{Zara McFarlane will be making her LA debut next week, Monday June 16th at the Blue Whale, along with DJs Jeremy Sole and Wiseacre of the Lift, not a show to be missed!!!}
I’ve been featuring quite a lot of the jazz releases that have come out here in 2014, in some cases redefining and expanding the drama, in other cases just showcasing the talent that remains within this artform. In the case of UK singer Zara McFarlane that extraordinary talent is evident within one second of hearing her voice. McFarlane seamlessly blends together several generations of jazz into a style that is wholly contemporary and also thoroughly timeless. If You Knew Her is Zara’s second release for Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood record label. The title of the record and the songs written and chosen for it are a tribute of sorts to the various women in Zara’s life and to the diversity of experience often overlooked in portrayals of Black women. Like the stylized artwork for the album, every song is a strong and memorable statement on that theme. It’s truly a blessing to be able to bear witness to such talent here at that start of what should be an exceptional career as a vocalist. I’ve listened to “Angie La La” dozens of times and I’m still not sure exactly what she does with her voice a couple minutes into the song, some kind of mix of Leon Thomas yodeling mixed with birdcalls. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a human being create those sounds, and hearing something legitimately novel, in a jazz record, here in 2014…that is really something else indeed, just like Zara McFarlane herself.
As a bonus, here’s Zara’s video for her version of the Junior Murvin reggae classic, “Police & Thieves”: