Cécile McLorin Salvant - Dreams and Daggers [2017]

Published on NextBop

With the release of her last album For One To Love, Salvant put the focus on her pen, with almost half of the tracks being original compositions. Light, emotionally resonant Salvant-written pleas like "Look at Me" and "Left Over" were juxtaposed by the energetic and occasionally humorous performances of tracks like "Stepsister's Lament" and "Wives and Lovers". Salvant would eventually win a Grammy for what was then her best album to date, although when asked by Spanish publication El Periódico if this changed her career, the singer responded that it only resulted in more followers on the internet.

Now, at 28, even though it would be an absurd stretch to consider her famous in the pop sense, Salvant is clearly one of the most in-demand young singers in jazz. The rise has had nothing to do with her Grammy and everything to do with her talent. Regularly dazzling crowds with the range and power of her voice and a charming sense of humor in her performance, Salvant has played at many well known festivals and venues in the jazz world - the bulk of her latest album was recorded live in the legendary Village Vanguard in New York City. Accompanied, for the most part (pianist Sullivan Fortner sits in on "You've Got to Give Me Some"), by her usual - extremely talented - trio of Aaron Diehl (piano), Paul Sikivie (bass) and Lawrence Leathers (drums), Salvant's Dreams and Daggers is a two-disc long demonstration of what makes her one of the most valuable vocalists in jazz today.

Open Mike Eagle - Brick Body Kids Still Daydream [2017]

Ever since its birth, hip-hop has been one of the most direct and powerful tools for the story-telling of people from marginalized communities. In the 80s, Chuck D of Public Enemy, a group that defined itself by commitment to addressing socio-political issues, summed up this fact by calling rap the "CNN" of Black America. Although to the uninitiated statements like this may seem ridiculous, anyone who has a working knowledge of classic hip-hop albums like Public Enemy's It Takes A Million to Hold Us Backor Boogie Down Production's By All Means Necessary will recognize the truth in Chuck D's statement. Decades later, in a radically different musical climate where "CNN" type work is arguably even more necessary, Open Mike Eagle turns reporter on his latest LP, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream.