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Reviews
For those unaware, Laird Jackson is an Alternative Jazz vocalist and composer who has now produced 3 albums (since 1994) with notable acclaim and worked with numerous top-tier Jazz cats as a New York-based artist.
An original to the core, vocalist/composer Laird Jackson asserts that whenever you sing, you’re giving voice to your soul. She spreads her emotional soundscape wide.
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She dives deep into dramatic mystery, quiet romance, elemental wonder, profound sadness, ruminative ecstasy, improvisational beauty and the dreamy tug between longing within and pushing outward away from all boundaries to find freedom.
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From Cyrus Chestnut to Cecil Bridgewater and Marvin Sewell to Bruce Barth, she has played with some of the best. Her latest work, Life, is produced by Grammy® winner and percussionist extraordinaire Jeff Haynes and features many award winning musicians supporting her dreamy soulful vocals.
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Taking a listen and enjoying the journey called Life, first up on this sumptuous new recording is the atmospheric I Believe, the languishing Suhaili and the all-embracing Dusk, and then we are brought forth the beautifully low slung ballad Make a Smile for Me, the impassioned Destiny, the affecting In the Pines, and the elegant The River.
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Along next is a compelling ache that threads through Rainbows and the harmonica-driven Rounding the Sun, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the inspiriting The Wind, the gently robust Life, the velvety gossamer of World of Dreams, the album rounding out on the guitar-edged Tender as a Rose, the airy, harmonically Wild Is the Wind, coming to a close on a glowing tenderness exuded within Follow.
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by Anne Carlini/ Russell Trunk's Exclusive Magazine (Oct. 2024)
A sun-drenched splendor adorns the tropical flavor and deep contemplative grooves of “Life,” with Laird Jackson as a poetic, powerful storyteller. Tempos are slowed to a languid pace to give them this sense of majesty and awe. Everything goes for the tactile – from the backup vocalists to the percussive elements to the melodies that waft through. She delivers such depth in a multi-faceted, multi-layered way that the sounds are executed warmly and delightfully. The lyrics are given the utmost care as she goes on this vast journey within each work.
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“I Believe” sets the tone with the song’s casual pace and themes to follow. Low-key funk underpins the dreamy, surrealist nature of “Dusk.” Dripping with love, “Make a Smile for Me” has a careful, delicate pace, with the interplay amongst the band feeling doubly refreshing. Usage of field recordings gives a sense of place with the sprawling, summertime spirit of “In the Pines.” Hushed folk gain a refined stately grace with the intimacy of “Rainbows.” “Rounding the Sun” increases the pace, with a driving pulse steadily growing in strength. Forgoing any arrangement is the intimacy of her voice with the peaceful “The Wind.” Strings of the classical and acoustic variety intertwine on the living, breathing scope of “World of Dreams” with its mournful hues. Slow moving is the gracious gait of “Wild is the Wind.” On “Follow,” things end on a reflective, meditative kick.
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Laird Jackson has an excellent ear for melody and an uncanny ability for unusual yet joyous arrangements on “Life.”
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by Skope • October 17, 2024
So many talented lady jazz singers out there; add Laird Jackson to the list. Though she's not quite new to the scene—her debut CD, Quiet Flame came out in '94, emphasis on popular standards of the 30's and 40's. She's taken a different tack this time out, on Touched, covering songs by Bill Withers, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, and the almost forgotten Donovan. And she's writing, too; six of the CDs eleven songs are Jackson originals.
Some impressions on Touched: Laird Jackson has some pipes, a beautiful instrument, a rich, burnished contralto, with range. And she can pick a song. Her decision here to stay away from the older standards and cover some unlikely material pays off. Especially on Joni Mitchell's "Tin Angel" (more later). And like Cassandra Wilson, Laird Jackson has the ability to stretch and mold a melody like a lump of clay: Stevie Wonder's "Visons", and especially Donovan's "Catch the Wind". And a gorgeously haunting version of the obscure (but should be a classic, and might be, if this gets enough listeners) "Lonely House", a collaboration between poet Langston Hughs and melodist Kurt Weill, originally recorded by Abby Lincoln.
Another impression: Jackson is a fine songwriter. "Yet Still" is an achingly lovely a cappella prayer. And the sprightly and upbeat "Take a Walk with Me" is a sort of update on the classic "The Sunny Side of the Street"; deceptively sunny, perhaps. The song is actually a beseechment to a friend who was descending into the personal bedevilment of drug abuse.
Now, Joni Mitchell's "Tin Angel": Laird Jackson's delivery is similar to Joni's, but with more depth and richness in the vocals, with an arrangement that is fittingly spare and absolutely exquisite, instruments sneaking in and out of the mix like cats at midnight; with Steve Wilson's soprano sax slipping in with a subtle and very Wayne Shorteresque solo before Laird tells us, ..."I've found someone to love today." A six minute masterpiece, a musical diamond buffed and polished, all facets flashing.
So many talented jazz ladies, but Laird Jackson is right there with the pack, running in front, in fact, deserving of a big label, big money push.
I can't say enough for her decision to cover some newer songs. That's a direction jazz, it seems, needs to take to maintain its vitality. I'd love to hear her do "My Foolish Heart"; but there are so many great newer songs floating around that are crying out for jazz treatments. I'd love to hear her do Donovan's "First There is a Mountain" or (and I'll surely take some flak for this, but it's a compelling melody) Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill".
But Laird Jackson, who has just produced a four and a half star CD with Touched doesn't need my suggestions.
By Dan McClenaghan (All About Jazz)
Jazz and Beyond Intel
Laird Jackson Triumphantly Returns: Touched to Life
by Dan Oulette
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In my liner notes to singer/composer Laird Jackson’s 2002 album Touched, she told me: “Jazz is about freedom and self-expression and experimentation. We all learn from and emulate the masters, but we need to find our own reality and create from that with all the risk that entails.”
After a two-decade hiatus from producing her own albums, Laird returns with her captivating, freedom-avowing Life, where she asserts that whenever you sing, you’re giving voice to your soul. READ MORE
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Swing2Bop.com
Laird Jackson Touched (Consolidated Artists Productions CAP 961) This very good singer has yet to make a name but on the basis of this fine CD, this must surely happen soon. Laird has a strong, rich voice and a flowing ease to her delivery, and these qualities blend wonderfully in a set that includes lesser known songs by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder, alongside attractive originals by the singer herself. The quality of Laird's performance is backed by first class instrumental contributions from pianist Bruce Barth, guitarist Marvin Sewell, and others. Quite definitely, a singer to look out for and encourage.
By Bruce Crowther (Swing2Bop.com)
In an age where the newer female jazz singers tend to be little more than popsters in masquerade, Laird Jackson comes across as a pleasant surprise. Here is a singer who has the sensibilities, the attitude and the approach that do not dilute the essence of jazz.
Jackson has been on hiatus since 1994, and her debut album Quiet Flame as she was apparently in the process of maturation as a songwriter and also wanted to record songs that she really liked. The wait has certainly paid off; she comes up trumps on both counts.
Laird’s sense of style is witnessed in the many moods of her compositions. The title song is starkly effective, just her voice and an acoustic guitar making their impact. On the other end of the scale is the lilting, swaying “Take A Little Walk’, where her phrasing is key to the sparkle. The presence of a spiritual in the stunning a cappella “Yet Still” serves to underscore her versatility.
Laird includes pop songs by Stevie Wonder and Bill Withers and sings them well enough within a jazz ambit, but it is the Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes composition “Lonely House” that cements her reputation as a fine interpreter of song. Laird is a welcome addition to the spirit of jazz.
By Jerry D’Souza (All About Jazz)