In two lands of the South, the Texas of Jazzmeia Horn and the Campania of Guido Lenza, two similar philosophies meet. The first is the one of a young jazz female player who continues in the tradition of the vocalist of the genre – renewing it with her gospel vein – and that of a producer who debuts in the wine market with a label that combines innovation and past
Coming from a gospel-oriented family in Dallas, Texas, given a unique name and a precocious piano attitude that plays grandma, Jazzmeia Horn was destined to become a jazz singer.
After moving to New York to follow her musical studies, she started her ascent by winning the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition, and then winning the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015.
All of this preparation and recognition culminated in his first release A Social Call.
A fascinating, profound voice, inherent in the roots of jazz singing, a just continuation of the tradition embodied by the great vocalists of the genre. Coming from Dallas, and bearer of that natural load of radiance that can give the south, the Horn in this album confirms all his qualities of virtuous and at the same time agile interpreter that ranges from the scat of Tight and I Remember You to ballad intense and lived like the beautiful The Peacocks.
In Social Call, the Horn sings standard supported by good musicians both in the mainstream moments (East Of The Sun), and in post-bop, hard-bop and end-improvisation situations; or even with funky gusts in the Up tune of Up Above My Head.
Not to mention the challenge to the loss of voice and double bass in A Social Call or the free collectivism of wind instruments that intertwine and re-launch the political speech of People Make The World Go Around.
It is followed by the Lift Every Voice and Sing / Moanin ‘medley. Here come the gospel vein and the enormous technical capabilities of the Horn. Especially in the aggressive attack and rhythm to the rhythm of Moanin ‘scat. In the other medley entitled Afro Blue / Eye See You / Wade In The Water, the singer uses the voice as an added instrument that combines percussion in a tribal rite that opens Afro Blue. Some of his political / social invectives recall the strings of Abbey Lincoln. In her, however, they have a less aggressive but direct covering, narrated with firm sweetness and, then, secular religiosity in Wade In The Water.
I’m Going Down closes for the better, between funky and soulful rhythms, a sought after record of beauty. Like Jazzmeia Horn, Guido Lenza remains anchored to the tradition and the passion for the rural world of the family, realized in the breeding of racehorses (and, in the past, also of buffaloes), deciding to support a new project – that of a wine as excellence – that is natural and true expression of the terroir and its production philosophy. As in Lift Every Voice and Sing / Moanin ‘, the Aglianico of Lenza – while expressing the strength of the original grape (the aggression scat of the piece) – wraps you with its persuasive warmth, exciting the palate as the voice of this young musician.
