Love and Liberation Part One

In her recording debut, A Social Call (2017), Jazzmeia Horn thought about how to contribute to society as an African-American woman, and her work was aimed at all kinds of audiences: whites and blacks, youth and adults, men and women, and people of all faiths. Her goal was to lift their spirits and heal them while she also healed herself with her great ability to tell stories and deliver inspiring messages through her bright voice and scat-singing. She really offered everything you would expected from a veteran vocalist with a proven reputation.

While in A Social Call we find covers of songs by other artists in its entirety, in Love and Liberation (2019) eight of the twelve tracks are hers, although she has the same excellent musicians that provide intense improvisation, and reminds us the kind of jazz that appeared in the 1970s, when post bop was softened with rhythm and blues and soul. In addition, it brings her energetic character and the feminine perspective of educating two daughters.

Jazzmeia Horn (vocals), Victor Gould (piano), Ben Williams (double bass) and Jamison Ross (drums). From the album Love and Liberation (2019).

The album begins with “Free Your Mind”, with a swinging style and a cheerful melody, reminiscent of Betty Carter, and in which Horn gives a singing master class over the stimulating rhythm by Gould, Williams and Ross. At dizzying speed, an impressive vocal range and a thrilling scat, Horn sings in a spectacular way. Evans offers a superb solo and then supports Horn through her vocal flight. The message of the song is that we shouldn’t be so immersed in digital media and increase our relationship with other people, free our minds, broaden the horizon of our thoughts and abandon our emotional baggage.

Jazzmeia Horn (vocals), Stacy Dillard (tenor sax), Josh Evans (trumpet), Victor Gould (piano), Ben Williams (double bass) and Jamison Ross (drums). From the album Love and Liberation (2019).

“Time” is a short rhythm and blues tune in which Horn recites a poem with a soft ambient background created by Evans with mute on his trumpet. In it a woman begs a passionate pretender to calm his impulses and give her more time to be willing to surrender to him.

Jazzmeia Horn (vocals), Stacy Dillard (tenor sax), Josh Evans (trumpet), Victor Gould (piano), Ben Williams (double bass) and Jamison Ross (drums). From the album Love and Liberation (2019).

In “Out the Window” Horn shows us her ability to write unforgettable themes like this brilliant swing piece. In it we hear an excellent solo by Dillard and Horn exhibiting her virtuosity with a complex chromaticism in all her vocal range, always in perfect tone, evoking the style of Dizzy Gillespie, Dinah Washington or Ella Fitgerald. It’s a funny song about a man and a woman with mutual intentions.

Jazzmeia Horn (vocals), Victor Gould (piano), Ben Williams (double bass) and Jamison Ross (drums). From the album Love and Liberation (2019).

In the “No More” version of the Hubert Laws and Jon Hendricks blues, Horn recalls her childhood marked by racial segregation in Dallas, and responds defiantly as an independent black woman, from pride instead of fear, to those who may try to repress her. Horn’s evangelical roots are reflected in a powerful performance that invokes the spirit of Aretha Franklin.

Jazzmeia Horn (vocals), Irwin Hall (tenor sax), Keith Brown (piano), Endea Owens (double bass) and Anwar Marshall (drums). From the album Love and Liberation (2019).

“When I Say” is dedicated to her daughters describing their concerns gracefully and is full of complex changes.