,do you? As long as I'm not offending anyone, I don't see why music shouldn't be able to speak out aboutcertain things. I'm not putting anyone down, I'm not judging anyone, I'm just hurt and a lot of people are hurting and I'm not just speaking about black American people and even though Iam a black American - whatever that means (laughs) - everybody's hurting. There's so muchpain everywhere. At the same time I'm only 26 years old and I have a full life ahead of me andthis is how I feel today, in 2017. But tomorrow is a different day. You never know. But I definitelyknow that my love for people and myself is continuing to grow. So it's definitely not somethingthat's going to die.

With a name like Jazzmeia Horn, did it feel like in a way that you were pre-destined tobecome a jazz singer? No, when I was a child, I didn't even like jazz. I wasn't introduced to it until I was about 13 or 14.I was a sophomore in high school and I was like, oh, what is that? That's too intellectual, I don'tunderstand it. But then during my senior year I went to a performing arts high school and had aprofessor and a voice coach who had given me a compilation of vocalists on it and I heardSarah Vaughan (pictured above). I fell in love with her and jazz and my socks were really blownaway completely. The way she played with time, her tone, and the way she sounded like aclassical vocalist but was a jazz vocalist and had this raspy tone at the same time. It made mewonder, who are you? And then her improvisation, her musicianship ... she just made me feellike no one else on the planet had made me feel before. And I just followed her to Nat KingCole, Ray Charles, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone. I followed Sarah Vaughan and began her tunes but I decided that I was starting to sound too much likeher. She sang 'Fly Me To The Moon' and also 'Tenderly' and I was like, who else sings thosesongs? So then I got introduced to Nancy Wilson, and then Bessie Smith.... Just like a slew ofvocalists came about from me hearing Sarah. I have her to thank but I really have all of them tothank. At what point did you start to find your own voice? Because you've certainly got yourown style. I felt like I was imitating Sarah too much, this was before I was the winner of the 2013 SarahVaughan Competition. I felt like I started to sound like her too much and when you learnanything, like you learn how to write or ride a bike, you learn how the person taught you tolearn. You kind of imitate the person who taught you, more so than being yourself. So that'swhen I started listening to other tunes. Once I started hearing all these different vocalists, I waslike oh, this is just to get me started, I can actually be myself. In church, I started to listen to myvoice and what my voice sounded like, because I would sing in church probably three or fourtimes a week. My grandfather was a pastor. I started paying attention to my voice even moreand then I actually went to school in New York and on the scene right away started playing withdifferent people, like local musicians, in different bars and venues around New York. I justbecame Jazzmeia Horn. I became myself by being here in New York and really having time towork on my craft.

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What music was the soundtrack to your early life growing up in Dallas in the 1990s? I was really into Brandy (pictured above). I still love her. My mum used to say, "turn it off! Don'tyou want to listen to anything else but Brandy?" I have all her records. There was something sosoulful about her voice, I was also listening to Whitney Houston too, who was Brandy's idol. AndI heard a little bit of Nancy Wilson because she's one of those vocalists who is not in a box, soyou can't say she's a jazz vocalist or soul or R&B vocalist; she is very eclectic and well-rounded.Then I heard Betty Wright, whom my mother loved, and gospel singers like Yolanda Adams andShirley Caesar. Also Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Johnnie Taylor, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, theCommodores, Earth Wind & Fire, the Temptations, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass, andDonny Hathaway. That's what I grew up with. It was very soulful music and it still resonates withme right now. It's always there, it was just never jazz. And then I came into my dream andcreated what's going on with my voice now...but over time it may change, who knows? Do you play any instruments as well as being able to sing? I play Djembe. I took West African dance in high school and college and fell in love with a lot ofthe different West African traditions from Mali, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and especially Nigeria,Nigeria. I played Djembe very well actually. I used to play drums in church, so I have a nicepocket, a nice groove, but I cannot swing yet: it's very bouncy and doesn't feel like the swingthat I sing. So I'm really attracted to the drums. I feel like the drummer is the second instrumentknown to man, the voice is the first. I sing and play the drums a lot when I'm on my own and Igo to drum circles in Central Park and Union Square where people make a circle and dance andplay drums. It's one of the things that made me fall in love with New York because any one canjoin in.

Tell me about the cover and album artwork for your album - what was the concept behindit? If you go to the inside page (above), you'll see a picture of me front of the Flat Iron Building (inNew York) and you can see the world in my womb. I was pregnant at the time that I wasrecording and looked at 'A Social Call' as one of my babies because while I was nurturing achild in my womb, I was also nurturing the album. The concept would be how would I feed thepeople, how would I nurture them in the same way that I nurture my child. I embodied beingMother Earth but I didn't have a chance to put the picture that was on the inside on the coverbecause that was initially what I wanted but the label was not interested in that. So I just wantedto prove it to the people that I really felt it resonated with my spirit and I also wanted to givethem hope - especially a lot of the older people, like my mentors, people like Reggie Workman,Charles Tolliver and Jimmy Owens, who all came to my album release party. (Trumpeter)Jimmy Owens was a huge supporter, even when I was in college. He'd ask me: do you ownyour licensing? Do you own your publishing? I know you've just got a record deal but are youtalking to a lawyer and can I send one your way? Even before I started making a name formyself on the scene, he would ask me things like, are you resting? Are you eating right? Areyou studying? Are you making time to study and go to jam sessions? He really, really looked outfor me. And he was one of the ones who would say, jazz is in good hands with Jazzmeia(laughs). I was so excited just to hear him say that. He's one of the greats and I'm thrilled toknow him and thrilled that the elders are proud of me and proud of the legacy that I'm living onand passing the torch. And I'm not just taking the torch and bringing the light - I'm continuing on,to speak out, and cry out with love about what's going on. And passing on the love down toother generations. So it's a birth: birthing a new generation of conscious people. You seem to have lots of ideas. What can we expect from you in the future and do youhave any ideas in the pipeline? I have 20,000 ideas and that's probably an understatement (laughs). I have so many. I lovechildren and I want to do something like Sesame Street, a special for children. I also want towrite some children's songs. I've actually written a lot and my children have been guinea pigsfor the music that I'm writing. And they love the songs. We have a brush your teeth song, anopen your eyes song, an I am beautiful song... You know, just words of encouragement. There'sa lot in the can and I'm just working on everything bit by bit, piece by piece, but I'm not going tothrow all of my ideas out there. I'm working on my next Prestige album. Will you be writing more as well? Yes. The next album will be completely my tunes. So I'm very excited about what's next. I didn'twant to give it to the people up front. I wanted them to have a chance to get to know me withsomething that they're familiar with first before I let myself out and give my whole self away. Sothat's what's coming up. JAZZMEIA HORN'S DEBUT ALBUM, 'A SOCIAL CALL,' IS OUT NOW VIA PRESTIGE

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HORN OF PLENTY - RISING JAZZ STAR JAZZMEIA …I thought about Miles Davis and John Coltrane," continues 'Jazz' ... Round,' and Rose Royce's Norman Whitfield ... OF PLENTY - RISING