FEW JAZZ ARTISTS ARE AS EXCITING TO NOT ONLY HEAR, BUT EXPERIENCE IN CONCERT AS JAZZMEIA HORN.
SHE HAS ONLY RELEASED THREE ALBUMS SO FAR IN THIS EARLY STAGE OF HER CAREER, BUT EACH ONE HAS SHOWN A CREATIVE TRAJECTORY THAT IS INSPRING. WINNER OF BOTH THE 2013 SARAH VAUGHAN INTERNATIONAL JAZZ COMPETITION AND THE 2015 THELONIOUS MONK INTERNATIONAL VOCAL JAZZ COMPETITION, HORN’S FIRST ALBUM WAS AN IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION OF JAZZ STANDARDS DELIVERED IN A FRESH STYLE THAT MIXED SWING AND CREATIVE VOICE.
HER FOLLOWUP LOVE AND LIBERATION DISPLAYED HER COMPOSING TALENTS, STILL IN THE SMALL GROUP POST BOP CONTEXT. NOTHING IN HER EXCITING CONCERTS, HOWEVER, PREPARED THE JAZZ WORLD FOR HER LATEST RELEASE DEAR LOVE. HERE, HORN TAKES UP NOT ONLY THE WRITING SKILLS, BUT ARRANGES SOME EXCITING BIG BAND CHARTS, AND EVEN INCLUDES POETRY AND A CAPELLA VOICINGS AS ADDED FLAVORS. IT’S A UNIQUE ALBUM, ONE THAT CAN ONLY BE PUT TOGETHER WITH SOMEONE CONFIDENT ENOUGH IN HER MUSICAL SKIN.
WE HAD A CHANCE TO CATCH UP WITH MS. HORN, AND LIKE HER ALBUMS, SHE WAS CLEAR, PERSONAL AND CREATIVE.
YOU MENTIONED AT YOUR LAST LA CONCERT THAT MADE ME THINK OF THIS LATEST ALBUM, “THESE SONGS ARE FROM MY WOMB; THESE SONGS ARE MY BABIES”. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?
That is real.
I just told someone that a couple of days ago, and she asked “What do you mean?”
When I say that these tunes are my babies, that’s one thing I have experience in: having babies, and it takes awhile! (laughs)
Sometimes, when the baby comes out you may think “This is what I want to name the baby”, but it may not be the correct name, and you find out years later that it’s not.
Or, the baby is just not ready to come out. Sometimes you go to have the baby, and the doctors may say “We want to give you Pitocin to induce your labor, but it’s not necessarily time.
So it means that you cannot rush the process. It doesn’t matter if the song is together, and you feel that it’s together but one part still needs work, it doesn’t mean you have to stop and record the piece right away; you can come back to it.
There are so many songs in my repertoire that I’ve composed that I’m not finished with, but are 99% finished. So they are still babies in my womb, or casseroles that are still in the oven that are still baking. You can’t rush the process.
When it’s ready, it will tell you that it’s ready.
Some of these songs have been marinating in my womb for awhile.
Think about a mother elephant; it doesn’t take her nine months, it takes her two years. So, it’s really to relative to who you are as an individual and what your process is 258.
That is one of the reasons that I spoke in that manner of my music, because they are my babies. I cherish them. It’s my artistry and something that I really care about.
So when it’s time for me to share it, I am very sensitive about my music, about my ‘babies’.
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“there are so many songs in my repertoire that I’ve composed that I’m not finished with, but are 99% finished. So they are still babies in my womb, or casseroles that are still in the oven that are still baking. You can’t rush the process”
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THIS LATEST ALBUM IS A BIG CHANGE IN YOUR TRAJECTORY. IT HAS YOU WITH A BIG BAND, MORE POETRY AND A CAPELLA VIGNETTS. WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR SUCH A DRAMATIC SHIFT?
So many times when I was on the road I would play with the Metropole Orchestra, The Scottish International Jazz Orchestra, the Copenhagen Radio Big Band or the WDR…there’s a lot of big bands that I’ve had an opportunity to play with.
If you think about someone like Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, Gregory Porter or Kurt Elling, they waited until later in their careers to actually do big band music or produce a big band record.
But I didn’t want anyone to dictate to do what I do or whatever it is that I want to do. Just because I’m 30 years old, not yet 45 or 50, doesn’t mean that I have to wait until then to do a big band project.
I told the record company that I was with at the time what I wanted to do, and they said that because of the pandemic they just didn’t have the budget. I realized that I just have to do this on my own.
So, I left the record company and started my own. I got the funds together, I talked to some musicians and gathered them together, wrote all of the arrangements and most of the compositions and just decided that it was time for me to do whatever it was that I wanted to do.
