Women in Jazz

Singer and pianist Kandace Springs — whose soulful singing led her late mentor Prince to praise her “voice that can melt snow” — has announced her newest project, The Women Who Raised Me, out March 27 on Blue Note Records. Produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock) — who produced Springs’ 2016 debut Soul Eyes — The Women Who Raised Me is a tribute album to the female vocalists who most impacted Springs’ music, stylings, and journey.

Verve Records releases the latest editions in its breakout Great Women of Song series, which pays homage to the ground-breaking work and lasting impact of some of the greatest female vocalists of all time. Like her idol Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae could own a ballad and make it all her own. She could also swing every bit as hard as her other main influence, Ella Fitzgerald. Coming up during the bebop era and under the musical sway of Thelonious Monk, Carmen made a series of recordings for the Decca label that would cement her reputation and launch a career that close to 50 years. Whether in small groups or backed by a studio orchestra, Carmen McRae recorded definitive versions of songs that make up the backbones of jazz and the Great American Songbook.

United by their love of rip-roaring artfully delivered klezmer, She'Koyokh spin tales of wild goats, unmarried women and broken hearts drawn from the rich folk traditions of Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Balkans. Inspired by wandering nineteenth century klezmorim, She’Koyokh have spent the last decade sponging up the rich folk musics of Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Balkans. The first incarnation of the band cut its teeth busking at Columbia Flower Market in the heart of London’s East End. Nowadays they are more likely to be found stomping the stage floors of Europe’s most prestigious concert halls with Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and London’s Southbank Centre already ticked off the list…

As Duke Ellington would have said, Dinah Washington was “beyond category”. Subtle and inventive enough to hold an honored place in the jazz pantheon yet tough and forceful enough to command the attention of blues, R&B and rock & roll audiences. Equally at ease performing Broadway songs, pop tunes or jazz material, Washington combined urbane finesse with down-home grit to make music that reflected her strong-willed, larger-than-life personality.