Nnenna Freelon is one of those singers I can listen to and never tire of feeling the warmth insulated in her every note. She tells stories that sing with an emotional relevance; she sings jazz, but the blues dances in every lyric.
From March 21–23, the song stylist will grace Dizzy’s jazz club (60th Street and Broadway). She arrives in the city with new material and the CD “Beneath the Skin” (Origin Records). She diverts from the American Songbook standards that she effortlessly transforms into newfound gems.
“Having experienced love and loss, I felt it was time to write my own material,” Freelon explained in a PBS N.C. segment. “It’s an interior of you, a different vulnerability.” She has turned her experiences into a collection of heart-spoken songs that aim to heal life’s personal and universal broken places. “You have to take in what you are receiving and engage in it,” she said, although with this new outing, she does take time to offer her own unique blues-toned rendition of “Oh, Susanna.” Susanna will never be the same!
Freelon didn’t sign her first record deal until she was in her late 30s, recording her debut CD, “Nnenna Freelon,” for Columbia in 1992. That demonstrated the deal was more about talent than age.
She has received seven Grammy nominations that acknowledged the always-late gatekeepers finally noticed her talent. Before such nominations, she was already accepted in her community of North Carolina and later a welcomed talent to the jazz community, having worked with such notables as Dianne Reeves, Diana Krall, Herbie Hancock, and Terence Blanchard, including her White House performance with trumpeter-composer Clark Terry.
“I embody the music. It’s in me, I feel it in a visceral way — it feels like dance or poetry,” Freelon said in a PBS interview.
The resident of Durham, N.C., will be accompanied by pianist Miki Hayama, bassist Kenny Davis, guitarist Keith Ganz, and drummer Jeremy Warren.
For reservations, visit jazz.org.
“Thunderous, fiery explorer seeking new sounds in drumming” describes the depth of Billy Cobham. His first paid gig at the age of eight as a member of St. Catherine’s Queensmen, a drum and bugle corps in St. Albans, Queens, boosted his confidence as he escalated to stints with Horace Silver, Stanley Turrentine, the organ soul of Shirley Scott, and guitar/vocals of George Benson.
He rattled the so-called definition of jazz for something more moving by co-founding the jazz-rock combo Dreams, which included Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, John Abercrombie, Don Grolnick, Barry Rodgers, and Will Lee. The following year, he joined Miles Davis’ groundbreaking fusion ensemble and contributed to “Live-Evil,” “A Tribute to Jack Johnson,” and the “Bitches Brew” sessions.
Cobham, a true music techy, followed his fusion experience with Davis and became a founding member of the jazz-fusion Mahavishnu Orchestra, along with McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman, and Rick Laird.
Cobham, who lives in Switzerland and rarely performs in New York City, will storm the Blue Note (131 West 3rd Street) through March 21 with his explosive technique that has powered the resourcefulness of so many prominent bands. He will be joined by his Time Machine, with keyboardist Oz Ezzeldin, trumpeter Randy Brecker, trombonist Marshall Gilkes, and saxophonist Brandon Wilkins.
“Time Machine is an updated version of my production that featured Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Glenn Ferris, Alex Blake, John Abercrombie, Milcho Leviev, and Lee Pastora; 50 years have blown by since then,” said Cobham. “I have rarely performed some of the music from that period. ‘Solarization,’ ‘Total Eclipse,’ ‘Bandits,’ ‘Crescent Sun,’ ‘Moon Germs,’ and ‘Sea of Tranquility’ have barely seen the light of day in any of my productions, so I am now focused upon resurrecting them around music that the Total Eclipse portfolio has inspired me to create.”
For reservations, visit bluenotejazz.com.
The Schomburg Center, the most prominent Black research library in the world, is also recognized as a supporter of community jazz. Since 1992, it has held an annual Women’s Jazz Festival (WJF) showcasing Black women in music, founded by Harlem resident and jazz vocalist Melba Joyce. Over the years, the festival has become a progressive, eclectic music component that propels all genres, from New Orleans’ musicians to riveting poetry, the sounds of Cuba, and the rhythmic flow of Africa.
On May 24,the 2025 festival comes to a finale with the inventive tenor saxophonist, bandleader, and vocalist Camille Thurman. Her tenor is so absorbing — the way she reconstructs a standard like “The Night has a Thousand Eyes” (Inside the Moment, 2017, Chesky) into a moving force just outside the realm, swinging on the cusp of avant gardism. Thurman has an intuitiveness — she plays inside the music, pushing her concept out to the public ear-ways.
Only a confident musician will take chances on traveled tunes, especially a Miles Davis composition like “Nefertiti.” Thurman’s ability to reinvent standards, along with creating her own inspired originals, has become her calling card. Her vocals offer another dimension of instrumentation. She sings in colorful rhythms — from inflections that range in scats of bebop hipness to sensual songs of love and those moments in between.
For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.