HOMEFREE out NOW, click album to order on AMAZON
"Homefree" marks Freelon’s seventh Concord Jazz album as a leader and first studio outing since 2005. The 11-track collection was recorded at Sound Pure Studios in Durham, North Carolina and is available everywhere NOW.
Homefree is a soulful, swinging album that Freelon calls her “home brew.” The collection is comprised largely of contemporary interpretations of classic American Songbook tunes as well as a new original (the witty, playful and poignant “Cell Phone Blues” composed by the Nnenna) and spirited arrangements of two anthems (the gospel treasure “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and the national hymn “America the Beautiful”) that close the album.
Homefree opens with a brisk swing through “The Lamp Is Low,” followed by the laid-back and easy-flowing arrangement of “I Feel Pretty,” the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim West Side Story classic that features Ray Codrington’s soulful flugelhorn lines. The latter has been in the band’s set-list for some five years, including a jazz show at the Kennedy Center for Miss America contestants and their escorts.
Other highlights include a soulful groove through of “You and the Night and the Music,” arranged by drummer Kinah Ayah; a skipping, reggae-tinged rendition of Cole Porter’s “Get Out of Town,” that was arranged jointly by the band turning the standard upside down during a sound check; and, a new tune to the band’s set, the rarely covered André Previn-written beauty, “Theme from Valley of the Dolls.”
Six-time GRAMMY® Award-nominee Nnenna Freelon has received her sixth nomination with Best Jazz Vocal Performance nomination for Blueprint Of A Lady: Sketches of Billie Holiday on Concord Records. Freelon has earned the Billie Holiday Award, the Eubie Blake Award, and been nominated twice for the Lady Of Soul Award. She inspired an enthusiastic standing ovation from 20,000 when she performed on television’s 43rd annual GRAMMY Awards. Freelon has shared the stage with Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Aretha Franklin, and performed for the Society of Singers, Variety’s Children’s Charity, Jerry Lewis’ Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon and at the most famous jazz festivals and concert venues around the globe. She is an educator, activist, and recording artist.
Select Quotes:
“Freelon…sang with exquisite musicality and an unerring sense of swing.” – Los Angeles Times
“Freelon continues to grow and deepen as a vocalist…but still with a crystalline, impeccably tuned voice, with often imaginative, percolating, funk-based backing from her combo.” – Daily Variety
“Singer Nnenna Freelon presents such a distinct problem in her performances. She does so many things so well, it’s hard to see her strong suit. Would that we all had that trouble.” – Pittsburgh Tribune Review
