Whether
referring to the lesser-known repertoire to which she's drawn or to the singer
herself, nurtured in the concrete jungle of her native Philadelphia, Wildflower
is the ideal title for Pascale's captivating new album. Supported by an
excellent band led by the session's producer, pianist Orrin Evans, and a host
of special guests including Christian McBride, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gregoire
Maret, Bilal, and Cyrus Chestnut, Pascale finally comes into full bloom, a
wildflower whose beauty is emerging into the sunlight.
The
recording of Wildflower coincided with the end of Pascale's decade-long
engagement at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, which allowed her to hone her
voice, style, and vast repertoire. But leaving that long-running engagement
also provided a newfound freedom to follow a more personal path, which she
embraces on her fourth album. Each song on Wildflower is one with which Pascale
feels a deep emotional connection, which shines through in the passionate
feeling she conveys to the listener. "If I don't connect with a lyric, I
can't sing a song," she says. "I love to dig into the lyrics and find
all the different shades, the stories within the story, and then try to
interpret that."
But
equally important for her approach to breathing life into this material is
Pascale's interaction with her musicians. "For me," she says,
"it's the space between the words that tells the story. I love that these
musicians allowed so much space for me to paint these pictures. It allowed me
to get very intimate with the phrasing of the lyrics. The fun in storytelling
is finding a way of phrasing so that the listener connects to your intention
and all the ways you feel the subtle shades of the emotions in the story."
Propelled
by the deep, sinuous groove laid down by Evans, McBride, and drummer Donald
Edwards, "Forget Me" immediately establishes that connection via
Pascale's intimate, impassioned delivery. It's followed by the tender J.J.
Johnson ballad "Lament," featuring an original lyric penned for
Pascale by Tony Haywood, which features Edwards and bassist Luques Curtis. Most
of the album features bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Obed Calvaire, who
luxuriate in creating space while maintaining momentum on tracks like "I
Remember You" and "Stay With Me."
To find
the ideal musicians to realize her vision for the album, Pascale worked closely
with producer Orrin Evans. The two go back almost twenty years together, to her
near-disastrous first experience on stage when she was 14-years-old at an
Evans-led jam session. When the pianist finally called her to the stage, he
waved off her offer of a songbook with the music for Billie Holiday's
"Good Morning Heartache."
"This
was honestly the first time I'd ever sang when I wasn't singing along to a
record," Pascale recalls. "Orrin starts playing and something wasn't
right. I start singing and he's in a different key, and I'm horrified. So I
turn around and the bassist and drummer are laughing hysterically to the point
where tears were rolling down their faces and their shoulders were shaking
trying to hold it in. Next thing I know, somebody grabs the songbook and puts
it in front of Orrin. I still have a little bit of fear whenever I sit in on a
jam session."
Despite
that shaky start, Pascale and Evans forged an ongoing friendship, to the point
where they consider themselves virtually family. "Joanna's like a little
sister to me," Evans has said. "I think we really see time and space
and rhythm in the same way. So whatever we do, there's going to be space for us
to grow and make something happen."
As a
producer, Pascale says, Evans "knew exactly what I wanted to get to and I
really trusted that. There were times where it was hard for me to give up
control, because I had total control of all the other records that I've done.
But he really had the wider vision than I did at the moment, which helped to
shape everything. We have a lot of mutual respect."
Gregoire
Maret's expressive harmonica highlights two rare excursions into the pop
songbook for Pascale, Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" and the Gerry
Goffin/Carole King favorite "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" Maret
also appears, along with Cyrus Chestnut's spirited organ, on Pascale's achingly
slow rendition of Henry Glover's "Drown in My Own Tears," best known
from Ray Charles' recording.
The
title song, meanwhile, features two of Philadelphia's favorite six-string sons,
Kurt Rosenwinkel and Tim Motzer, and vocals by neo-soul singer Bilal, Pascale's
friend from Philly's renowned High School for the Creative and Performing Arts
(CAPA), which also boasts Rosenwinkel, McBride, Joey DeFrancesco, and members
of The Roots as graduates. "We started discovering music together,"
Pascale recalls of Bilal. "We would make each other jazz vocal mix-tapes
and trade them. So it was a very special, very magical moment for me to have
him share his gift on the recording twenty years later."
After
graduating from CAPA, Pascale attended Temple University, where she is now a
member of the faculty and has been featured on two of the university's
releases, including the Temple University Jazz Band's Thad Jones tribute album,
To Thad With Love. She is featured on Warfield's Jazzy Christmas album; Orrin
Evans' Liberation Blues, recorded live at Smoke; on Philly sax legend Larry
McKenna's From All Sides; and on That Music Always Round Me, a setting of Walt
Whitman's poetry by Garry Dial and Dick Oatts. She made her leader debut with
2004's When Lights Are Low, followed by the 2008 release Through My Eyes and a
2010 duo recording with pianist Anthony Wonsey that focused on Songbook
standards.
Joanna
Pascale · Wildflower
Release
Date: May 5, 2015
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