Tiffany Austin Unbroken With the June 1st
release of Unbroken, on her Con Alma Music imprint, Tiffany Austin further
solidifies her standing as one of the leading vocalists on the current
international jazz scene.
Austin was
propelled onto the national stage in 2016 when her debut recording, Nothing But
Soul, received rave reviews from media outlets such as DownBeat and NPR's Fresh
Air as well as airplay on jazz radio stations across the U.S. With her
sophomore CD Unbroken, Austin has raised her artistry to a higher level both
conceptually and musically. Her silky smooth voice has gained an earthy
smokiness and a gravitas ideally suited to expressing her broadening, deepening
artistic vision.
Unbroken is
a soul-steeped affirmation embracing the blues and swing, spirituals and
R&B, bebop, post-bop, and Austin's Louisiana Creole heritage. "I've
experienced multiple instances of people trying to separate blues from
jazz," Austin says. "How can you divide the music that comes from the
same diaspora, the same spirit? The idea behind this album is that the
African-American spirit remains unbroken. After all of the things we go through
we're still here, joyfully creating great art and great music."
Produced by
the Grammy Award-winning jazz advocate Richard Seidel and arranged by
trombonist Mitch Butler, the music on Unbroken is impeccably executed by the
rhythm section of pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Rodney Whitaker, and drummer
Carl Allen as well as Butler, veteran tenor saxophonist Teodross Avery, and the
formidable young trumpeter Ashlin Parker. In addition to four originals, Austin
penned lyrics for the arrangements of Charles Mingus's "Better Git It in
Your Soul" and Ornette Coleman's "The Blessing."
The
multi-generational band mirrors Unbroken's repertoire, which touches on several
eras of African-American history. The album opens with two Austin compositions
that speak to the vicious response that has sometimes met black accomplishment
-- "Blues Creole" evokes the pioneering Louisiana Creole accordionist
Amédé Ardoin, and the searing "Greenwood" connects Watts and Ferguson
to the 1921 pogrom that wiped out Tulsa, Oklahoma's prosperous "Black Wall
Street" neighborhood.
As if in
direct response to these tales of oppression, Austin answers with a rollicking
version of the old gospel song "Ain't No Grave," which builds to a
glorious sanctified scat solo. She embraces the transformative power of love
with a sumptuous "You Must Believe in Spring" and offers an object
lesson in gratitude with her lyric for Ornette's early free bop invocation.
Soaring to the heavens on Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be
Free," Austin also summons the spirit with a wordless sojourn through
Coltrane's "Resolution," scatting his entire solo note for note.
Unbroken
closes with righteous marching orders by way of a riveting duet with Whitaker
on the civil rights anthem "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize." The song
provides the key to Austin's overarching argument, that whether the source is
Sunday morning worship, Saturday night revelry, or an afternoon protest,
African-American music is animated by a liberating imperative. "Freedom
songs aren't only about freedom from an oppressor," she says. "It's
about living your life soulfully. We must live with soulful connection to
ourselves and our history."
Born and
raised in South Los Angeles, Tiffany Austin grew up in a house filled with
music. Her parents listened to soul and pop masters like Donny Hathaway and
Stevie Wonder, while her Louisiana Creole grandmother introduced her to jazz.
Austin graduated from the prestigious Los Angeles High School of the Arts and
then attended Cal State Northridge where she majored in creative writing, while
studying classical voice.
After
graduating in 2004, Austin set out for Tokyo with the plan that she'd look for
work as a singer and spend a year in Japan. After finding regular work as an
R&B chanteuse, Austin ended up staying in Tokyo through 2009 and only
returned because UC Berkeley's School of Law made her a scholarship offer she
couldn't refuse. Austin submerged herself in law school and left music behind
but after her first year realized she desperately needed a musical outlet and
began performing with bassist, composer, and bandleader Marcus Shelby on
numerous projects, including the title role in Harriet's Spirit, an opera about
Harriet Tubman. (She went on to earn her J.D.)
With a
series of prestigious gigs and residencies, Austin quickly gained attention as
the most exciting new vocalist in the region. Now, with Unbroken, Austin makes
it clear that she's far more than a beautiful voice. Claiming her cultural
birthright, she's an artist drawing nourishment from all of jazz's roots.
Tiffany
Austin has planned a series of CD release concerts on the West Coast and in New
York City: 6/7 Birdland, NYC; 6/29 Stanford Jazz Festival; 7/5 Kuumbwa, Santa
Cruz; 8/11 SFJAZZ, San Francisco. At all but the Stanford date, Austin's septet
will feature special guest Carl Allen; Cyrus Chestnut will be with Tiffany at
Birdland.
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