You don’t often get a jazz album led by a harp this side of Alice Coltrane, so Megan Bledsoe Ward shows some moxie by bringing her heavenly instrument to the fore along with a jazz team of Noel Okimoto/vib, Todd Yukumoto/ss, Jon Hawes/b and Allan Ward/dr. The best part about the album is that the harp doesn’t sound forced upon us or gimmicky; it is used as a part of an organic whole.
The team is at times augmented by the wordless and lyrical voice of Jamie Jordan, adding to the pretty cadence and accenting vibes o “Lily Lou” and French vocals to the dreamy “La Lettre.” A four movement “Sketches of Scintillation” mixes the harp in strummed and plucked form with mixes of quirky percussion via Noel Okimoto’s marimba, some gorgeous soprano sax by Todd with Allen Won and exotic grooves veering in and out.
Ms. Ward shows lovely textures on her aria of “Une Chatelaine” and shows she can get down on a driving blues of “Oh, What A World” with percolating percussion. A clever read of baroque material makes “Broken Handel” a combination of Peruvian exoticism and classical harp. Enjoyable on a plethora of levels, without a hint of novelty.