Lift Every Voice and Sing/Moanin’

Stacy Dillard (tenor sax), Josh Evans (trumpet), Victor Gould (piano), Ben Williams (double bass) and Jerome Jennings (drums). From the album A Social Call (2017).

Pregnant with her daughter during the recording of A Social Call (2017), Jazzmeia Horn’s vocal skills matched her artistic purpose and the depth of her character. To support her, she chose a small acoustic group of musicians to enhance her vocal articulation so that her voice would be integrated into the band as another instrument. The music is sophisticated and open to improvisation with Horn transmitting optimism and often being the focus of attention. The album came out after more than a year of planning, recording and postproduction, with Horn involved in the whole process along with producer Chris Dunn, and was a spectacular success.

A Social Call made it to the top ten of Billboard magazine’s hit list, reached the first position on JazzWeek magazine’s website and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. At the concert leading up to the 60th edition of the Grammy Awards in 2018, Horn offered a daring rendition of “Moanin’”, to which singer Jon Hendricks had added lyrics in 1961 related to the Civil Rights movement. With a wide smile and a radiant African-style dress, she made the song relevant again for today’s listeners, getting a standing ovation. Then she toured the United States, Milan, Paris, London and Macau.

Also in 2018 she performed in Christopher Piazza’s film Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home and won the Rising Star award in the Female Vocalist Category in the Downbeat Critics Poll. As a result of her continuous tours perfecting her vocal technique and writing songs of personal relevance and social message, in 2019 she has published Love and Liberation, which is not as political as the previous album and even includes poetry. In it we find songs of different styles, approaches and messages. The most important thing for Horn is to share the music with her family, her group and her audience.