Love and Liberation Part Two

Since Jazzmeia Horn presented her first album, she has spent two years on the road, developing her vocal and phrasing skills, the brave approach of her improvisations, and writing songs of personal transcendence, emotional power and social message. She has also been able to experiment with different combinations and ideas and learn to use her voice, her body and her group. Horn has Betty Carter as an important point of reference, and has chosen the title Love and Liberation because both things describe the moment of her life and her career in which she finds herself, and both feed on each other.

Some themes claim her power as a strong and independent woman, others her African-American identity, others deal with love with delicacy and humor, and others are deep reflections that can help people free their minds. The music combines the jazz tradition with elegant details of rhythm and blues and hip-hop, showing lots of creativity and a taste for good melodic lines; and in each song may participate from the whole band to a single instrument. This second album, like the previous one, has also received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Horn writes non-stop while traveling, although some of the tunes on this album were played before. She also won the Jazz Journalist Association’s 2018 Up, in 2019 gave three concerts supported by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra in Scotland and in 2020 has won the 51st. NAACP Image Award for the Outstanding Jazz Album.

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

“Legs and Arms” is a ballad about a stalker chasing her in New York, but instead of getting angry, Horn turns it into the story of a man in love with an unreachable woman, and includes a fantastic sax solo by Dillard.

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

The bebop theme “Searching” is another masterpiece in which Horn shows, thanks to her study of Sarah Vaughan, that she can command her singing at a breathtaking pace and scat amazingly.

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

“Green Eyes” is a gentle rhythm and blues ballad by singer, songwriter, actress and record producer Erykah Badu, and in her sensual version, Horn adds a spiritual accent reminiscent of John Coltrane with a long solo by Gould.

Jazzmeia Horn (vocals), Josh Evans (trumpet), Sullivan Fortner (piano), Ben Williams (double bass) and Jamison Ross (drums). From the album Love and Liberation (2019).

The blues “Still Tryin” tells a story of seduction in a bar, with an excellent rendition by Fortner.

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

In Horn’s cover of George Duke and Rachelle Ferrell’s ballad “Reflections of My Heart” we find a seductive duo between Horn and Ross with Fortner playing piano exquisitely, and Ross using cymbals to give it a subtle hue, being the most complex composition of the album. It’s an intense affirmation of tenderness in which the couple expresses what love has done for them.

Jazzmeia Horn (vocals) and Ben Williams (double bass). From the album Love and Liberation (2019).

The album ends with Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer’s “I Thought About You” standard in which Horn displays her jazz qualities in an unusual way, backed only by double bassist Ben Williams. She sings high and penetrating notes, but it’s the playful interaction between them what surprises most.