This is a staple record. You think about the first record, it’s mostly standards on Social Call. It’s to introduce the audience to my sound. You then think about my second album (Love and Liberation) , it’s mostly original compositions 544, but they sound like standards. That’s just to keep going in the same type of tradition, to let my audience know that I’m still here.
And now, this album is another embellishment.
Think about a woman who’s really beautiful, like your wife. The first time you saw her, she was really gorgeous to you, or there was something about her that really sparked your eye.
It’s the same thing with this music. All of this is an embellishment of a transformation. You see that really beautiful woman in her natural state without any fake hair or makeup, maybe not even a really pretty dress. She’s just really herself.
But the makeup becomes an embellishment; the gowns just add on to her natural beauty. That’s what this album is. I’m just adding on different elements to who I am as an individual, what I’ve gone through and what my journey has been.
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“the makeup becomes an embellishment; the gowns just add on to her natural beauty. That’s what this album is. I’m just adding on different elements to who I am as an individual, what I’ve gone through and what my journey has been”
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THE VOCAL HARMONY VIGNETTES ARE VERY INTRIGUING. WHAT BROUGHT THAT ON?
This is my first time doing a big band album, and it’s been a very humbling experience writing for 20 pieces, getting the sound engineer and everybody together. Getting together the rhythm section, the horn sections and the strings was a big task. I’m used to handling up to 6-7 at a time, not including the tour manager, stage manager and all that.
I’m used to handling about 8 at a time, but 20 people was just a lot!
So when I started writing these arrangements, I had them in my head, but for a lot of the notations, instead of writing everything out in concert form I decided “let me just sing all of these arrangements in a garage band file.”
That’s what I did, and so what you’re hearing on the record are my original snippets of the big band tunes. I didn’t transcribe what was in my head right on to paper; I actually sang it into files, and then sent it to someone to transcribe.
YOU’VE ALSO DONE A LITTLE BIT OF POETRY BEFORE, BUT NEVER AS MUCH AS WITH THIS ALBUM, AS SOME OF THE SONGS ARE DOMINATED BY IT.
Dear Love is basically an album full of poetry and song; all of the songs and poems are to my Love. “Love” is being in many expressions. It doesn’t have to be just a platonic or romantic relationship, but also love for my community, love for children, for family, for my fans…
You think about the song “Nia”. A lot of people in the African American community celebrate Kwanza, and Nia is one of those seven principles. It means “purpose” in Swahili.
You have to think about what is your purpose in life? That itself is a message to my community, but it’s also a message to myself.
If you listen to the lyrics, I am singing in the third person. I’m singing about a woman or young lady, and it was me! A lot of times I ask myself “What is my purpose on this planet? Am I really living up to my potential, or is my living in vain? What am I doing? I have those moments.
So it’s not just about this sweet and sassy love; it’s about all different aspects.
You think about the song “Strive”. We’re in the middle of a pandemic. We’re experiencing a lot of adversity, not just in the black community, but all over the freaking world. Everyone can attest to it, “Strive to be free”. No matter how life goes or what you’re going through, strive!
Whether or not you get COVID, whether or not the people around you decide to wear or not wear masks, want or don’t want to get the vaccine, no matter what’s happening in your world in this moment, strive to be the greatest you. Do the best that you can do, and that’s all you can do.
The album is filled with those letters. Some are to myself, some are to my community and some are to the lover that I have yet to meet. (laughs) I’m hoping that one day I’ll have that kind of love with him.
It’s all of the aspects of love.
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“You have to think about what is your purpose in life? That itself is a message to my community, but it’s also a message to myself”
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WHAT ARE YOU SEEING AS YOUR MAJOR PURPOSE AT THIS POINT IN YOUR LIFE?
What I’m doing right now; continuing to be a great mother to the best of my ability. Continue to be an educator; I’m teaching at three different universities. I’m at Berklee, I’m teaching a class on stage presence and acting at Cunee, and I’m teaching at The New School. I’ve written a book, and I’m educating others based on that book.
***I’m also a musician. Just because the world stops doesn’t mean that I can’t walk and act in whatever my purpose is. Right now my purpose is educating, whether it be my children, or my fans about what my culture is, or the musicians on how to play the music, and build their brands.
I’m also a mother. I’m educating them on how to be people in this society. The education part is a big part of who I am.
Musically, I have to make sure that I am creating something that makes people think. That’s what I want my music to do.
This is all a gift from The Most High. My Creator gave me these gifts, being able to teach, educate and perform, sing, write, compose and arrange. I don’t take these gifts lightly. I just continue to walk in them.
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“Musically, I have to make sure that I am creating something that makes people think. That’s what I want my music to do”
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DO YOU THINK GROWING UP IN THE CHURCH HELPED INCULCATE THIS TYPE OF ATTITUDE AND DESIRE?
