(Reprinted from the November 2022 issue of New York City Jazz Record)
Singer-guitarist Allan Harris is one of those performing artists who’s everywhere but flies just beneath the radar. He has about 15 albums to his credit, most of them released through his own label, Love Productions Records. He’s shared the stage with a slew of celebrities like Tony Bennett, Abbey Lincoln, Al Jarreau, Cassandra Wilson, and Wynton Marsalis. He’s fronted formidable ensembles like The Metropole Orchestra, The Berlin Jazz Orchestra, and the JALC Orchestra. And this month he’ll be the fifth male singer ever to compete in the Sarah Vaughan Competition, now in its eleventh edition.
Last year he honored his Harlem stomping grounds with the 10 R&B/soul/gospel originals on Kate’s Soulfood, reviewed in this column. But to take in the fullness of his vocal, instrumental and compositional abilities, it’s worthwhile to sample from the full spectrum of his releases: His gentle crooning on Love Came, the Songs of Strayhorn; his irrepressible swing on Black Bar Jukebox; his twanging blues on Cross That River (The Story of a Black Cowboy); his uplifting way with a holiday tune on Dedicated to You, Allan Harris Sings a Nat King Cole Christmas. He’ll likely draw from some of these albums when he competes on Nov. 20 at NJPAC, and he stands a good chance of taking home the $5,000 cash prize. But the non-cash prize is just as valuable—a broader platform for reaching vocal jazz listeners, sometimes through big label interest. Harris deserves this kind of success. Meanwhile, he’ll be gearing up for the Sassy competition with his trio at Mezzrow on Nov. 18.
LA-based vocalist Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim tied for first place (with Gabrielle Cavassa) at the 2020 Sassy Awards (rescheduled for June 2021). At the time, she’d only been singing out about a year—a remarkable entrance to the vocal jazz world. This victory led to a debut album contract with Resonance Records for Smile, a must-listen collection of a dozen well-set standards. What stands out is her spontaneous phrasing and natural scatting—as on “Out of This World” and “What A Little Moonlight Can Do”—the same talents that impressed the judges last year. Tawanda introduces the album on Nov. 17 at Birdland.
Composer/singer Sarah Elizabeth Charles releases her fifth album, Blank Canvas (Stretch/Ropeadope) at Rockwood Music Hall on Nov 2. The album, with her regular quartet SCOPE, rings with layered effects and emotionally charged vocals. Special guest Christian Adjuah Scott plays the Adjuah Bow (a double-sided electric harp, according to the liner notes) on the record, and she joins the innovative trumpeter/composer at Blue Note Nov 14-17.
Portugal’s Maria Mendes explores a genre-disruptive fusion on Saudade, Colour of Love, released last month via Challenge Records. Repeating the formula from her 2021 Grammy-nominated tune, “Asas Fechadas” (Close To Me, Justin Time Records), on the new release Mendes melds the heartbreak of fado, a form of Portuguese folk singing, with the improvisatory zeal of vocal jazz. Her accompaniment is the lush Metrople Orkest, led by conductor/orchestrator John Beasley. The live recording resounds with both groove and pathos.
Composer/singer Somi brings selections from her acclaimed musical Dreaming Zenzile, a tribute to South African pop star Miriam Makeba, to Carnegie’s Zankel Hall on Nov. 18. For this contemporary space she’ll use electro-acoustic chamber arrangements of the originals, and if past is prologue, the music will soar as Somi channels Makeba’s infectious vibrancy. She’ll also pull from some of her other projects—perhaps something from 2020’s Holy Room, a live recording of the Rwandan/Ugandan singer with the Frankfurt Big Band, featuring Beasley again as arranger/conductor.
Like Somi, Lisa Bielawa is a vocalist renown for her distinct compositional style. Among her many honors are the prestigious Rome Prize in Musical Composition; a recent co-commission by Carnegie Hall, the American Composers Orchestra, the Orlando Philharmonic, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project; a three-year stint as the founding Composer-in-Residence and Chief Curator of the Philip Glass Institute at The New School; and a 2018 Emmy nomination for the TV and online opera, Vireo: The Spiritual Biography of a Witch's Accuser. This month, Nov. 2-5, she’ll complete a residency at The Stone, presenting titles such as "Scenes from La Ballonniste", "Centuries in the Hours and Other Songs", "Survivors Breakfast: The Blackboard Pieces" and "Misreading the Great American Songbook, Year Seven". Several surprise vocal guests will join avant-gardist Bielawa in the experimental performance space.