Suraya Mohamed for NPR  –  Standing behind the Tiny Desk with only pianist Sullivan Fortner by her side, jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant remarked that she hadn’t been this nervous in a while. But it was hard to tell: She embraced the discomfort with ease, taking command of the space with a calm demeanor and spiritual presence that felt both humble and persuasive.

From listening to McLorin Salvant’s exquisite performance here, I also couldn’t tell that when she was 15, she was listening to Alice in Chains, sported a Mohawk and was into what she calls “radical feminist punk stuff,” as she told NPR after the performance. “Sometimes I still really like Bikini Kill, and I still have my little Pearl Jam grunge moments.”

What can be heard in each song is a seasoned jazz singer with a vast vocal range, meticulous technical execution and a superb classical vocal foundation, which actually began when she was just 8. Her background in classical piano is evident in the inventive harmonic and melodic construction of the first three songs heard here; all are romantically themed McLorin Salvant compositions from her third album, For One to Love, recorded in 2015. The record won her a 2016 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

McLorin Salvant closes with “Omie Wise,” an American folk song that tells the tragic story of murder victim Naomi Wise and her husband and killer, John Lewis:

Then pushed her in deep waters where he knew that she would drown

He jumped on his pony and away he did ride

The screams of little Omie went down by his side.

Feminist themes are common in McLorin Salvant’s music, and while “Omie Wise” addresses gender-based violence, she says she sings difficult songs like this to address an important historical legacy. “We don’t sing to our kids and we don’t know any of our folk music anymore,” McLorin Salvant says. “But like all of the history of race songs, coon songs, minstrel music, music from Vaudeville, all of that is like, ‘No, we’re not going to address that — that’s too ugly.'”

While the words in “Omie Wise” hit hard, the ballad’s melody — like all of the other music played here — is nothing but beautiful. McLorin Salvant’s fifth album, a duo record with Fortner, comes out Sept. 28.

 

Watch full performance on NPR 

Cécile McLorin Salvant on TKA 

J.D. Considine for DOWNBEAT Magazine- El Viaje, Harold Lopez-Nussa’s previous album, was all about reaching out. It wasn’t just the title, which translates to “The Voyage,” or the fact that it was the Cuban pianist’s U.S. debut. There also was a sense of exploration to the music, as López-Nussa, his trio and various guests sought to invoke not only America, but also Africa and Europe within their very Cuban sound.

Un Día Cualquiera (“A Typical Day”), by contrast, seems less about reaching out than looking inward. López-Nussa’s trio is almost a family affair—his brother Ruy is on drums, while bassist Gaston Joya also plays in their uncle Ernan’s trio—and the interplay often sizzles with the sort of immediacy that comes from knowing exactly how the other guys think. “Una Tarde Cualquiera En Paris,” for example, conjures its Parisian afternoon with drums and bass supporting the piano’s elegant extrapolations. Suddenly, the tune shifts into 3, and a solo by Joya becomes a conversation between bass and piano that somehow explodes into a drum solo. It’s a wonderfully bravura bit of playing, yet it never feels like they’re showing off, because each flourish seems related to something one of the others played.

The tunes are mostly originals here, and the writing frequently reflects the pianist’s conservatory background. While that might lead to the occasional Debussian echo in the solo piano “Ma Petite Dans La Boulangerie,” it doesn’t prevent the intricately cinematic head to “Cimarrén” from moving into some of the album’s funkiest improvisation.

If this is a typical day for these guys, expect to hear a lot more from López-Nussa.

Nate Chinen for NPR – Precocity has long been a defining feature in the career of Christian Sands. Growing up around New Haven, Conn., he was a boy wonder on piano; by his early teens he was a protégé of the eminent jazz educator Dr. Billy Taylor. Most jazz observers today know him as a dazzling presence in bands led by bassist Christian McBride, who had a similar trajectory as a rising talent around the time Sands was busy being born.

Listen to full album and read more here on NPR  

Christian Sands on TKA