J is for Jazzmeia
It always starts this way. A song, a link, a recommendation, a show. And then we fall in love. This time the window to something new came from my sister, jazz and standard singer Juliet. We were lucky enough to get in on a performance of this exciting jazz vocalist at the club, Smoke, on the Upper West Side. And you get to join in on the conversation, hear the music and learn about a signature talent in the world of jazz… the one and only JAZZMEIA HORN.
And so impressed are we that we have already decided that Jazzmeia deserves best jazz vocalist of the year.
As Grammy-nominated vocalist Jazzmeia Horn looks out the window of her 11th-floor hotel room in Tokyo, she describes the surrounding skyscrapers, the yellow and pink clouds floating by and Messages — her fourth leader date, which is set to release October 25, 2024, via Empress Legacy Records.
In part, Messages, is intended to be a word of encouragement to anyone making tough choices — a reminder that we all make sacrifices. Sometimes, the difficulties encountered along the way are worth it, though.
One of those hardships, for Horn, is being on the road as much as she is. It leaves less time to be with her family. But touring the world also granted Horn, a product of Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, space to ruminate on her relationships — both familial and romantic — how they’ve changed and how they inform her art.
I“If you want to sing your own song, if you have a mission, if you have a lyric,” she began, looking out that window in Japan. “Whatever that voice is, that love, that light, that grit — whatever that is inside of you, you have to do that.”
““Horn is among the most exciting young vocalists in jazz, with a proud traditionalism that keeps her tightly linked to the sound of classic figures like Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter, but a vivacity of spirit and conviction that places her firmly in the present.” – the new york times
Jazzmeia Horn | Jazz Vocalist of the Year (S4 | E201)
J is for Jazzmeia
| Song | Artist | Album | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Out the Window | Jazzmeia Horn | Love and Liberation | 2019 |
| I Remember You | Jazzmeia Horn | A Social Call | 2017 |
| I Remember You | Ella Fitzgerald | Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers | 1958 |
| Free Your Mind | Jazzmeia Horn | Love and Liberation | 2019 |
| Green Eyes | Jazzmeia Horn | Love and Liberation | 2019 |
| Green Eyes | Erykah Badu | Mamma’s Gun | 2000 |
| Social Call | Betty Carter | Social Call | 1980 |
| Social Call | Jazzmeia Horn | A Social Call | 2017 |
| On Green Dolphin Street | Nancy Wilson, George Shearing | The Swinging’s Mutual | 1961 |
| Don’t Call Me | George Shearing | The Swinging’s Mutual | 1961 |
| This is Always | Betty Carter | Inside Betty Carter | 1993 |
| Jazz (Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul) | Betty Carter | The Modern Sound of Betty Carter | 1960 |
| When I Say | Jazzmeia Horn | Love and Liberation | 2019 |
| Voicemail Blues | Jazzmeia Horn | Messages | 2024 |
| Time | Jazzmeia Horn | Love and Liberation | 2019 |
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