A few years ago, bassist Matt Geraghty started Just Play, a musical organization that generates cross-border creative collaborations between North and South American musicians. Its stated goal is to document these spontaneous musical collaborations electronically and then share the recordings, thus helping to demystify cultural differences. All told, Geraghty plans to make four albums over the course of several years, one each for Cuba, Peru, Africa, and Puerto Rico. He released the first, a collection of Havana jam sessions entitled Trade Winds: Cuba, in 2006, and the second, The Warrior Women of Afro-Peruvian Music, this past July.
The Warrior Women of Afro-Peruvian Music breaks new ground by delving into the rich musical tradition of black female artists in Peru and challenging the racism, sexism, and marginalization that these women face daily in their homeland. Recorded in several locations (Lima, Chicago, Greenpoint, Astoria, Long Island City), this historic album brings together nine singers and percussionists on 10 Spanish-language songs, accompanied by a piano- and guitar-based rhythm section and traditional Afro-Peruvian percussion (the cajón, cajita, quijada, and checo).
Made up of Peruvian folk songs like the danceable “Pancho Remolino” and the plaintive ballad “Quebranto” (with classic Peruvian criolla singers Charo Goyoneche and Rosita Guzmán León, respectively), the album not only introduces new listeners to a little-known musical heritage, but preserves some of this heritage for the future. “I’m always trying to instill in the younger generation the need to conserve the tradition,” Goyoneche declared in a “Just Play: Peru” video. “After that, do innovative things.”
The Just Play videos—one for each track on the album, on a monthly roll-out schedule through early 2020—are an integral part of the project, along with a webisode series that talks about the value of building alliances among musicians the world over. In his international travels to meet up with musicians on their own turf, “there’s an instant connection that goes far beyond borders and political differences,” Geraghty says in one of these videos. “I want to capture this for others.”
Singer Veronica Swift, the daughter of jazz singer Stephanie Nakasian and the late pianist Hod O’Brien, has been working on major jazz bandstands since childhood, and by the time she placed in the 2015 Thelonious Monk Competition for vocalists, coming in second behind Jazzmeia Horn, she had already released several albums under her own name. Her latest effort, Confessions, marks her debut on Mack Avenue Records—a dozen flawless tracks that establish Swift as a major voice in jazz in her own right, apart from her stellar pedigree. The theme of her informed repertoire on this release is heartbreak, with selections from writers as disparate as André Previn (“You’re Gonna Hear From Me”), Mel Tormé (“A Stranger In Town”), and Dave Frishberg (“I’m Hip”). The title track, one of the best performances on the album, juxtaposes Arthur Schwartz/Howard Deitz’s “Confession” with Jessie Mae Robinson/Nina Simone’s “The Other Woman”—a clever pairing that gives Swift the opportunity to show off her broad emotional range. She’ll be performing with her trio at OnStage at Kingsborough on Oct. 11.
Since the late 1990s, Japan-born singer Takeo has been gigging in both New York and her home country, developing a reputation here and abroad as a confident scat singer and passionate interpreter of classic American jazz and pop tunes. Her new album, Contemplation (Flat Nine Records), her fourth as a leader, only solidifies that reputation. On it she moves effortlessly from an esoteric version of McCoy Tyner’s “Contemplation” (she uses koto accompaniment) to a smoky R&B take on The Stylistics’ “Betcha By Golly Wow” to a charming “Waltz for Debbie.” The album opener, “Ugetsu: Fantasy” uses lyrics from the Earth, Wind & Fire song with the melody of The Jazz Messengers’ Japanese-titled standard—a stroke of genius. Taeko will kick off the album at Birdland on Oct. 10.
Updates: The street date for singer/composer/improviser Lauren Lee’s new disc Windowsill (s/p) is Oct. 17, when she’ll celebrate the launch with a concert at Rockwood Music Hall. Check out the teaser single “Aback” on Soundcloud beforehand. Then, on Oct. 20, free jazz singer Jay Clayton will perform with drummer Jerry Granelli from their 1986 LP, “Sound Songs,” as part of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians’ concert series at Symphony Space.
(Reprinted from the October 2019 issue of The New York City Jazz Record)