Absolutely. It was my parents and grand parents who made sure that I came up in the church and that my foundation was in having a reverence towards The Most High. My grandmother didn’t “play”, you couldn’t go to church and not worship; you couldn’t go to the temple and not be serious about what you were singing.
I was only three years old and singing in the choir. I learned to have a reverence for this music and respect it. Whether it be gospel, jazz or whatever I’m performing I have to have a profound respect for the Divine. That’s a big part of it.
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“Whether or not you get COVID, whether or not the people around you decide to wear or not wear masks, want or don’t want to get the vaccine, no matter what’s happening in your world in this moment, strive to be the greatest you. Do the best that you can do, and that’s all you can do”
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WHO GAVE YOU THE BEST MUSICAL OR LIFE ADVICE WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP?
My mentor Roger Boykin. I still call him to this very day.
He’d be the man who gave me the most advice.
The two women who’ve given me the most advice would be Dee Dee Bridgewater and Diane Reeves.
I met Dee Dee Bridgewater the year that I won the Sarah Vaughan Competition, it was the first year it was ever held. I won the Rising Star award 1501because they had never before heard of me and really liked by sound. The next year in 2013 I won the competition.
I had met Dee Dee in 2012. When she heard me she said, “I want you to come out and have lunch with me, my treat”.
We met and she asked me about my life, and asked “What do you want to do with this? You don’t have to do what others want you to do. You can do whatever it is that you want.”
That was very inspiring for me, because at the time I was still sounding very much like Sarah Vaughan and I was trying to find my sound; I didn’t really know who I was at the time.
Just by meeting with her and interacting with her was really imperative for my growth and development.
Also with Diane Reeves.
I’m able to call her up at any moment and she’s really supportive in terms of advice on different things. Like going on the road, booking tours, keeping yourself healthy.
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“If you listen to the lyrics, I am singing in the third person. I’m singing about a woman or young lady, and it was me! A lot of times I ask myself “What is my purpose on this planet? Am I really living up to my potential, or is my living in vain? What am I doing? I have those moment”
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ANYONE ELSE HELP YOU ALONG THE WAY?
Al Jarreau was another one. I could call him up at any time, ask him questions and pick his brain. He’s another person who was very spiritual and grew up in the church as well. He had a divine honor of the music.
Kurt Elling-I just spoke to him a couple of days ago. He was very kind also and he has children around the same age as mine. He’s someone I also look up to who has been there and done that, giving good advice. Also Jon Hendricks. It’s a real beautiful community to have these singers who’ve gone before you. They’ll say, “Hey, I wouldn’t advise you to do this” or “I think that’s a great idea” .
ELLING ALSO WENT TO DIVINITY SCHOOL IN CHICAGO, SO THERE’S THAT CONNECTION AGAIN. YOU HAVE AN ALLURE TO PEOPLE (LIKE JAMISON ROSS) WHO ARE ON A PILGRIMAGE
That is an amazing fact.
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“I was only three years old and singing in the choir. I learned to have a reverence for this music and respect it. Whether it be gospel, jazz or whatever I’m performing I have to have a profound respect for the Divine”
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FROM THE SPIRITUAL TO THE PIANO…YOU’VE BEEN WITH KEITH BROWN, SULLIVAN FORTNER AND VICTOR GOULD. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A PIANO PLAYER?
The first thing is attitude.
If he’s got this huge ego where he just knows everything and doesn’t need to be taught and thinks he/she’s the most amazing pianist, I’m going into a 180 completely different direction.
I’m looking for someone, for a man, the number one thing that he has to have is respect for women.
If he’s a married man and has a great relationship with his wife, like Victor and Keith do, or Sullivan who’s not married but has a great relationship with his mother…if they have this kind of relationship and aren’t misogynistic…that’s the first thing that I think about.
The second thing is their musicianship; they can’t get in the way of what I’m doing, and will allow the music to live and let the music be whatever it needs to be in the moment. That’s what I look for; everything else I can train them how to listen to me and play the different things that I like to play.
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“Right now my purpose is educating, whether it be my children, or my fans about what my culture is, or the musicians on how to play the music”
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I USED TO TELL MY DAUGHTERS, WATCH HOW HE TREATS HIS MOTHER AND THE WAITRESS, AS THAT’S HOW HE WILL EVENTUALLY TREAT YOU.
That just doesn’t go with dating.
It’s hard to do business with certain kinds of men, because you have to suppress yourself, your emotions and feelings and even your thoughts. Some men don’t think of women as “business people, so it’s hard to work with men that have preconceived notions of what women can and cannot do.
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“Some men don’t think of women as “business people, so it’s hard to work with men that have preconceived notions of what women can and cannot do”
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HOW DO YOU HANDLE IT?
I just ignore them.
