Note: Separate ticketing for 10pm set.
With an assured maturity and vocal confidence far beyond her years, the young singer Jazzmeia Horn arrives with her debut recording A Social Call, an album that reveals a talent ready to take its place alongside the best headlining jazz vocalists of today. Scheduled for release on May 12, 2017 via Prestige, a division of Concord Music Group, its ten tracksâperformed with an all-star acoustic jazz lineupâbristle with a bracing sense of clarity: clarity in Hornâs voice (itself a strong and remarkably supple instrument); clarity in the heady range of vocal legends who have shaped her (from Sarah Vaughan to Rachelle Ferrell); and clarity in the vital message of social uplift and the glowing optimism she conveys through her music....
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Note: Separate ticketing for 10pm set.
With an assured maturity and vocal confidence far beyond her years, the young singer Jazzmeia Horn arrives with her debut recording A Social Call, an album that reveals a talent ready to take its place alongside the best headlining jazz vocalists of today. Scheduled for release on May 12, 2017 via Prestige, a division of Concord Music Group, its ten tracksâperformed with an all-star acoustic jazz lineupâbristle with a bracing sense of clarity: clarity in Hornâs voice (itself a strong and remarkably supple instrument); clarity in the heady range of vocal legends who have shaped her (from Sarah Vaughan to Rachelle Ferrell); and clarity in the vital message of social uplift and the glowing optimism she conveys through her music.
Hornâs marriage of music and message suffuses the variety of selections on A Social Call: fresh takes of evergreen standards (âEast of the Sun (West of the Moon)â, âI Remember Youâ), hard bop anthems (âAfro-Blue,â âMoaninââ), songs of spiritual intent (âWade in the Water,â âLift Every Voice and Songâ), a couple of melodies associated with another singer of personal influence, Betty Carter (âTight,â âSocial Callâ) and R&B nuggets popularized by the likes of Mary J. Blige and the Stylistics (âIâm Goinâ Down,â âPeople Make the World Go Roundâ). Some tunes are woven into medleys with Horn first sermonizing on issues of common concern, giving A Social Call the feel of an intimate, live performance.
With the benefit of Hornâs vocal prowess, A Social Call is an album that satisfyingly combines jazz of the classic, small-group varietyâwhen singers had to step up and carry the same musical weight as any other band memberâwith more modern flavors of gospel and neo-soul. Hornâs palpable understanding of iconic singers of the 1950s and â60s makes her the ideal candidate for the historic Prestige label, an imprint that helped introduce many jazz vocalists to the world. Even the name of Hornâs album is drawn from that same time period. âOf course Gigi Gryceâs âSocial Callâ inspired the title,â says Horn.
âBut when you think about it, the word âsocialâ has many definitionsâyou know, letâs go out or letâs stop and have a drink. What I was thinking about relates to society and a lot of things that are going on right now that are not about love or connection. These are not good times. This album is a few things: itâs a call to social responsibility, to know your role in your community. Itâs about being inspired by things that happen in your life and being able to touch others. I want to put that light out thereâwhich is why I called it A Social Call and why this album has to come out, now. This is exactly why Iâm here.â
It comes as no surprise that a sincere sense of purpose was instilled in Horn from an early age. Born in Dallas in 1991, she grew up in a tightly knit, church-going family filled with musical talent. It was her grandmother, a jazz-loving pianist whose playing was limited to gospel music by her preacher husband, who gave Horn her name. âThat was my fatherâs motherâHarriet Hornâand I guess she knew I was going to be a musical child.â Asked to name the first tune she can recall singing, Horn recalls without hesitation, ââThis Little Light of Mineâ! I was 3 years old and my granny was standing at the piano, looking at me, saying, âYou better open your mouth and sing. You better sing loud. Ar-tic-u-late your words.â I will never forgetâshe used to always say that. She passed away when I was 12. But she taught me so much.â
Horn found further inspiration in a variety of singers she likes to call âmentors, the ones that have come and gone and the ones that are still here, especially Rachelle Ferrell. Sheâs definitely somebody that is mentoring me and she doesnât even know it. There was a season in my life when every morning and every night before bed I was only listening to one thingâa song she wrote called âI Forgive Youâ and itâs one of the most beautiful tunes on Godâs green earth. It was like a hymnal to me, a song and a message I feel everybody in the universe should know.â
Soon Horn was learning from the music by singers she discovered along the way, like Bobby McFerrin (âmost of his performances allow people to be involved musically, not just listeningâ), Abbey Lincoln (âthe lesson I learned from her is always take care of your musicians and theyâll take care of youâ), and of course Betty Carter. âI really love her spirit and the energy she gave to people through music, and how she was a teacher to many great musicians, some that Iâve studied with and so in a sense, I feel sheâs also mentored me.â
In 2009, Horn moved to New York City, trading the closeness and support of family and friends in Dallas for the rich cultural life and musical legacy of New York City, attending The New Schoolâs jazz and contemporary music program. An intense four years of training, performing and being on the scene followed, when she met many of the musicians who appear on A Social Call. âVictor Gould and I have been playing together a long timeâhe and I met when I first moved to New York. His sister told me about him. I had another pianist I was singing with and the idea with Victor was to get out of my comfort zone, but that didnât work because I got so comfortable that I fell more in love with his playing.â
Saxophonist Stacy Dillard was another musician Horn met, âaround 2011 when we both started playing at [jazz club] Smallsâwhat amazed me was that I had no sense of my own ability back then, what I could do, but Stacy was one of the first to respect me not as a singer, but a musician, the musician that I am, and help me see that. Way back then I said to him, âStacy, when I record my album can you please play on it?â He was like, âNo doubt. Thatâs not even a question.ââ
Hornâs talent grew and began to garner attention. In 2013, she entered and won a Newark-based contest fittingly named for her initial inspirationâthe Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition. Then in 2015, at a gala concert at the Dolby Center in Los Angeles, she won what is arguably the most coveted award a young jazz musician can claim todayâone that would lead to her recording A Social Callâwinner of the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition.
Doors open at 6PM - come early to get the best seats! Tickets are $25 and available via www.ticketfly.com.
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