A Social Call Jazzmeia Horn

• 1Tight03:03
• 2East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)06:06
• 3Up Above My Head03:36
• 4Social Call02:25
• 5People Make the World Go Round06:56
• 6Lift Every Voice and Sing / Moanin' (Medley)06:08
• 7The Peacocks (A Timeless Place)08:08
• 8I Remember You02:12
• 9Afro Blue / Eye See You / Wade in the Water13:04
• 10I'm Going Down05:16
• Total Runtime56:54

Info for A Social Call

Jazzmeia Horn - winner of both the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition and Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition - releases her highly anticipated debut recording A Social Call, an album that reveals a talent ready to take its place alongside the best headlining jazz vocalists of today. The album features 10 tracks composed of originals and covers.

"On her debut album, 2017's A Social Call, 2015 Thelonious Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition winner Jazzmeia Horn reveals herself as a virtuoso performer in command of a very powerful instrument. A native of Dallas, Texas, Horn studied at Manhattan's The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music before launching her professional career. While deeply indebted to the warm, agile sound of legendary vocalist Sarah Vaughan (in fact, Horn also won the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition), she displays a forceful sense of personal identity, both creatively and philosophically, on A Social Call. Helping to color this view are Horn's bandmates, who include pianist Victor Gould, bassist Ben Williams, drummer Jerome Jennings, saxophonist Stacy Dillard, trumpeter Josh Evans, and trombonist Frank Lacy. Together, they play with an edgy sophistication and openness to improvisation that speak to Horn's own instrumental abilities, which often find her commanding the solo spotlight as she does on her brisk reading of "I Remember You." Produced by Horn and Concord Records' Chris Dunn, A Social Call showcases Horn on a set of well-curated standards that, while landing firmly in the straight-ahead acoustic jazz tradition, nonetheless highlight her progressive, humanistic worldview. It's a holistic approach perhaps best encompassed on her soulful mid-album reworking of the Stylistics' "People Make the World Go Round." Anchored by a funky bass riff, the song starts with Horn's spoken word piece, detailing many of her societal concerns, from environmental pollution and crime to racism, poverty, and the abuses of the meat industry. From there, the song opens up into a frenetically knotty, free-form section in which Horn's band lets loose with an impassioned post-bop group improv before launching back into the singer’s fluid reading of the main melody. It's an utterly commanding performance, evoking the forward-thinking, politically minded work of a latter-day Nina Simone. That she immediately follows up with an effusive mash-up of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "Moanin'" only works to juxtapose her immense, broadly encompassing talent. Elsewhere, she soars through Betty Carter's "Tight," offers a lithe, honey-coated take on "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)," and displays her unfettered, instrumental-like vocal abilities on an expansive, Afro-Latin-inflected medley of "Afro Blue/Eye See You/Wade in the Water." Pregnant with her daughter during the recording process (and pictured as such in the inside sleeve, with the Earth superimposed on her belly), Horn's Titanic vocal skills are matched by her depth of character and artistic purpose; all of which inform A Social Call." (Matt Collar, AMG)

Jazzmeia Horn, vocals
Victor Gould, piano
Ben Williams, bass
Jerome Jennings, drums, percussion
Stacy Dillard, tenor saxophone
Josh Evans, trumpet
Frank Lacy, trombone

Jazzmeia Horn
Winner of the 2015 Thelonius Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition and 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, Jazzmeia Horn has a name that speaks for itself capturing her very essence. Hailing from the great Dallas, Texas Jazzmeia has already earned a reputation in New York as a “Rising Star.” With the ambition to pursue a solo career, Jazzmeia graced the New York scene in 2009 and earned her degree at The New School for Jazz and contemporary Music . It wasn’t much later when she began to perform as a sideman with musicians Winard Harper, Junior Mance, Billy Harper, Lincoln Center Alumni Vincent Gardner, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mike LeDonne, Peter Bernstein, Johnny O’Neal, Vincent Herring, Kirk Lightsey, Frank Wess, and Ellis Marsalis.

Jazzmeia then began to appear in world famous jazz festivals and legendary jazz clubs such as Lenox Lounge, Bill’s Place, The Apollo, The Blue Note, Dizzy’s Jazz Club Coca­Cola, Minton’s, The Jazz Standard, Smalls Jazz Club, Zinc, Jazz Gallery, Birdland, and The New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Her accolades include Downbeat Student Music Award Recipient 2008, 2009, and Best Vocal Jazz Soloist Winner 2010, The 2013 Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at The Kennedy Center­Washington D.C., The Rising Star Award for the 2012 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition, Finalist for Mid­Atlantic Jazz Vocal Competition 2014, and The 2015 ­16th Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium’s Young Lioness Award.

Currently, Jazzmeia is a teaching artist in The NJPAC Well’s Fargo­Jazz for Teens Program and Jazz In The Schools Program in Newark, New Jersey. She appears in various clubs on the jazz scene nationally and internationally leading her dynamic group “The Artistry of Jazz Horn” which includes­ pianist, bassist, drummer, saxophonist, poet, dancer and herself­vocalist. Jazzmeia humbles her life and gift of music before God and says “I am thankful for the opportunity to play music professionally and have a deep desire to uplift the souls of others in need through my artistry in the spirit of music.”

"A singer who stands apart from many of her peers because she takes on every song she sings so naturally. Jazzmeia is a performer for whom every word, gesture, and ornament becomes an expression of her total conviction and she completely comes alive in the moment" - London Jazz News

This album contains no booklet.