I’ve been on the planet for 30 years and I’ve known misogynistic men. I have them in my family, some live in my community. They can be very religious and think that women should be just ironing clothes, cooking and taking care of the kids. They don’t think there can be renaissance women, or ones that are business oriented, so I just kind of ignore them. I just show them; I just do what I do.
All of the men in my family that have been misogynistic to aunts or mothers and other women in my family, they don’t even call me “Jazz” anymore. They’d call me “Little Jazz”-that was my nickname. Now they say, “Hey, Miss Horn” because they know that I’m about my business. They respect me because they’ve seen how I’ve come from an extremely poor urban neighborhood into whatever it is that I’m doing now, with Grammy nominations and NAACP awards, being a professor at three universities.
They have a lot of respect for me now that I’m doing what it was they thought it was I wouldn’t be able to do. They now have nothing to say; that’s how you handle it. Keep your poise, keep walking with grace and do whatever it is to develop. They’ll come around, and if they don’t you’ll still achieve whatever goals you’ve set.
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“They have a lot of respect for me now that I’m doing what it was they thought it was I wouldn’t be able to do. They now have nothing to say; that’s how you handle it. Keep your poise, keep walking with grace and do whatever it is to develop. They’ll come around, and if they don’t you’ll still achieve whatever goals you’ve set”
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WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF DURING THIS PANDEMIC?
I’ve learned that I’m strong.
I’ve never thought of myself as a powerful individual. But during this pandemic I’ve thought “Wow! I can continue to feed my children.”
Everything is going crazy; there’s so much chaos, yet I’m just sitting here. I’m strolling; I’m good. The Most High has really blessed us. I’m happy and grateful for that.
GIVE ME THREE BOOKS THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD READ
I’m reading a book now titled The Man-Not by Tommy Curry. I’m really trying to understand men a lot deeper. (laughs) Especially before I have a son, as I plan on getting married again and having more children in the future.
The Four Elements, by Butler and then The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
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“I love the storytelling capabilities. How well can they tell a story?”
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WHO IN WORLD HISTORY WOULD YOU LIKE TO SIT DOWN FOR AN EVENING AND PICK HIS OR HER BRAIN?
Betty Carter for sure.
Mary Lou Williams. I would have love to have spoken with her.
I would have love to have sat down and had a moment with Prince. These people are gone.
Someone who’s still around, though, is Rachelle Ferrell. I’d love to talk to her.
WHO WOULD YOU PAY $1000 TO SEE PERFORM?
Stevie Wonder. I’d pay that to see Rachelle Ferrell. Abbey Lincoln…that would be amazing.
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“If he’s a married man and has a great relationship with his wife, like Victor and Keith do, or Sullivan who’s not married but has a great relationship with his mother…Those are the first two aspects that I look for in a piano player, because if those two things are naturally there, everything else will come.”
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WHAT DO YOU LISTEN FOR IN A SINGER?
I love the storytelling capabilities. How well can they tell a story?
I love Billie Holiday and Pops (Louis Armstrong). I love their voices even though they’re not the most “clean” or “pristine” voices. There’s something about their soul and storytelling abilities that make me just want to indulge in them.
I like the quality of the sound. It’s not as important, but I love listening to Rachelle Ferrer because her tone is impeccable. I love listening to Sarah Vaughan, even someone like Gretchen Parlato, the sound and tone is just so beautiful.
Cecile McLoren Salvant’s tone is just so gorgeous, but the storytelling is the main part for me.
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“This is all a gift from The Most High. My Creator gave me these gifts, being able to teach, educate and perform, sing, write, compose and arrange. I don’t take these gifts lightly. I just continue to walk in them”
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WHAT FUTURE GOALS DO YOU HAVE?
I want to start a school someday.
I want to start a School of Life. Mainly the arts, but anything that I’ve learned I want to be part of the school.
We have some dates to perform in LA probably in the late fall.
WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO SAY AT YOUR FUNERAL SERVICE?
I definitely don’t want anyone to be wearing black. If anyone comes wearing black, I’m coming back to life to kick them out and go back to being dead. (laughs)
I want colors and vibrant energy and music. And you know how when a celebrity passes away, all of these other celebrities come and turns into a concert? I don’t want that. The people who didn’t like me-don’t even come just to show your face. (laughs)
SOME TIMES IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE IT, BUT EACH OF US HAS A CALLING. MS. HORN UNDERSTANDS THAT CALLING, AND UNLIKE MOST PEOPLE, SHE DOESN’T SEE HER GOD-GIVEN CRAFT AS AN END TO ITSELF, BUT A MEANS TO A HIGHER END.
AS SHOWN IN BOTH MUSIC AND CONVERSATION, MS. HORN IS STILL ON A QUEST, AND SHE WANTS US TO COME ALONG THAT JOURNEY, LEARNING ALONG WITH HER, AS WELL AS FROM HER. IT’S AN EDUCATION WORTH TAKING.