Most
jazz vocalists sing standards. Allegra Levy writes her own. From the plaintive
title track of her brazenly autobiographical debut album, Lonely City, to the
haunting strains of its intricate closing ballad, "The Duet," the
24-year-old New York-based vocalist and composer has penned a lyrical collection
of 11 harmonically adventurous-yet-familiar originals steeped in the tradition
of the Great American Songbook.
"This
is a mature first recording by a singer you're sure to hear more from,"
says renowned trumpeter John McNeil, who produced the album, which will be
released by SteepleChase Lookout on November 10th. "The tunes are catchy
and well-constructed, and you'll probably find yourself singing them in a short
time. I sing them still."
The
album features Levy with an all-star band: drummer Richie Barshay, bassist
Jorge Roeder, tenor saxophonist Adam Kolker, guitarist Steve Cardenas,
trumpeter John Bailey, pianist Carmen Staaf, and violinist Mark Feldman.
"Richie
is one of the most imaginative drummers of our time," Levy says of the
percussionist, a fellow native of West Hartford, CT, who has played with Herbie
Hancock, Chick Corea, and Esperanza Spalding. "He had a really clear
understanding of all my tunes and took them to other places."
Staaf, a rising piano star recently chosen as
the pianist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at
UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music, contributed several arrangements.
"Carmen is a very emotional, passionate musician and would know what I
wanted even before I knew," Levy says. "I've never connected more
musically with a person on so many levels."
She also
found a musical soul mate in McNeil, with whom she studied at New England
Conservatory. "John and I are very like-minded people. We have a dash of
cynicism in all of our work," she said of the trumpeter-composer, who has
played with Horace Silver, Thad Jones, and currently leads the quartet Hush
Point. "He's been a real mentor to me. He performs the high-wire balancing
act of embracing tradition while championing the progressive. "
Levy is currently
completing a seven-month residency at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong. She
made her international debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008, and has
since cut her teeth in New York and New England clubs including Tomi Jazz,
Somethin' Jazz, The Flatiron Room, and Black-Eyed Sally's.
Levy
takes her inspiration from legendary vocalists Carmen McRae and Betty
Carter-altos comfortable exploring the lower register-but also classic
composers Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, and Henry Mancini. "Their melodies
have lasted for so long and are still so beautiful," she says. "My
goal was to retain that timeless sound with modern lyrics. Bring standards into
now."
Yet
there is nary an old standard to be found. As a prolific composer, she
ultimately chose the daring route of restricting her debut to originals.
"That was definitely a risk," she says, "but I figured I'm going
to be myself, this is what I have to say, and I'm just going to say it now the
way I want to say it." Levy began composing the material for Lonely City
when she was a freshman at NEC, encouraged by vocalist Dominique Eade, whom she
describes as "a jazz goddess."
Lonely
City focuses on the most universal of themes. "The album chronicles the
emotional ups and downs of being with somebody else and not being with somebody
else," Levy explains. The Joni Mitchell-inspired ballad "Everything
Green" waxes nostalgic about those ephemeral, often painful moments.
"Joni Mitchell tells stories. Her lyrics are very strong and very
intimate," she says. "It's meaningful when somebody just lays her life
out there like that."
Levy
finds this emotional rawness with an understated vocal style that emphasizes
phrasing over pipes. "You go to concerts and hear these incredible
powerhouse voices, and it's very moving, but I really like to explore the
little corners of subtlety in the harmonics and lyrics."
On the
wistful "A Better Day, " Levy draws from the legacy of the great
scatters to convey the ineffable, breaking down the barrier between vocalist
and instrumentalist. "Improvisation is just another way in which I like to
express myself," she says. "Every once in awhile I just want to let
loose and explore the harmonics more-say something else." Despite a
propensity to improvise, she still believes that powerful lyrics can
"bridge the gap between the audience and the music."
The
lilting title track, "Lonely City," is "about finding your lost
love," she says and has a harmonic simplicity that belies the bewilderment
that goes into the search. "There are a lot of ship references, and the
idea is that by the end of the song you get to that lighthouse or safe
harbor."
Most of
her other compositions diverge from the typical lament that "my man has up
and gone," tackling instead the deeper angst of struggling to cope in a
world that cries out for levity and conformity.
"There's
a different kind of blues for a woman," she contends. "There's a
different tale of woe. And it's a little more complex than 'I lost my love.'
Now it's 'I want to find my place in the world.'"
Typical
of this realist's outlook is "I'm Not OK," a self-deprecating yet
defiant anthem that is the only true blues track on the album, and the samba
"I Don't Want to Be in Love," the record's most up-tempo entry.
"You hear Latin music and can't help but dance to it, and love is the same
to me-only this is kind of an unwanted dance," she says. A decidedly
different dance number is the propulsive "Clear-Eyed Tango,"
featuring virtuoso Mark Feldman on violin. "Mark brings the edge and
explosive emotion that the song needed. There are few violinists in the world
who could provide that."
Writing
Lonely City was a cathartic experience, and Levy hopes that hearing it will be
cathartic for the listener as well.
"These
are real experiences that I've had, and I want somebody else to know that
they're not alone," she says. "That's what the blues is all about.
It's about togetherness. It's not just, 'I've got the blues.' It's not just,
'I'm not OK.' It's 'Let's bear this all together.'"
