Here’s an impressive new voice on the scene, and even better, she’s not rehashing the same old Great American Songbook stuff. Thana Alexa has a rich and assured voice, and is comfortable with lyrics and wordless sounds as she gives tribute to jazz stars with some clever readings of jazz tunes and material of her own. She teams up with a bunch of all stars including Antonio Sanchez/dr, Jorge Roder-Scott Colley/b, Sergio Salvatore/p and Lenart Krecic-Donny McCaslin, and she serves them well. She delivers a stark reading of “The Wanderer” (which is Mingus’ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”), using her own lyrics along with Handy’s passionate solo. An impressively assertive and darker than usual take of “Take Five” includes some clever work by Salvatore, while here tip of the hat to Wayne Shorter on”Trace Back Your Footprints” is fresh and ebullient. As for her own material, she sounds confident with lyrics or sounds as her trumpet-toned voice is confidently displayed on the modern jazz sounds of “Ode To Heroes” and the more free form intro ”Groove Tune.” This lady excites in a multitude of ways-she’s fresh, creative and yet with a stiletto’d heel in the tradition. Bring her to LA!
Jazz Village