YOUN SUN NAH with JON COWHERD

ELLES

Warner Brothers Music

Youn Sun Nah, vocals/kalimba/music box; Jon Cowherd, grand piano/upright piano/Fender Rhodes keyboard/Wurlitzer keyboard; Tomek Miernowski, prepared piano/prophet/guitar.

This album exemplifies what can happen when jazz crosses borders. It features a vocalist whose roots are in Asia.  As a Seoul, South Korea-based artist, Youn Sun Nah began her musical journey with piano lessons as a child. She also sang with the Korean Symphony Orchestra in her teens. Clearly bitten by the music bug, Ms. Nah chose to study at the Paris Institut National de Musique de Beauvais in France, at the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Conservatory, as well as the CIM, a school of jazz and contemporary music. Her first album was released in 2001, titled “Reflets.” In 2010, her “Same Girl” album began to establish Youn Sun Nah as an artist to watch.  In 2013 she released “Lento” that reached Gold Record status in France and Germany, along with several honors and accolades.

In 2019, before the pandemic shut everything down, she signed with Warner Brothers Music and released “Immersion.”  This recent album is her second on the Warner Bros. label.  She opens with an unusual and stunning arrangement of “Feeling Good,” her voice floating above the bell-like piano parts of Tornek Miernowski. It’s a minimal production with maximum creativity. Nah has a relaxed, open tone, along with much sincerity that she puts into her storytelling. She is admired among a growing list of contemporary jazz singers, particularly overseas. Ms. Nah plays finger piano during this production.

A song called “Cocoon” is also sung with a prepared piano track by Miernowski.  It leans towards Pop music rather than jazz. Youn Sun Nah has carefully chosen songs either written by or performed by notable female artists. Thus, the title of her album, “Elle” celebrates female composers and artists, and her repertoire contains mixed genres.

“I realized that the songs I’ve recorded over the years, most have been from male singers.  So, this time I wanted to honor the female singers I’ve been admiring since a long time, the songs which move me, and the voices that touch me,” Ms. Nah asserts in her press package.

This production is unique, not only because of the emphasis on female talent, but also the European-type production. For example, on “I’ve Seen That Face Before” with the staccato piano sounding like I just walked into a Parisienne piano bar.  Her unique approach to scat-singing shows off her range during this song, and she also speaks in French.

Standard tunes like “My Funny Valentine” pale in comparison to the more creative and haunting arrangements like “I’ve Seen That Face Before” and the soft rock tune from the age of psychedelic music, “White Rabbit,” or her surprising ‘cover’ of the gospel-fueled, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”  In the next breath, she is scatting wordlessly across space on the tune “Coisas Da Terra,” singing octaves and doubling her voice with the scurrying brilliant piano notes of Jon Cowherd.

This is an unpredictable project that crosses genres and cultures. This album and this artist are dramatically different and uniquely artistic. Youn Sun Nah’s album will release to the public on August 30, 2024.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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