EMMA HEDRICK

NEWCOMER

Pathways Jazz

Emma Hedrick opens her newly released album with a jazz waltz titled, “The Idea of Love.”  The melody is infectious and has a few surprising intervals. Her mellifluous vocals draw me gently into the lyrics.  At first, there is only Thor Eide Johansen’s double bass supporting her vocals. The duo performs with ease and Emma is clearly a storyteller.  She exhibits a very contemporary edge to her jazz composing.  Emma Hedrick has written all ten of the songs on her debut album.

She does her own style of scat singing, that reminds me a little bit of Betty Carter’s style. Not in tone, but in execution.  I’m impressed.

This is a new voice on the jazz scene and one that I think is here to stay.  Hedrick has earned seven Downbeat Student Music Awards for ‘Jazz Voice’ and two National YoungArts Awards.  She was also a Semi-Finalist in the International Songwriting Competition.

Besides being a new talent, Hedrick has performed nationally and in Europe, including a number of jazz festivals. She attained her Master of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, Holland.  Hedrick attended this university on a scholarship after completing her Bachelor of Music degree at the Frost School of Music in Miami.

“Newcomer” is an appropriate title for her first album release, but I’m certain she won’t be a newcomer for long. This recording is a diary of sorts, one she’s been working on for the past seven years. The vocalist is supported by a number of up-and-coming jazz artists.  She called on friends and musicians who have been an important part of her journey to do the recording. Hedrick says she’s a big Duke Ellington fan and loves listening to Duke and Ella Fitzgerald. Peter Eldridge heard the young lady sing at a jazz camp. He was so impressed that he decided to produce her.  Eldridge is the founding member of the internationally acclaimed New York Voices.

The title tune was penned when she was feeling like an alien after moving to the Netherlands for graduate school.  It’s a ballad, sounding more pop than jazz, rich with strings.  I prefer her more jazzy flavored tunes like “In the Warmth” that swings and has a challenging melody with lots of vocally challenging intervals. She hits each one without compunction.  Her tone and voice are crystal clear.  I like the way she pops to the tones like a horn player.  No sliding to the notes.  She’s sure of herself and pitch perfect. Emma Hedrick is spurred onward during this title tune by percussionist, Ryan Barski and midway, she scat sings a duet with the horn of Shane McCandless.

She was inspired lyrically by a Langston Hughes poem on the next song titled “Tone Poem in Greenwich Village.”  Langston was an early innovator of jazz poetry and one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance.  The poem she enjoyed, “Young Singer,” is just eight lines long. However, Hedrick adds lyrics up front to shape her own interpretation of his poem.

Langston’s poem reads:  “One who sings ‘chanson’s vulgaries’ / In a Harlem cellar/Where the jazz band plays/From dark to dawn/Would not understand/Should you tell her/That she is like a nymph/For some wild faun?      (Faun being one of a class of lustful rural gods represented as a man, who is part goat.)

Her song, “Spring Haiku Collection” was written for her master’s research project.  The lyrics are structured like a haiku poem.  Peter Eldridge sings and plays piano on this track.  The flute solo of Alexandria Dewalt is quite beautiful. This tune is very classically arranged with pop overtones. We return to her jazzier side on Track #7 titled, “Inside Your Mind.”

Some of the Hedrick music reminds me of the early days of Joni Mitchell, especially songs like “Waste No More Days.”  Emma Hedrick has a style and presentation that is all her own and very ‘artsy.’  This young vocalist has written an album that tickles the brain and at the same time, sooths the senses.

Her musical ensemble consists of: Emma Hedrick, vocals/composer; Connor Rohrer, piano; Anton Kot, drums; Thor Eide Johansen, bass; Shane McCandless, saxophone. GUEST ARTISTS: David Sneider, trumpet; Ryan Barski, percussion; Alexandria Dewalt, flute/vocals; Zach McRary, trombone; Andrew Tinch, guitar; Amy Azzara & Faith Quashie, vocals; Davis Brooks & Kara Day, violin; Anna Thompson-Danilova, cello; Derek Reeves, viola; Peter Eldridge, vocals/piano/producer.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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