{"id":17061,"date":"2025-12-28T12:10:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T18:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17061"},"modified":"2025-12-28T12:10:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T18:10:54","slug":"2025-humanitys-voice-in-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17061","title":{"rendered":"2025: Humanity&#8217;s voice in jazz?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Kevin Lynch\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/large-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like fcbkbttn_large_button\"><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17061\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"button_count\"  size=\"large\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"fb-share-button fcbkbttn_large_button \" data-href=\"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17061\" data-type=\"button_count\" data-size=\"large\"><\/div><\/div><header>\n<div id=\"pageinfos\" class=\"pageinfos\"><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"carousel content no_js\" data-transition=\"content\" data-loop=\"false\">\n<div id=\"media-carousel-92920\" class=\"single media-carousel\">\n<div class=\"media carousel\" data-nojump=\"true\">\n<div id=\"ms-slide-92920-0\" class=\"carousel-item carousel-active\">\n<div class=\"media-options\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f4.bcbits.com\/img\/a2854371516_16.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"file\">\n<p class=\"credits\"><em>Photo via All About Jazz &#8211; allaboutjazz.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"media-content\">Was there any pattern besides, say, chord changes, that helped define jazz in 2025?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>They sang out, in voices of many echoes\u2014airy, haunting, jaunty, imploring, wistful, lonely, spiraling, seductive and in harmonies as plummy as they were piquant.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, jazz musicians in 2025 often chose to top off their ensembles with singers, sometimes the leader themselves, a bandmember or special guest. I heard it so increasingly in the last few years that it seems more than a trend,\u00a0perhaps a\u00a0collective cultural movement, to persuade a distracted public that this \u201cintellectual\u201d American sonic art form can be as human as any.<\/p>\n<p>And as democratic as any. These underlying qualities persist in jazz even within another emerging\u00a0trend,\u00a0ensembles larger to orchestral. But these add up to another essay topic, at least.<\/p>\n<p>Among the best albums I heard that carried the v for voice was a British one,\u00a0<em>Every Journey<\/em>, by the 11-member Ensemble C, as transporting an album as I heard in 2025. This one, like some others, had a vocalist, sometimes wordless, as part of every tune, floating or soaring over or through the instruments. Here, Brigitte\u00a0Beraha\u00a0sang tales from bandleader-composer Claire Cope\u2019s investigation of women pioneers, both in death-defying adventures and historic breakthroughs, going back several centuries.<\/p>\n<h3>Potently, Poignantly<\/h3>\n<p>Others, like my best-album list topper,\u00a0<em>This Rock\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0On: Imaginary Letters<\/em>\u00a0by Mike Holober &amp; The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, uses Jamile\u00a0Staevie\u00a0Ayres\u2019s voice selectively, but potently, poignantly. Here the ensemble is also the voice\u00a0as are\u00a0instrumental soloists. This two-CD work, lyrical and craggy, is inspired by great environmentalists (Rachel Carson, Ansel Adams, Sigurd Olson, Wendell Berry), with music and lyrics (mostly) by Holober,\u00a0a previous\u00a0Grammy Award nominee.<\/p>\n<p><em>Shades of Sound<\/em>\u00a0by the ever-sumptuous Gil Evans Project (led by Verona WI native Ryan Truesdell), had a guest singer, Wendy Giles, on several orchestrated songs, especially on \u201cLaughing at Life,\u201d a fresh-breath salve for these troubled times.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.squarespace-cdn.com\/content\/v1\/67d8ac09848ab7684314dbd4\/fed50dbe-ec27-423b-9d3f-02d59b47b8e2\/Gil+Evans+Project_Shades+of+Sound+Cover.jpg\" alt=\"Shades of Sound \u2014 Ryan Truesdell\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Cover: allaboutjazz.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jazzdagama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MarcSantos-GilEvansProject-Truesdell-01-copy-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Truesdell presents Gil Evans Project: Shades of Sound\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"07e7cc92-e40d-11f0-a14f-1267d4cd6e47\" class=\"mp-ad-sprocket \"><em>Ryan Truesdell: Photo courtesy: https:\/\/jazzdagama.com\/music\/ryan-truesdell-presents-gil-evans-project-shades-of-sound\/<\/em><\/div>\n<p>Another,\u00a0<em>Suspended in Time,<\/em>\u00a0a song cycle by Rondi Charleston and pianist Fred Hersch, was born of a therapy journal she began in the time-freezing pandemic,\u00a0but which gradually\u00a0acquired\u00a0life and breadth of its own, with vocals by Kate McGarry and Gabrielle\u00a0Stravelli.\u00a0Another\u00a0emotionally-loaded\u00a0album was\u00a0<em>Breathe: Music for Large Ensembles\u00a0<\/em>by\u00a0Peter\u202fLenz, reflecting his ongoing struggle with lung cancer, and, yes, with a vocalist, Efrat Elony.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/81JirUFRl0L._UF350,350_QL50_.jpg\" alt=\"Charleston, Rondi \/ Hersch, Fred - Suspended In Time - Amazon.com Music\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"__bs_rotation_182791_368551\">\n<div id=\"__bs_rotation_182791_1311628_368551\">Several others announce this as a significant turn of the art form\u2019s page. Of course, there have always been jazz vocalists, most typically women, as featured performers who sometimes trade on glamor, intended or not, even if, like Diana Krall, they also play an instrument. But this newer development of vocalists as ensemble members seems like a movement, as instrumentalists normally operate at a different level, even if an egalitarian spirit pervades.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Another woman who, like Cope and Charleston, conceived an ambitious album\u00a0is\u00a0singer-songwriter Lorraine Feather on\u00a0<em>The Green World.\u00a0<\/em>Like Holober, she explores our environmental marvels and mysteries but also plays on contemporary social dynamics between the sexes, with a wit surfacing like sly weeds here and there.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!OcW7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b732a43-53fe-4958-9930-83ccca49292c_500x500.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alchetron.com\/cdn\/lorraine-feather-b7c18fe5-16ed-4fa7-8252-902b4cc2484-resize-750.jpeg\" alt=\"Lorraine Feather EyeShotJazz Jazz Photography Blog Archive Lorraine\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Lorraine Feather. Courtesy https:\/\/alchetron.com\/Lorraine-Feather<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Time will tell, but a mature art form like jazz frankly needed a fresh gambit at least to rekindle general interest as competition for pervasive entertainment, much less political or cultural enlightenment, intensified in the Internet age.<\/p>\n<h3>Wisconsin Jazz<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/shepherdexpress.com\/downloads\/70546\/download\/brian-lynch.jpg?cb=2126f34faecd98826a4eafeff72666cc\" alt=\"Brian Lynch\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As a postscript of honorable mentions, I celebrate the work of Wisconsin jazz artists, a still under-appreciated species. The big name, two-time Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Brian Lynch (no relation to this writer), continued his authoritative brio on\u00a0<em>7x7x7.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Soft Rock<\/em>\u00a0by Madison bassist-composer John Christensen proves jazz fusion still plays a distinctively electrified role in the jazz soundscape.<\/p>\n<p>Pianist-composer Tim Whalen\u2019s\u00a0<em>Trio Vol. 1,<\/em>\u00a0with Christensen and increasingly first-call drummer Hannah Johnson, proved as\u00a0impressive\u00a0a Wisconsin jazz piano trio album as I can recall in some years.<\/p>\n<p>The irrepressibly\u00a0swinging\u00a0Johnson also drove percussion for the quartet Heirloom, on their debut album, cannily titled\u00a0<em>Familiar Beginnings<\/em>, but as sparkling and satisfying as a vintage Milwaukee lager.<\/p>\n<p>_____________________<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"tags\"><strong><em>This article was first published by The Shepherd Express<\/em> here:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/shepherdexpress.com\/music\/music-feature\/2025-the-year-in-jazz\/\">https:\/\/shepherdexpress.com\/music\/music-feature\/2025-the-year-in-jazz\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo via All About Jazz &#8211; allaboutjazz.com Was there any pattern besides, say, chord changes, that helped define jazz in 2025? They sang out, in voices of many echoes\u2014airy, haunting, jaunty, imploring, wistful, lonely, spiraling, seductive and in harmonies as &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17061\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[139,2773,2767,2771,2153,242,2776,2768,2769,2772,2777,2774,2775,2770],"class_list":["post-17061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-www-kevernacular-com","tag-brian-lynch","tag-clair-cope","tag-diana-krall","tag-fred-hersch","tag-hannah-johnson","tag-john-christensen","tag-kate-mcgarry","tag-lorraine-feather","tag-mike-holober","tag-mike-holober-the-gotham-jazz-orchestra","tag-peter-lenz","tag-rondi-charleston","tag-ryan-truesdell","tag-the-gotham-jazz-orchestra"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hJWE-4rb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17061"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17069,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17061\/revisions\/17069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}