Jazzmeia Horn unveils her new summer album’s Songbook at Szczecin Jazz in snowy Poland

Szczecin Jazz is an extended festival, presenting just one gig each night, with a three day pause in its middle. It’s organised by tenor saxophonist Sylwester Ostrowski, who grew up in the city, and has now become its ‘music mayor’. Most of the Szczecin sets are presented in Jazzment, a club that is now fully active with regular bookings, after emerging from those frugal lockdown times. Jazzmeia Horn provided a festival high point, around halfway through, appearing at the much bigger Opera na Zamku (Opera At The Castle), which is a modern concert hall set within a much older courtyard. The gig was completely sold out, as the Bronxian Horn debuted her fresh repertoire, with Messages already recorded and set for an August release. These songs were being played in public for only the second time, technically premiered two days earlier at the Jassmine club in Warsaw.

Horn is becoming, more and more, a subversive avant-gardist in the world of jazz singing. Her band of piano (Victor Gould), bass (Jason Clotter) and drums (Michael Reed) adopts a relatively relaxed mainstream vocabulary, but Horn herself is increasingly an adventurer in unpredictable scat construction, unexpected phrasing, and blending asides of conversational observation, or even relaxed laughter. This inflects her songs with a perpetual dynamism, even on the slower ballads. Horn also seems a lot more verbose than previously, weaving tales of childhood, motherhood and new romance. Wearing a flowing pale blue gown, and her trademark headwrap, Horn is a glittery dervish, usually found dancing at the side of the stage while her bandmates are soloing. ‘Submit To The Unknown’ opens with a radical scat, ascending dramatically, until the verses are delivered in Horn’s lower range. It sounds like it could be a Sun Ra number. ‘Destiny’ is a song emerging out of her most trying times, and she observes that some of her best songs have been written in adversity. Horn explains that ‘Tip’ is referring to the swinging beat of a song that just might be gaining into a faster metre. ‘Mysteries Of Us’ is another ballad, pondering on her present romantic relationship. All of these new songs have strong narrative thrusts, indeed, messages amid the sometimes almost manic vocal free-forming, as Horn performs verbal acrobatics as if she herself is metamorphosing into a literal musical instrument.

Three nights earlier, a substantial double bill resonated down in the Jazzment cellar bar. The Canarian saxophonist Miguel Ramírez opened with La Local Jazz Band, an outfit he formed with pianist Miqui Delgado in 2008. The band is completed by trumpet, bass, drums and singer Miriam Fleitas, who stepped up for ‘Nature Boy’, paced faster than usual, with an easy swing and a muted trumpet solo.

Ramírez played soprano at first, negotiating a breezy groover, with some pert, peppery themes, redolent of a 1960s New York sound. The founders have been playing together for three decades, and this is evident in their rapport, with Delgado’s power solos providing a significant portion of the collective energy. The pianist also penned their third number, with Ramírez switching to tenor, and Delgado jabbing through a flamboyant solo. The tenor took it down, along with some hand-pattering on the drums, and concluded with a surprise group vocal chorus. A couple of the tunes developed from local Canary Island folk music, infused with the blues. The closing ‘Moanin’’ benefited from driving vocals, and spirited solos from trumpet and piano.

The second half of the evening featured a quintet from Amsterdam, led by the young Brazilian saxophonist Lucas Santana (pictured above and not to be confused with his higher profile countryman, the elder troubadour Lucas Santtana). The roster featured another Brazilian, two actual Dutchmen and the Serbian guitarist Davor Stehlik. Santana’s first two albums featured contrasting styles, on alto then tenor, moving from brightly speeding bebop down to a velvety deceleration. Santana showcased both sides of this material, stating that he considers the second repertoire as being more adventurous, but to your scribe’s ears it was the fast and dangerous first collection that excited most strongly. Nevertheless, the contrasts of the twinned vibrations created an appealing variation in moods.

The set opened with ‘Something To Say’ and ‘Ambivalence’, an extensive piano solo building with intent, sealed by an uncoiling tenor solo, the keys and bass working closely, the entire band looking completely immersed. ‘Heritage’ led off the selections from Santana’s debut LP, Reflections, paying homage to a multitude of influences. Stehlik’s guitar was initially an introverted presence, but as the set progressed he stepped forward to offer some more upfront statements, working in tandem with the driving drums of Tim Hennekes, then taking the pace down slow before gradually moving the mellow nature up to a high speed form. ‘Troublemaker’ involved an oleaginous blues, opening with totally solo alto, its paused phrasing slinky as it implied the groove, before the other cats hit. Santana closed with ‘Faith’, but came back with thistly tenor for a bolero encore that sounded very much like ‘Besame Mucho’, although seemingly an original tune.

Look out for a ‘part two’ review of Szczecin Jazz in the May print edition of Jazzwise…