(Reprinted from the August issue of The New York City Jazz Record)
In April 2009, bassist-composer Gregg August premiered his suite, Dialogues on Race, a multi-movement composition based on race-themed poetry and commissioned by the Jerome Foundation/New York Jazz Gallery. After this debut—then a comment on race relations within the U.S. following Barak Obama’s ascent to the presidency—August more or less forgot about the project. Until 2019, when he went into the studio to record it with a 12-piece jazz ensemble. This month, he releases Dialogues on Race, Vol. I (Iacuessa Records), a work that has only grown in significance in the years since its inception.
The instrumentals on this two-disc, 12-track recording take inspiration from gripping poetry by the likes of Maya Angelou (“The Bird Leaps”), Langston Hughes (“Sweet Words on Race”), and Cornelius Eady (“Sherbet”). Without words, August’s evocative modern jazz compositions convey all the complexity and depth of their difficult theme. But the tracks with vocals pack the greatest emotional punch—it’s hard to hide from the messages they impart, even if one were so inclined. On “I Sang In The Sun”, a poem by Carolyn Kizer, singer Forest VanDyke adopts the remorseful stance of witnesses to racial injustice, and on the tripartite “Your Only Child”, singers Frank Lacy and Shelley Washington capture the elegiac solemnity of Marilyn Nelson’s text, excerpted from her narrative poem, “A Wreath for Emmett Till”. But what slays is the overdubbed voice of Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, describing her son’s murdered body as the ensemble stirs ominously underneath on “Mother Mamie’s Reflections”. Be forewarned. This one hurts.
Pioneering jazz singer Peggy Lee would have turned 100 this past May. Not many have taken on her songbook as an oeuvre worth exploring musically—and none have approached the trail-blazing figure as a subject of academic inquiry. Singer and author Tish Oney addresses this omission with her book, Peggy Lee: A Century of Song (Rowman & Littlefield). Carefully researched and lovingly written, the biography digs into the backstories of Lee’s career, documenting the challenges Lee faced and the triumphs she claimed during her six decades of performing. Oney’s backstory itself deserves attention: A PhD candidate at USC’s Thornton School of Music, she chose Lee’s long-ignored original work as the topic of her dissertation and went on to develop a related stage show, The Peggy Lee Project, under the tutelage of singer/jazz educator Tierney Sutton. Today Oney stands as the world’s foremost authority on Peggy Lee’s contributions as a jazz auteur, says Lee’s daughter Nicki-Lee Foster.
Two other summer reads for jazz singers: This is Bop: Jon Hendricks and the Art of Vocal Jazz (Equinox) by singer and journalist Peter Jones, who explores how vocalese maverick Jon Hendricks’ contributions to vocal jazz, mind-boggling in their scope, set new standards for jazz singers everywhere. And Embodied VoiceWork: Beyond Singing (Barcelona Publishers), by singer/composer Lisa Sokolov, a primer that helps singers understand the art of vocal improvisation. As an intro, hear master improviser Sokolov discuss her self-styled approach to vocal artistry on Lisa Peers’ podcast for singers, The Voice Work.
For singers who want to learn in a classroom, albeit a virtual one, this month singer Ayelet Rose Gottlieb sends up Orchard of Pomegranates, an online intensive designed to delve into “the playful, spiritual and technical aspects of singing”, she writes. “With eight cutting edge artist-teachers, we will explore our vocal expression through body-voice work, deep listening, experimental improvisation, VoiceNoise, and a bit of jazz.” To help in this effort, Gottlieb has lined up a star-studded online faculty: Theo Bleckman, DB Boyko, Christine Duncan, Anat Fort, Susanna Hood, Sofía Rei, Pyeng Threadgill, and Fay Victor.
While the pandemic rages on, three new standards releases offer some happy diversion: Vermont-based vocalist Bidi Dworkin recently launched her debut album, Beautiful Souvenirs (Twenty Two Productions), a showcase for her sparkling voice at its finest, with arrangements by jazz legend Jay Clayton; singer Noa Levy joins bassist Shimpei Ogawa in duet on You, Me and Cole (Belle Records), 10 expertly rendered selections by musical mastermind Cole Porter; and Italian singer Mafalda Minnozzi, a leading interpreter of Brazilian jazz, just released Sensorial: Portraits in Bossa & Jazz (Mama Produções Artísticas), a collection of seductive airs by beloved Brazilian composers like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell, Chico Buarque, and Toninho Horta.